It has deeply saddened me to see and hear the level of vitriol being exchanged, mostly on Facebook, in the wake of Langham Court Board of Directors’ decision to cancel the remainder of the 2021-2022 season. Citing a lack of COVID-19 safety protocols, and continuing harassment towards Board members, the announcement was made last week. You can read about it here and on earlier events here. I have acted in two Langham Court productions, in 2002 and again in 2017. The second show, Les Belles Soeurs by Michel Tremblay, was the cause of a human rights complaint against the director of the play Judy Treloar and the company. The complaint involved Treloar’s assertion that there were no Black women in Montreal in the 1960s (a patently false claim) and therefore she could not see a role for a Black actor in the production. You can read about that story here and here. The human rights tribunal complaint was resolved in an undisclosed settlement between the African-Canadian actor, Tenyjah McKenna, and the company. Sadly, Treloar passed away on November 29th.

In the wake of this painful episode–about which I knew while rehearsing the play but was not shared with the full cast and crew until the first preview performance–the company has fractured. Older Langham members are angry and hurt by what they view as a takeover of the Board by ‘woke’ social justice warriors whose aim can only be to destroy the company. The younger generation keep insisting their goal is to strengthen the company moving forward by ensuring that all kinds of harassment will no longer be tolerated. I have been shocked to read about allegations of both racist and sexist behaviour dating back many years, including sexual harassment and assault. If these allegations are proven to be true, the instigators should be arrested and charged. These are very serious charges and absolutely need to be addressed.

But here’s where I differ in my opinion with the Board’s decision to cancel the remainder of this season of three shows: I think it was the wrong call to make. I understand the felt need to take a pause and to do more work to heal the intergenerational divisions in the community. But the company has already lost more than a season to COVID-19 and I can see no upside to cancelling shows that people have been rehearsing and audiences have been looking forward to attending on the claim of a lack of safety protocols. In my view, the healthiest thing for the Langham community would be to move forward with these productions, while also engaging in the hard but necessary work of mending the rifts that have opened up.

Dick Newson, who managed the Langham box office (and has just been let go by the Board) says on Facebook that the company costs $4000 a month just to keep going. Even with reduced audiences under the PHO protocols, surely having half a house is better than none? These bills must be paid, and earning some ticket money, and honouring the hard work of the casts and crews who were ready to go, is the right decision at this moment in time. The company is in crisis; a new General Manager is a crucial hire that should begin immediately. The theatre needs a skilled GM who can tackle the many challenges ahead while keeping the doors open and the lights on. Part of this agenda should be a series of truth and reconciliation meetings amongst members, both older and younger, led by a skilled conflict resolution mediator. There is currently no listening going on in this debate; the lines have been drawn and the camps are Us versus Them. As I said at the beginning of this post, the current situation saddens me greatly. I hope that the members of the Board will reconsider their decision, which does nobody any good and only keeps the current situation going, and that the Langham community can find its way back to health, prosperity and most importantly, to making good theatre.