FEBRUARY 2, 2025

Dear reader,

This week, Weyni Mengesha announced that she will be stepping down from her role as the artistic director of Soulpepper Theatre Company in August, wanting to spend more time with her family. Mengesha is making a decidedly less dramatic departure than her predecessor. In 2018, Albert Schultz, who co-founded Soulpepper and served as its artistic director for 20 years, abruptly left the company after four women launched a $7.85-million sexual harassment suit against him. (They settled the same year, with no details released publicly.) 

Even before these allegations, Schultz was a controversial figure. To his admirers, he was a mad visionary, a man whose creative genius was the engine that drove the troupe. To others, he was a mercurial narcissist who was much too accustomed to getting his way. This week, we’re revisiting Leah McLaren’s 2018 story, “Downfall,” an inside look at the anatomy of Toronto theatre’s #MeToo scandal. 

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—Maddy Mahoney, features editor

At Soulpepper, Albert Schultz was a suave and successful impresario who could charm millions out of wealthy donors. Then four actors accused him of sexual harassment. The inside story of his dramatic collapse

BY LEAH MCLAREN | JULY 13, 2018

Like many artists, Albert Schultz was loath to relinquish control. In 1998, he co-founded Soulpepper with a mandate to produce underperformed theatrical classics. He involved himself in almost every aspect of the production process, a micro-managerial approach that was praised by some and excoriated by others. The entire company revolved around his vision—and his whims. When four women came forward alleging that Schultz had sexually harassed them, the theatrical behemoth he had built up suddenly collapsed. 

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