MINNEAPOLIS - Two people who say they were sexually abused years ago by former employees of the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis are filing a civil lawsuit.
St. Paul attorney Jeff Anderson says the two were students in the company. He says one was abused about 1977 and the other about 1983.
Anderson held a news conference Tuesday afternoon where one of the plaintiffs told her story.
"This case is against the culture in Children's Theatre that was, not about the culture that is," said Anderson.
Anderson said numerous children were sexually abused during the tenure of John Clark Donahue. The founder and former artistic director
The Children's Theatre Company, Donahue and another former employee, Jason McLean (who owns the Varsity Theater and Loring Pasta Bar) are defendants in the lawsuits.
Plaintiff Laura Adams appeared with Anderson and said she was "raped" by McLean, who was her co-star in the 1982 production of "Mr. Pickwick's Christmas." Adams said she was 15 at the
"We have held, and I say we, there are a lot of us, we have held this secret far too long," said Adams.
Efforts to reach McLean at his Minneapolis address were not successful.
A statement from McLean's attorney said, "McLean is very surprised that allegations made against him 31 years ago when he was an actor at the Children's Theater have been raised again in 2015. These same allegations were made in 1984 and were investigated by the BCA and by the Children's Theater at that time. After the allegations were investigated in 1984, he resumed his work as an actor at the Children's Theater. No complaint of any kind has ever been brought against Mr. McLean. Mr. McLean had no involvement in or knowledge of the activities for which John Donahue was convicted in 1984. Mr. McLean intends to defend against this lawsuit with all his might and to clear his name."
A person who answered the door and the phone at Donahue's home says he doesn't want to comment.
The Children's Theatre Company issued a response to the lawsuit Tuesday afternoon. It reads, in part, "While this development is unwelcome in the sense that it returns to the forefront events from a difficult chapter in our history, we stand with any victim of abuse in his or her desire to see justice done."
They list four key elements they will emphasize going forward -- mandatory background checks for every paid position, a "rule of 3" so that no staff or volunteer is ever alone with a student in a private space, making socializing with children outside of scheduled rehearsals or CTC-sanctioned activities strictly limited and a mandatory reporting system requiring every staff member to report any suspicion or knowledge of abuse or neglect.
Read the entire letter here.
