Who's Getting WET?
Fredonia NY – During an all-day tech rehearsal, while designers and technicians write cues and try to get used to the new light board and such, there is a lot of time to sit and do nothing but cruise the net. So I came across this little number as I was reading Arts Journal.
This, to me, is the classic arrogance of New York City theatre – sueing another theatre company 3,000 miles away over an acronym. Two quotes from the article are particularly relevant:
“This is a bullying tactic,” said Gina Driscoll, an attorney and a member of the advisory board at Washington Ensemble Theatre. “If somebody files a federal complaint, you have to answer—and if somebody’s not in a position to fight it, they have to lie down and comply. They’ve put us between a rock and a hard place.”
“What is the state of nonprofit theater in America today,” asked Washington Ensemble Theatre member Marya Sea Kaminski, “when one theater across the country doesn’t believe we can co-exist in a national marketplace, and would rather tie up both their artists and ours in lawsuits and going to court instead of making art?”
What, indeed? -twl
