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THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINA
CHAPEL Hilt
February 14, 1990
Dr. David W. Weiss
139 University Circle
No. 3
Charlottesville, VA 22903
Dear David:
In a way, this letter is getting way ahead of myself, but on the other hand,
considering the amount of preparation involved in the implementation of the idea,
perhaps it�?Ts even timely. Cryptic intro, but all will be made clear.
For several years now, PBS has run a series of one-hour panel sessions, always
-iftroduced by Fred Friendly and. often hosted by Harvard law prof Arthur Miller.
The setting is a large room with a half-round table. Seated around the table are
perhaps 15 well-known, influential and successful people from a variety of
professions. Mr. Miller is not seated. He wanders along the table, sitting on
it from time to time as he poses questions to the panel members.
At the top of the program, Mr. Friendly sets the scene. "Tonight, we shall
explore ethical issues involved in the controversy of euthanasia." With that, we
cut to Miller, who poses a hypothetical situation and then asks specific
questions of the panel. They are very difficult questions, not easy to answer,
no obvious right or wrong responses, two-sides-of-the-coin-type questions. An
answer from a panel members leads Miller to another question. He lets the
answers lead into revealing more about the hypothetical situation. "OK, you say
the answer is ~B�?�, and we�?oll accept that. But if it truly is ~B�?�, then what will
be the consequences of ~B�?o?" And they go into the consequences of the answer
given by the panel member. It�?Ts all terribly thought-provoking, and I find it
fascinating to watch and listen to "great" minds put through their paces.
The other night the panel was hosted by Charles Nesson of Harvard. Miller must
have been fishing. On the panel were the director of the FBI, the U.S. Attorney
General, Dan Rather, a U.S. congressman, an undercover cop, a state district
attorney, a federal judge, a local defense attorney, the director of the CIA,
Bill Buckley, a professor of the Kennedy School of Government, the founder of New
York City�?�s Guardian Angels, the mayor of Baltimore, and a professor of a New
York City law school. I�?�ve seen the program with Presidents Ford and Carter on
the same panel.
ae, ere
I would like to offer the Institute�?�s version of such a panel session at the
annual outdoor drama conference. Questions to consider might be:
- You are a general manager. The director of your show comes to you and asks if
he can change one or two words in the script. Not a big change. Just a couple
of "inconsequential" words which will "make or break" a pivotal scene. What do
you tell him?
- You are a general manager. It�?Ts been raining all summer and youre in the
last two weeks of the season. Revenues are way off, and the financial health of
the company depends on a strong finish to the season. Tonight you hear on the
weather forecast that there is an 85 percent chance of a thunderstorm. Halfway
through the first act, you hear the storm coming. Some dramas have been known to
instruct their companies to go into "rain tempo". Others are known to cut entire
scenes and dance numbers just to get through the first act. What are you going
to do tonight?
- Again, you are the general manager. Two weeks before the season ends, you get
a visit from a company member who says he has to leave the company in three days
to return to college. He knows this will break his contract, but he has to get
back to school. What do you do? This is one of those questions which can lead
into more exploration of the problems in this area. I°ve heard suggestions that
the Institute establish a "black list" for such contract breakers. I°m not going
to do that, of course.
. You are an actor at SETC, at a callback in a director�?Ts suite. The director
Says you are perfect for the lead, talks up a wonderful scenario of the summer,
offers pretty good money, but says you need to sign a contract on the spot or
forget his offer. What do you do?
- You are an actor, and after working the first week for a small, first-year
outdoor historical drama, are told that paychecks won�?ot be forthcoming until
after the second week of performance because of cash-flow problems. What do you
do?
- You are the only scene designer THE LEGEND OF THE LOST TRUMPET has ever had.
You�?��?ove come to discover that the show is going to bring in a new scene designer
to begin a five-year process of redesigning all the scenery. The first year he
will redesign two scenes, the second year two more, and so on. Your scene work
will slowly be phased out over five years; however, during that time the new
designer will be listed as THE scene designer. You will not be given any program
credit. Does that bother you?
» You are the general manager of THE HORN IN LINCOLN�?TS JACKET, which has three
Equity members working on a guest artist contract. Today, you get a letter from
Equity informing you that the company is being fined $15,000 and assessed one
week�?Ts salary for each of the three Equity actors employed, because the company
videotaped a performance two weeks ago for "archival purposes" without getting
permission from Equity. This is news to you, and upon checking into the matter,
you determine that the director has asked the Equity PSM to tape the show from
the back of the house so that he can refer to it next year during blocking
rehearsals. The PSM posted a notice on the company call board on the night of
the taping informing the company that the show would be taped, and then he taped
the show. The next day, one of the Equity members called the Union, and the
Union wrote the letter to you. What do you do?
(Incidentally, that happened to me at THE LOST COLONY, and the PSM was an Equity
member, )
Well, as you can see, there are many interesting situations to present to the
panel, but for this to work, the moderator and the panel need to be sharp and
quick thinkers. Here is the pitch: Would you be interested in devising the
hypothetical situations and moderating the panel? I cant think of anyone in the
field more respected than you, and with your knowledge of the workings of an
Outdoor company, you will be able to adjust to panel answers and lead discussions
in logical directions. I think this will be terribly interesting, thought
provoking, at times controversial, and very educational ... not to mention fun.
I pose this now thinking that if you take this on, you will have plenty of
preparation time and opportunities to watch Arthur Miller and company on PBS. Be
thinking about it, and let�?os talk in Nashville.
SincereVy
yee
Scott J. Parker
Director
SJIP/svo