Another Lawsuit Filed Against Children's Theatre, Former Actor

MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – Another former child actor is suing the Children's Theatre Company and a Minneapolis businessman she says abused her in the early 1980s.

Attorney Jeff Anderson said Wednesday that his client, Melissa Beneke, who chose to identify herself publicly, is suing the theater and Jason McLean, a former actor at the theater and the current owner of the Varsity Theater and the Loring Pasta Bar.

The lawsuit comes a month after two other former student actors filed lawsuits against McLean, the theater and its co-founder, John Clark Donahue.

The three lawsuits were made possible by the Minnesota Child Victim's Act, which extended the statute of limitations on old abuse cases.

In the latest one, Beneke says that McLean began abusing her in 1981, when she was a young teenager, and it continued for several years.

She blames the theater for being negligent and not protecting her.

The lawsuit seeks $50,000.