Page 31 - ARUBA TODAY

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PEOPLE & ARTS Wednesday 21 March 2018
Woman says Steven Seagal sexually assaulted her at audition

By ANDREW DALTON with police, and Los Ange- cal neuroscience, said she
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A les prosecutors said Mon- had recently moved to the
woman on Monday said day that her case is under U.S. from the Netherlands
she was a 17-year-old review. when a music producer in-
model and aspiring actress Dadis spoke at the news troduced her to Seagal. Af-
when Steven Seagal sexu- conference alongside her ter several phone calls and
ally assaulted her at a sup- attorney, Lisa Bloom, and text messages, Seagal in-
posed casting session at a another woman, Regina Si- vited Dadis to a hotel room
Beverly Hills hotel room in mons, who said Seagal sex- in Beverly Hills for the late-
2002. ually assaulted her in 1995 night casting session for a
Faviola Dadis was emo- when she was 18, allega- film he planned to make
tional but composed as tions she previously made about Genghis Khan, Dadis
she spoke at a news con- on NBC's "Megyn Kelly To- said.
ference in Los Angeles, be- day" in January. Dadis brought a family
coming the latest of several Seagal's attorney Anthony friend because her mother
women to accuse the ac- Falangetti said the actor was suspicious, but the per-
tion star of sexual miscon- adamantly denies the al- son stayed in the lobby and
duct. legations. she ended up in a room Former model Faviola Dadis, left, reads from a statement at a
Dadis said Seagal reached "These claims by the two with only Seagal and his news conference with her attorney, Lisa Bloom, center, in Los
under her bikini top, women who spoke today personal security guard. Angeles Monday, March 19, 2018.
grabbed her nipples and are completely fictitious Seagal had told her to Associated Press
then grabbed her genitals and totally made up," Fal- wear a bikini or bra and
soon after the audition be- angetti told The Associated panties under her clothes, violated." by men in the entertain-
gan. She said she promptly Press in a phone interview and had her walk around She said she told friends af- ment industry, and was
ended the audition and later Monday. the room in the bikini be- ter about a month, but did spurred to come forward
left deeply shaken. He said it was implausible fore saying he wanted to not go to authorities at the especially by actress Por-
"I have suffered from de- that either woman ended test their chemistry togeth- time because she feared tia de Rossi saying Seagal
pression, anxiety and post- up unaccompanied with er and started touching being blacklisted in the en- once unzipped his pants
traumatic stress, have Seagal in the ways they her, Dadis said. tertainment industry. She during an audition with her.
found it difficult to form said they were. "Steven sat there calmly as said Seagal later called Actress Jenny McCarthy
trusting relationships with "Neither one of their ac- if nothing had happened her, but she never accept- has also said Seagal sexu-
men," Dadis said through counts is at all believable," while I was noticeably up- ed the calls. ally harassed her at an
tears as she read from a Falangetti said. set and terrified by the ex- Dadis said she was inspired audition in 1995. Seagal
written statement. Dadis, now a 33-year-old perience," she said. "I left by the recent wave of re- has denied the actresses’
She recently filed a report doctoral candidate in clini- feeling horrified and totally ports of sexual misconduct allegations.q

Frederica von Stade to star in opera about Alzheimer's

By RONALD BLUM the world's top stages from "Is it terrible to admit I was
Associated Press the 1970s-1990s. She will be scared?" she said. "The
Frederica von Stade is tak- 73 in June. Von Stade sings story of Alzheimer's is some-
ing on another challenging Danny, who at the start of one finds out they have
late-career role, singing in the opera has just been di- Alzheimer's and then they
the world premiere of an agnosed with Alzheimer's. degenerate and die. So I
opera about two women Mezzo Marietta Simpson was scared of how dark a
afflicted by Alzheimer's dis- portrays Martha, whose story that is "
ease. disease is more advanced. Since the last of her cen-
Opera Philadelphia an- Both characters live in a tral repertory roles in about
nounced Tuesday it will care facility and are envi- 2001, von Stade has sung in
present "Sky on Swings," sioned to be in their late 70s contemporary works that
composed by Lembit or early 80s. included Ricky Ian Gordon's
Beecher with a libretto by "Does the disease change "A Coffin in Egypt" and Jake
Hannah Moscovitch, to who we are or reveal who Heggie's "Great Scott." This
open its 2018-19 season on we are?" Beecher said. "I represents a great arc from
Sept. 20. think ultimately in the piece her early career, which in-
Two of Von Stade's aunts, that question sort of be- In this Friday, March 16, 2018 photo provided by Opera Philadel- cluded teenage trouser
Carol and Marjorie, died of comes moot. What matters phia, Marietta Simpson and Frederica von Stade pose at Opera parts such as Cherubino in
Alzheimer's. is that these two characters Philadelphia in Philadelphia. Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro
"It's not that far from us all, have a relationship and a Associated Press (The Marriage of Figaro)"
Alzheimer's, old age," von connection." and Octavian in Strauss'
Stade said. "It's not all loss. Beecher, 37, was Opera ber work for 11 musicians, Have No Stories To Tell You" "Der Rosenkavalier."
It's not all disintegration, Philadelphia's composer and Opera Philadelphia (2014) and "Sophia's Forest" "I really didn't figure out ex-
it's not all negative. There in residence from 2011-14 will present the four-char- (2017). The Canadian has actly how to sing until I was
are parts of it that, though and had written a scene acter opera at the 627-seat written the plays "East of 55," she said. "Then I had to
it's a major, rather fright- portraying characters Perelman Theater as part of Berlin" about the Holocaust extend that to 60, and then
ening, change, there can with Alzheimer's that was its O18 Festival. and "This is War" focusing I had to extend it to 65, and
be something great that performed in a workshop Moscovitch first paired on Canadian military in Af- then I extended it to 70 and
comes from it." about five years ago. with Beecher at a 2009 ghanistan, but she found now I'm going for 75. And
A mezzo-soprano known as Beecher orchestrated the workshop in Toronto and Alzheimer's a far more dif- then maybe I'll figure it out."
Flicka, von Stade starred on 70-minute, one-act cham- wrote the librettos for his "I ficult subject. q