Albert Schultz, a theatre icon and the face of Toronto’s prestigious Soulpepper Theatre Company, has resigned from the organization he helped to co-found, the board of directors said in a statement Thursday.The announcement comes just hours after four women who are suing Schultz appeared for a press conference, detailing how a “culture shift” is behind their newfound voice in coming forward with allegations of sexual abuse and harassment against him and the company. “While this has been a tremendously difficult chapter in Soulpepper’s history, today’s decision ensures the organization is able to move forward with confidence and remain a leading Canadian theatre company,” the statement said.Actresses Diana Bentley, Kristin Booth, Patricia Fagan and Hannah Miller, launched four separate civil claims on Tuesday. The women are seeking a total of $4.25 million in damages from Soulpepper, and $3.6 million from Schultz for what they described as a pattern of sexual harassment. “These women, who were all in their early 20s when they met him, were taught from day one to understand that in order to succeed – not just in Soulpepper, but in Canadian theatre more broadly – they would have to suffer in silence,” said co-counsel Alexi Wood at a Thursday morning press conference. “There is fortunately a culture shift that has happened, that is allowing and giving women a voice and some empowerment to come forward to discuss systemic abuse that exists,” she said.In all four claims, the women allege being victimized by a “serial sexual predator” and suffering harassment and assault in what all plaintiffs characterized as “Soulpepper’s best known secret.”Slaps on the buttocks, sexual touching, unwanted embraces and remarks and innuendos about their bodies, clothing and sex are catalogued in the women’s allegations, dating back to two years after Soulpepper opened its d ...
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