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Margaret “Penny” Mason.
A trial lawyer with experience investigating sexual misconduct claims will help Long Wharf Theatre figure out how an alleged sexual predator and harasser was able to run the joint for so long.
The theater’s board hired the attorney, Margaret “Penny” Mason, to conduct a 90-day “independent review of the theatre’s policies and procedures,” according to a press release issued Wednesday afternoon.
The review is part of the theater’s response to this New York Times expose published last week, in which numerous women accused Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein of years worth of repeated sexual misconduct. The board fired Edelstein, who hasn’t publicly responded to the allegations, the day after the story appeared online.
The board also hired “culture change expert” Maria Trumpler, director of Yale University’s Office of LGBTQ Resources, to “facilitate workshops and trainings” for staff.
Board Chair Laura Pappano is quoted in the Long Wharf release saying that Mason’s recommendations can help the theater figure out how its existing mandatory trainings and sexual harassment policies failed to fell short.
Mason, a partner in the Long Wharf office of the LeClairRyan law firm, has represented businesses and physicians in over three decades fo state and federal trial work focusing on medical malpractice defense and age, sex, and race discrimination.