Show Postponed At Northport's Engeman Theater After Racist Remark

NORTHPORT, NY — A Sunday night showing of "Smokey Joe’s Cafe" at the John W. Engeman Theater in Northport was postponed after a racial remark was directed at one of the production's Black actors.

A person, who is a complete stranger to the actor, called him the N-word, Newsday reported.

The cast member told theater staff that racist comments were hurled at them, Northport police wrote in a statement on Facebook. The actor did not want to file a police report. Northport police plan to investigate the matter. Anyone with information on the incident was asked by police to call 631-261-7500.

"The Northport Police Department condemns any use of racially motivated speech or behavior," the department stated.

Engeman Theater has a no-tolerance policy toward racism and other offensive remarks, it wrote on Facebook.

"Words cannot begin to express the deep sadness and disappointment we felt in learning of a racist incident outside our own theater [Sunday]," it wrote. "We are disgusted that this happened and stand in strong support of all our cast, crew and staff."

The actors left the stage after a daytime performance of the show, and one of the actors was walking on Main Street when the racist comment was made, News 12 Long Island reported. The scheduled 7 p.m. performance was canceled when the show's actors made the request, Kevin J. O’Neill, co-owner of the theater, told News 12.

"There’s nine members of the cast, seven of which are people of color,” O’Neil told News 12. "And we just felt after speaking with everybody that the right thing to do was to cancel the performance."

People who purchased tickets were advised to call the box office on Tuesday to reschedule tickets or discuss refunds. The theater is closed on Monday in observance of Columbus Day.

The showing has been rescheduled for Wednesday, and tickets can be purchased on the Engeman Theater website.