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THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
Al
CHAPEL. HILI

The University of North Carolina
CBF 3240, NCNB Plaza

Chapel Hill, N.C. 27899-32.4¢

August 1, 1990

Ms. Jessica Andrews

Director, Theatre Program
National Endowment for the Arts
1100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20506

Dear Jessica:

I was delighted to meet you over the phone yesterday and
greatly relieved to find that you don�?Tt hold anything against
me because I hail from...dare I say it...North Carolina.
Truly, you must be a woman with the "milk of human kindness"
running liberally through her veins. Bless you.

This is to officially invite you to represent the Theatre
Program of the National Endowment for the Arts at the Annual
Managers, Directors and Promoters Conference of the Institute
of Outdoor Drama, October 5, 6, and 7 in Cherokee, North
Carolina. This is the only national meeting for those
involved in the production, management or planning of outdoor
drama.

As I mentioned on the phone, it is a rather wide-spread
field, numbering 75 companies (many with fully-paid casts and
a sprinkling of union members), in some 30 states from Kodiak
Island, Alaska, to St. Augustine, Florida and points in
between. I am enclosing a list of outdoor drama companies,
and page proofs from the forthcoming issue of U.S. Outdoor
Drama (in press). Together, they should give you some idea
of the scope of the outdoor drama movement nationally.

Jessica, we think your presence at this national meeting will
serve several important purposes. First and foremost, it
will be an opportunity for the leaders of outdoor historical
drama to meet personally with the the director of the NEA
program which represents their profession. Secondly, it will
give you a chance to get to know us and our end of the
business. And finally, if you are willing to take part in
the formal round-table discussion on "Ethics and Professional
Theatre Practice," we will all benefit from your insight as a
fellow professional.

The topics we plan to deal with during the round-table will
be thought-provoking, hard-hitting and stimulating. Panel
members will be presented with difficult ethical situations
and will be asked to consider possible courses of action in
hypothetical cases with no clear-cut solutions. There will
be vigorous diffferences of opinion on some issues and on
others, unanimous agreement. But, in general, I think we can
anticipate an exciting session characterized by a healthy
intellectual grappeling with important ethical issues.

Dr. Dale Miller, chairman of the theatre department at Purdue
University and artistic director of the outdoor drama The
Battle of Tippecanoe (Lafayette, Indiana), will lead the
round table. Members of the panel include Tony Walsh, dean
of the Florida School of the Arts and artistic director of
Cross and Sword (St. Augustine, Florida); David Mills, a Yale
University graduate who currently serves as general manager
of Viva El Paso! (El Paso, Texas); Margaret Bonamico, general
manager of Trumpet in the Land (Dover, Ohio); and Dr. John
Ahart, director of theatre at the University of Illinois in
Champaign-Urbana, and playwright of Your Obedient Servant, A.
Lincoln (Petersburg, Illinois).

Jessica, I am embarrassed to say that the Conference does not
have the resources to meet your expenses in attending this
meeting. In asking you to attend, we hope that you might be
able to include the Conference as part of a trip to the
Southeast visiting other groups and theatres.

As with all things, it seems, we are on the fast track
putting together the program and anticipate going to press
with the program very soon. I am sure your schedule is
complex and travel plans effect others on your staff. We
would be grateful to hear from you on this as soon as
possible. If you are unable to meet with us, I am
particularly eager to have the woman�?Ts perspective on ethics
represented on this round table and will concentrate my
search with that in mind.

Thanks again for returning my call on such short notice. Our
thoughts and best wishes are with you as you, like Beowolf,
take on Grendel. Beware, his cave is bloody and piled high
with bones and money. We will do all we can from this end.

a
Aa iakr spot e :

coOtt J. Parker
Director