UPDATE: The Rhode Island regional theater that canceled an upcoming production of Lauren Gunderson‘s The Revolutionists following the release last week of old emails between the playwright’s husband and Jeffrey Epstein now says its decision was not meant “to mar or detract from Ms. Gunderson’s reputation or professionalism.”
But the Contemporary Theater Company of Wakefield, Rhode Island, is standing by its decision not to stage the play this spring as originally planned, saying that after the release of the emails last week “actors began to cancel audition appointments” that impacted pre-production deadlines.
Following the company’s cancellation of the production, Gunderson posted an Instagram statement saying she was “appalled” to learn this week of her now-separated husband’s correspondence with the predator Epstein. (Gunderson’s estranged husband, virologist and former Stanford University professor Nathan Wolfe, has said he was seeking funding from Epstein for a research project.)
“I need to be absolutely and abundantly clear: I never met or knew the monster Jeffrey Epstein, and have had no connection to him for the entirety of my life,” Gunderson wrote in her statement. “His vile crimes and conduct are abhorrent, and I universally condemned his actions and legacy long ago, and still do.
Today, the CTC issued what it said is a clarification of its earlier announcement canceling the production.
“As actors began to cancel audition appointments for The Revolutionists by Lauren Gunderson,” the new statement reads, “we faced looming pre-production audition deadlines that forced a swift decision following the release of the Epstein-related documents last Friday and absent any comment from Ms. Gunderson at the time. The safety of our community is always at the forefront of our decision-making and will continue to be.”
The clarification continues, “We were grateful to read Ms. Gunderson’s subsequent statement about this issue, and we have spoken with her agent on the matter. We are huge fans of her plays, podcast, and even her early YouTube videos on playwriting, and were distraught by the information contained in the release of the files. It has never been our intention to mar or detract from Ms. Gunderson’s reputation or professionalism, and we hope to perform more of Ms. Gunderson’s work in the future, though we will not be performing The Revolutionists this spring.”
Gunderson, an outspoken and critically acclaimed feminist writer who is one of the most-produced playwrights in the country’s regional theaters, is mentioned nine times in the Epstein emails recently released by the Justice Department. The mentions are in connection to Wolfe, whose name pops up 589 times. In her blistering statement after the cancellation, Gunderson strongly suggested that she is, in effect, being tarred for her husband’s – then fiancé’s – connections. (Wolfe had sought research funding from Epstein in the early 2010s.)
In a social media post titled “I’m appalled,” Gunderson bluntly states she never met, knew or had any connection to “the monster Jeffrey Epstein,” and that her name appears in the files only because her ex-husband, then fiancé, had added Epstein’s name to the couple’s extensive paperless wedding invitation list.
“I need to be absolutely and abundantly clear: I never met or knew the monster Jeffrey Epstein, and have had no connection to him for the entirety of my life,” Gunderson writes. “His vile crimes and conduct are abhorrent, and I universally condemned his actions and legacy long ago, and still do.
“I was shocked,” she continues, “to discover only days ago that my name appears in the public files because of an electronic Paperless Post 2012 wedding reception invitation sent to him. I was given a sizable contact list by my then fiancé and his email was in it. That same list was blind copied to send two subsequent birth announcements years later. I did not know/meet/have knowledge of/engage in any way with Epstein before or after that initial invitation was sent, nor did he attend any event at which I was present including my wedding.”
Gunderson explains that she was “unaware of my ex husband’s communication until this week. For the record our separation well precedes this.”
She concludes, “As a storyteller primarily of heroines, I am nauseated to have even the most remote and incidental association with this awful predator. Honestly, I am absolutely just appalled. Most vitally, I honor the survivors of this awful predator and his network of abusers.”
In a statement to the San Francisco Chronicle this week, Wolfe said, “I never visited his island or flew on his plane … I did meet with him professionally at his homes in New York and Palm Beach to discuss my research. During those in-person meetings, I never witnessed or participated in any misconduct or inappropriate behavior.”
In announcing the cancellation of its production of Gunderson’s play The Revolutionists – an announcement made in a since-deleted social media post previously included on the venue’s website – the Contemporary Theater Company said that it was removing the show from its 2026 mainstage calendar.
“We are sad to announce that the Contemporary Theater Company will be replacing The Revolutionists in our 2026 Mainstage Season due to Lauren Gunderson’s connection to Jeffrey Epstein as described in the Department of Justice’s Epstein files. An announcement about the new show will be made in the near future.”
The statement continued, “Nathan Wolfe, Lauren Gunderson’s husband, had a decades-long relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and he appears hundreds of times in the Epstein files. While it is not clear to what extent Gunderson shared her husband’s relationship with Epstein, Lauren Gunderson and Nathan Wolfe invited Jeffrey Epstein to their wedding in 2011, despite his 2008 conviction for child sex trafficking and that the invitation is available on the DOJ’s website.
“While it is certain that more detail and nuance will come out about this connection, the CTC is going to act on the information available today. So, we will not produce work by Gunderson unless and until exonerating information does come to light.”
It now seems likely that Gunderson’s subsequent statement denying knowledge of Wolfe’s correspondence with Epstein would constitute “exonerating information.” Deadline has reached out to both the theater company and the playwright and will update this post if/when responses are received.
Gunderson’s plays including The Half-Life of Marie Curie and I and You give voice to women and feminist issues. The Revolutionists is described as a historical comedy about four women who were executed during the French Revolution. In an interview with Playbill, Gunderson said she had not received any communication from the Contemporary Theater Company before it canceled the production of The Revolutionists, saying, “I disagree with their decision, but I hope they retain support for producing important feminist plays in the future.”
The 100-seat CTC was founded in June 2005 as a collaborative project among young local artists. Since its founding the highly regarded company has produced more than 100 full-length productions and many smaller events. The company’s website states that the CTC currently produces more performances each year than any other theater in the state.
Gunderson is among the most-produced playwrights in America’s regional theaters, according to American Theatre magazine.
In the San Francisco Chronicle article this week – Gunderson and Wolfe lived in San Francisco for many years before relocating, prior to their break-up, to London – Wolfe addressed the email exchanges he had with Epstein. In one, Wolfe referred to “hottie interns” at the World Economic Forum, and in others he discussed his research project about developing a “female viagra.”
In a 2013 email to Epstein seeking funding, Wolfe refers to his research as a “horny virus hypothesis” involving “a real-time study in undergrads directly linking sexual behavior and microbial diversity.” The study, as described by the Chronicle based on the email, would assess “whether the presence of certain microorganisms increases sexual activity.”
In speaking with the Chronicle, Wolfe said, “I regret not recognizing at the time how inappropriate that framing was.” Noting that the research was ultimately not pursued, Wolfe said he regretted a tone in the emails that “conveys overfamiliarity and poor judgment.”
In the wake of Gunderson’s Instagram post – read it below – supporters have come forward lambasting the theater company’s decision to pull the play from its schedule.
In a Facebook post, Arizona-based playwright Micki Shelton, whose work has been produced in regional theaters and theater festivals, wrote, “The DOJ has said it is not going to investigate any of the men who are named in the files. And, of course, the names of many of the men in the files have been redacted to protect them while the names of the women and girls who were victimized were released. Why is it always the women who bear the brunt of punishment of one kind or another, while the men are protected? I don’t know if Gunderson is guilty, but once again a woman is punished, and none of the men (with the exception of Prince Andrew by his family) are punished.”
Screen capture of CTC’s Feb. 5 statement
Screen capture of the since-deleted post