Sally Greene, the woman who appointed Kevin Spacey artistic director of The Old Vic theater in London, has stepped down as a director of the theater’s trust, Variety can confirm.
Greene’s husband, property entrepreneur Robert Bourne, has also resigned as a director of The Old Vic Theatre Trust.
Her decision to step down as a founding trustee after spending more than 20 years at the London theater company comes ahead of Spacey’s trial for sexual assault, which is due to start at the end of June.
The Old Vic found itself at the center of the Spacey storm in 2017 when, following claims made by actor Anthony Rapp, a cascade of allegations about Spacey’s behavior emerged, including a number of claims about inappropriate conduct pertaining to his time at The Old Vic.
An investigation into Spacey’s conduct during his tenure at The Old Vic, which was carried out by an external law firm hired by the theater, resulted in the accumulation of 20 personal testimonies “of alleged inappropriate behavior carried out by Kevin Spacey,” the theater said in a press release following the investigation.
“Despite having the appropriate escalation processes in place, it was claimed that those affected felt unable to raise concerns and that Kevin Spacey operated without sufficient accountability,” the theater admitted in the release.
Greene was chief executive of The Old Vic at the time but, following the investigation the senior management team were reshuffled. Greene was then parachuted into a new role titled “Founding Trustee of The Old Vic” — a role which, according to her website, saw her remain “involved with fundraising to provide for both operational costs and on-going expansion and renewal works.”
Greene, who spearheaded a multi-million dollar campaign to save the theater in the late 1990s, was responsible for hiring Spacey in 2004. According to her website, she “drew upon her powers of persuasion and convinced” the actor to join the theater, where he remained as artistic director for 11 years until 2015.
After the allegations emerged, Greene said she had been unaware of any sexual misconduct allegedly perpetrated by the actor. “I have championed The Old Vic for 20 years and it makes me sick to my stomach to think that people may have suffered from harassment or abuse as a result of their association with the theatre,” she said in a statement, which was reported at the time by The Guardian. (Variety)