{"id":143974,"date":"2018-01-05T02:18:46","date_gmt":"2018-01-05T07:18:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=143974"},"modified":"2018-01-05T02:18:46","modified_gmt":"2018-01-05T07:18:46","slug":"theatre-star-albert-schultz-resigns-amid-sex-assault-allegations-soulpepper-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2018\/01\/05\/theatre-star-albert-schultz-resigns-amid-sex-assault-allegations-soulpepper-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Theatre star Albert Schultz resigns amid sex assault allegations: Soulpepper"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"FILE:<\/a>
FILE: Albert Schultz (Photo By Canadian Film Centre – Cropped, CC BY 2.0)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TORONTO \u2014 The renowned co-founder of one of the country’s leading theatre companies resigned Thursday, just days after four actresses alleged in lawsuits that he had sexually harassed them with impunity for years.<\/p>\n

In a statement, the board of directors of Soulpepper Theatre Company, which previously said it had relieved artistic director Albert Schultz of his responsibilities pending an investigation, said it had accepted his resignation effective immediately.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr. Schultz’s resignation will allow Soulpepper to focus on its core mission: to provide a safe community for its exceptionally talented group of professionals,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile this has been a tremendously difficult chapter in Soulpepper’s history, (the) decision ensures the organization is able to move forward with confidence and remain a leading Canadian theatre company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schultz confirmed his resignation in a statement and said he will \u201cvigorously defend\u201d himself against the allegations.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have made this decision in the interest of the future of the company into which I poured the last 20 years of my life, and in the interest of the aspirations of the artists and administrators of the company,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

The resignation came hours after the four actresses \u2014 Kristin Booth, Hannah Miller, Diana Bentley and Patricia Fagan \u2014 held a news conference to lambast Schultz and Soulpepper, saying the company’s failure to deal with their repeated complaints had prompted them to go public.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlbert Schultz is the face of Soulpepper: He had the power to cast or not cast an actress,\u201d said Tatha Swann, a lawyer for the women. \u201cThere was fear to make a complaint. The power dynamic was extreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their four statements of claim filed this week in Ontario Superior Court, the women allege Schultz groped them, exposed himself, pressed against them, or otherwise behaved inappropriately.<\/p>\n

None of their allegations has been tested in any court and neither Schultz nor Toronto-based Soulpepper has filed a statement of defence.<\/p>\n

The lawsuits also prompted Schultz’s wife and company executive director, Leslie Lester, to step down, the directors said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The allegations against Schultz and the theatre company’s alleged failing to deal with them came after Soulpepper revealed in October that it had severed ties with longtime guest artist Laszlo Marton, who it said had engaged in sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, Booth derided Soulpepper for bragging publicly in October about its policies against sexual harassment.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never once saw a policy on sexual harassment,\u201d Booth said. \u201cKnowing the culture there, the hypocrisy of that statement is what motivated me to come forward so that this does not happen to one other young woman coming up into that company.\u201d<\/p>\n

Miller said working conditions at Soulpepper are not safe for actors whose jobs lead them to be open and vulnerable.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s a sanctity of the theatre that is being violated,\u201d Miller said. \u201cFor women out there who are young actresses who are at the start of their career, have the strength to deserve what you deserve, and that is a safe work environment and a safe place for you to make art.\u201d<\/p>\n

The allegations prompted four other artists to say on Thursday they had resigned as a show of solidarity with the complainants, who have all agreed to be publicly identified.<\/p>\n

Ted Dykstra, who along with Stuart Hughes, Michelle Monteith and Rick Roberts resigned from the company as a symbol of support, said they would not work again with Soulpepper unless Schultz was fired.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t really think choice is involved,\u201d Dykstra said. \u201cI can’t work there knowing what I know. I know these women and I believe these stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

Late Thursday, Dykstra indicated that Schultz’ resignation had changed the situation.<\/p>\n

\u201cYes, absolutely,\u201d he said. \u201cWe will honour our contracts.\u201d<\/p>\n

The lawsuits come as the entertainment industry reels from a growing list of sexual harassment and assault allegations that followed accusations against Hollywood giant Harvey Weinstein last year. Weinstein’s spectacular fall from grace sparked a social media outpouring of women speaking out about what they had endured.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe #metoo campaign has showed us that for the first time people are listening and that people care,\u201d Fagan said.<\/p>\n

Soulpepper bills itself as Toronto’s largest not-for-profit theatre company and Schultz has played a key role in its repertoire. He is also executive producer on the hit CBC TV series, \u201cKim’s Convenience,\u201d a television actor with roles on shows including \u201cStreet Legal\u201d and \u201cAlias Grace,\u201d and was honoured with an Order of Canada in 2013.<\/p>\n

Soulpepper also provides training for aspiring actors and theatre artists.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

TORONTO \u2014 The renowned co-founder of one of the country’s leading theatre companies resigned Thursday, just days after four actresses …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":143657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,2,106,16],"tags":[41649],"class_list":["post-143974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news-ca","category-entertainment","category-hollywood","category-news","tag-albert-schultz","mauthors-colin-perkel","mauthors-the-canadian-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=143974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/143974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/143657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=143974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=143974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=143974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}