Canadian theatre director accused of sexual misconduct
MONTREAL: Four actresses accused Canadian theatre director and actor Albert Schultz of being a “serial sexual predator,” the latest in a wave of women going public with past abuses by powerful men.
Diana Bentley, Kristin Booth, Patricia Fagan and Hannah Miller each fi led a lawsuit on Wednesday, after which Schultz announced he was stepping down from Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre Company, which he co-founded, pending the investigation. “For my clients, this pattern of abuse started as soon as they began their careers at Soulpepper,” the women’s lawyer said.
The allegations concern events that took place between 2000 and 2013.
“The # MeToo campaign has shown us that for the fi rst time people are listening and that people care,” Fagan said, referring to the social media campaign revealing sexual misconduct after allegations of widespread abuse surfaced against Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Booth, who starred in the series Orphan Black, added: “There is a window open for women like myself, Diana, Trish and Hannah and all the other women that we have heard from (who) have suffered at Albert’s hand and others like him.”
Two co-founders and two artistes under contract with Soulpepper also announced at the press conference that they were resigning in solidarity with the four women.
In announcing he was stepping away from his role during the probe, Schultz said “these claims make serious allegations against me which I do not take lightly.”
“Over the coming time period, I intend to vehemently defend myself,” he added.
The plaintiffs are demanding nearly C$ 8 million ( RM25.6 million) in damages from both Schultz and the theatre company, according to local media.
Other Canadian entertainment fi gures have also seen sexual harassment allegations force their careers into a nosedive, including producer Gilbert Rozon and Canadian broadcast producer and host Eric Salvail.
Meanwhile, a German TV director, Dieter Wedel, has denied accusations of sexual harassment and assault in Germany’s fi rst such case.
The 75-year- old Wedel, who made several hit German TV series, was accused in the magazine of Die Zeit weekly by actresses Patricia Thielemann and Jany Tempel of sexual assault in separate incidents in his hotel rooms in 1991 and 1996.
Wedel denied the allegations in a statement issued by his lawyers and published on the website of the Bad Hersfeld theatre festival that he has run since 2015. — AFP/Reuters