Toronto City Councillor Shelley Carroll was the star of the “talkback”, after the matinee performance of Leap of Faith on Tuesday, June 2, at the Village Playhouse. Answering questions from audience and cast, she charmed everyone with her honest assessment of both the difficulties and the successes when working at the municipal level. Noting one project that took 15 years from start to finish, the one word that came to mind was “persistence”. After so much time and energy had been invested, she and her colleagues just had to keep going until success was achieved. When asked why women are still a minority in holding political office at any level – outside of the so-called glass ceiling, which has been cracked in at least some areas by now – one surprising answer is that political campaigns at any level require donations. But women, on the whole, are reluctant to ask for donations to fund their campaign, while men have no problem. And without funding (within the set limits) there is no way to finance a campaign. Asked if Laura Lewis, the onstage character, had a chance of winning her campaign for mayor, Carroll thought for a moment and concluded that Lewis’ solution to the dramatic problem presented, offered hope for success.

However, as the current run of “Leap of Faith” ended in June 4th , we’ll never know! On the other hand, Carroll was returned to office with a huge majority in the recent elections in the City of Toronto.