Emily Stone and Bryan Madden weigh in on the discussion between Wes Martin and Bobb Cooper about the ariZoni Awards.
Mark S.P. Turvin
mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Received 8/12/03

Date: Tue, 12 Aug 2003 01:06:46 -0400
From: ***@***.***
Subject: Comments to Mr. Martin
To: Mark S.P. Turvin

Dear Mr. Martin,

we've been closely following the opinion that you make so public in the past few weeks about the ariZoni awards and bobb cooper, ariZoni board president. my name is emily stone and i'm writing to you with a close friend of mine, bryan madden. we are both active in theatre throughout the valley, mostly with valley youth theatre. before you assume this will just be a letter with a biased opinion towards bobb cooper (Valley Youth Theatre's managing artistic director), please take a moment to hear us out and take our opinion as seriously as you have others.

you stress throughout your letters to bobb cooper (Wes Martin & Bobb Cooper's Respones, Wes' Reply) that you have the same amount of responsibility in your job as he does in his, and we do not, in any way, doubt that. but you also add: "THE DIFFERENCE IS WE WORK DAY JOBS AS WELL TO PAY OUR BILLS." what you may or may not realize, is bobb has taken what could've been a part-time job and made it his life. valley youth theatre was not always a multi-million dollar NON-PROFIT organization (i stress non-profit to show that he is still in the same business as the rest of the non-profit theatre companies around the valley). if you visit the valley youth theatre website (www.vyt.com), you will see that the first 11 seasons of valley youth theatre's exsistence in arizona's theatre community ended in complete darkness financially. when mr. cooper was hired as valley youth theatre's Managing Artistic Director in March of 1996, valley youth theatre was performing out of a basement in the shopping center Tower Plaza, located on 40th st. and thomas. bobb spent a year carrying valley youth theatre around the valley, searching for a permanent home. when he found one, he put just as much time and sweat into his theatre company as you, no doubt, put into yours to help it grow to become a success as any business/company in general strives to do.

you mention in your letter your opinion of bobb cooper as not only a business man, but a person as well. we're sorry to hear that your opinion of him is less than satisfactory, but your consistent mention of bobb's condescending tone and manner lead us to think, "if it bothers you so much, then why talk condescendingly in return?" we respect your opinion, just as we hope you would respect ours, but it doesn't help to poke fun or call names. as young people, we aren't in any way trying to disrespect you or call you a hypocrite - you seem to have done that yourself.

Thank you for your time.

Sincerely,
Emily Stone and Bryan Madden