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opinion

Marni Jackson is a journalist and author of, most recently, Don't I Know You?

I've known Leslie Lester, former executive director of Soulpepper Theatre for 25 years. I worked briefly on two Soulpepper concert shows last year. I hope this won't discredit what I have to say, because I'm also a longtime member of the arts community who has stood in awe of all that Ms. Lester has contributed to our culture over the past 18 years.

I think her current nightmare is wildly undeserved, and I feel compelled to fill in the reductive, destructive portrait of her that has emerged in the media recently. The Soulpepper board has "severed all ties" with Ms. Lester without offering any reasons for that decision. She is presumed to be complicit in the unproven sexual allegations against Albert Schultz just because she is married to him. This is pretty old-school thinking, in our season of seismic change. She is so much more than "wife of."

When I first met Ms. Lester, she was a young, fearless, feminist theatre producer, committed to supporting women's voices in her role as a producer at Nightwood Theatre. Between 1994 and 2001, she produced Djanet Sears' award-winning play Harlem Duet, supported Diane Flack's early career as a writer, and put Ann-Marie MacDonald's first musical on stage. She also worked as stage manager and producer with another pioneering company, Videocabaret Theatre. (Full disclosure: I'm on the board.) Then she moved to Soulpepper, where her skill, vision and hard work helped bring about the unprecedented success the theatre has enjoyed.

Her brilliance as a producer was established long before she embarked on her relationship to Albert Schultz. He didn't just hire his idle, nail-filing wife as a yes-person. And when the couple made their relationship clear to the Soulpepper board, they trusted that Ms. Lester would continue to put her role as executive director ahead of any conflicting loyalties to her partner. If the board saw any potential for conflict of interest, they had many years in which to correct that situation.

Ms. Lester says that no one ever came to her with any complaints of sexual allegations against her husband at Soulpepper. If the company members had feared, understandably, that she might not be unbiased when it came to such personal charges against her own husband, they could have gone to Equity or to the board – who are humans with cellphones, after all, not Olympian gods. The board could have then investigated the charges or acted to change the management structure at Soulpepper, if necessary.

In other words, the board could have prevented the collateral damage of this trial-by-media to Ms. Lester and to the company members who have poured their enormous talent and hearts into making Soulpepper one of the cornerstones of Canadian culture.

Ms. Lester has made a huge contribution to theatre as a catalyst, fundraiser, mentor and a visionary in her own right, not just a plus-one. Now she is dealing with professional, personal and financial devastation. I have no wish to join the #MeToo backlash; I have shared my own story of workplace harassment in Maclean's four years ago. I just find it heartbreaking that a movement to support and protect women has caused so much unnecessary pain to one of us in its wake.

Can we not find a more healing, truth-and-reconciliation-style alternative to this trial by media? Why did this all start with lawsuits rather than with some fair, face-to-face mechanism for getting at the truth? I guess the answer is that no such mechanism exists.

Years ago, I knew a 13-year-old girl, whom I'll call Hayley. She had been abused by her stepfather at home so she ran away and was living on the streets. I wanted to help her so I was asking among my friends if anyone knew of a safe spot for her. Most were wary – as was I. But Ms. Lester immediately offered to let her stay in Nightwood's theatre offices, after hours. She did not ask questions or hesitate; she simply handed me a key, which I gave Hayley, who was grateful for somewhere to sleep that night. The arrangement didn't last, but I admired Leslie Lester for this small but significant act, entrusting her own environment to a girl in need of a safe place.

The search for safety in the workplace has now gained powerful momentum. This is welcome and long overdue. But if even a movement in pursuit of fair and respectful treatment can judge a woman by the ring on her finger, we still have some evolving to do.

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