Wes Martin's response to Bobb Cooper's response to Wes Martin's Letter to Lisa Arnseth about the ariZoni Awards. Whew.
Mark S.P. Turvin
mspt@goldfishpublishers.com
Received 8/1/03

Date: Fri, 1 Aug 2003 11:58:55 (PDT)
From: Wes Martin
Subject: Zoni's
To: bobb@vyt.com, Mark Turvin, (A long list of local artistic directors of theatre companies involved with the ariZoni awards)

The following is my response to Bobb Cooper's letter, responding to a letter I sent to Mark Turvin earlier this week. Mark, feel free to post my response if you wish.

I send this to all of you because your repective theatre companies are also participating members in the ariZoni Awards, and I feel you should be aware as well. Please pass this on to whoever you would like.

If you haven't already done so, I encourage all of you to visit Mark's website at http://www.goldfishpublishers.com to read what I had to say, and what Mr. Cooper said in response, before reading the following.

Mr. Cooper,

Let me start by saying I was not surprised by either the content or the tone of your response to my letter to Lisa Arnseth. In fact, I found it to be very similar to the way these issues were addressed by you in that meeting you referred to. You know the one where you referred to ALL the representatives of the participating theatres as ìwhining and complainingî. Ever since you have taken the helm of the zoni awards, that has been your primary way of addressing any issue that has been brought up to you: to become defensive and blame what you claim is the participating theatreís lack of participation in the organization, or to say we are just ìwhining and complainingî and to ignore the complaint entirely.

I would also like to remind you that not all of us work for a theatre company with a multi-million dollar annual budget that can afford to pay an Artistic Director a healthy full-time salary, so that all he/she has to concentrate on is their theatre and being members of boards for other organizations like the zonies. The Shakespeare Theatre, like many other participating members of the ariZoni Awards, IS AN ALL VOLUNTEER ORGANIZATION. I, like Damon Deering of Nearly Naked Theatre, Tim Butterfield, and Tom Leeven before him, at Is What It Is Theatre, and many others, volunteer our spare time (and often times our own money) to our theatre companies. We have all the same duties and responsibilities that you have running Valley Youth Theatre, and it demands the same kind of time commitment that you have. THE DIFFERENCE IS WE WORK DAY JOBS AS WELL TO PAY OUR BILLS. Many of us donít have any spare time left to offer. And frankly, as you say, if the irresponsibility of ìa few adjudicatorî that causes the problem, and that other than ìpoking or proddingî there is, in your words, ìnothing else you can doî, WHAT GOOD WILL IT DO ME TO JOIN YOUR BOARD OF DIRECTORS ANYWAY? And if it is only a ìfew adjudicatorsî causing the problem, and if they are eliminated as soon as it becomes a problem, WHY HAS THE SHAKESPEARE THEATRE HAD THIS PROBLEM ON EVERY SINGLE PRODUCTION OVER A FIVE YEAR PERIOD? Besides, based on the way you talked to the members of your board of directors at that annual meeting, you never listen to them anyway!

You imply in your letter, in your usual condescending manner, that I never addressed this issue to you or my liaison. I would also like to point out that I have addressed this issue to my liaison on numerous occasions, and even addressed the problem to you personally at that annual meeting you spoke of. My liaison did what she could, but I believe she became just as frustrated with dealing with this issue as I am. I also notice she is no longer the liaison for Non-Contracted Theatreís anymore. Could that be related? As for your response at the meeting, you simply became defensive, made similar comments to the ones in your letter, and then changed the subject. In all the time I have been complaining about this problem (and I have complained, loudly and frequently), and gone through proper channels to do so, I have never received a call, letter or e-mail from you or anyone else in the organization addressing, or for that matter even acknowledging the issue. Itís sad that it took my open letter to Mark Turvin to finally get your attention.

Your response did change my opinion on one issue. I no longer consider the adjudicators or the organization itself to be the problem. As far as I am concerned, the main problem with the aziZoni Awards right now is YOU and the condescending attitude you have toward the participating theatre companies. I mean, when the president of the organization shows such an utter lack of respect for the participating theatre companyís he is supposed to be representing, why should the adjudicators act any differently?

I would address more of your comments further, but I donít have the time or the desire. I have both a hearing aid office (my day job) and a theatre company to run. And I will put my money not where you recommend, ìWhere my mouth isî, but instead I will put the money where it should be, in The Shakespeare Theatre bank account, to use toward our productions. I have asked Deanne to return our annual application fee ($75 fee, $100 late fee total of $175) for this year, and I expect it to be returned in full and as soon as possible. Now you will have on less whining, gossiping theatre to worry about. Keep running things the way you do, and soon you wonít have to worry about ANY OF US.

Let me leave you with one last thought, Mr. Cooper: The theatre companies in Arizona do not exist for the zonies, the ariZoni Awards exist for us. I have no doubt in my mind that The Shakespeare Theatre will continue to provide quality theatre to the community, will continue to get actors out to audition for us, and continue to grow and prosper without being part of the ariZoni Awards. My question is: How many more theatre companies will you alienate before you come to realize that the ariZoni Awards canít exist without us?

Wesley H. Martin, BFA
President, The Shakespeare Theatre