To the editor:
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Out of his own sense of ethics, Doug approached Jeanne Bishop to let her know he had written a play that was partly based on historical events surrounding her and her family. He did this once the play was in preproduction but well before rehearsals started in order to make her aware of the contents of the play. When she made clear she was very bothered by the play, he said in essence, don’t worry; I’ll rewrite the script and remove any and all references to the historical events. Then he did so. The City Lit press release Miner quoted describes the new version of the play as fictional because it is entirely that. It is this new version that went into rehearsals at City Lit and begins previews February 10.
Miner characterizes Doug’s letter to Bishop telling her about the play as one written by “someone in a tight spot hoping to wriggle out.” But Doug was in no tight spot at all. He had stepped forward on his own, and there was nothing in his play that put him in any legal jeopardy. When his attorney pointed out to Bishop’s attorney that there was nothing in the old draft that could be considered remotely actionable, her attorney acknowledged that they weren’t “talking about legalities.” As Bishop is willing to be free with other people’s correspondence, she can surely make available to Miner the series of letters between the attorneys. In it he will see that there is never any kind of specific claim of legal injury, but references by both sides to Doug’s voluntary decision to rewrite.
Terry McCabe
The version of the play Terry McCabe wishes I’d written about is the version he and Douglas Post wouldn’t let me read when I asked for it. The version I did write about is the version City Lit had contracted to produce, had cast, and was publicizing at the time Post finally told Jeanne Bishop it existed. McCabe calls this stage “preproduction,” as though a performance was a cloud on a distant horizon. It could just as easily be called postproduction, for by this time Post’s play had already been workshopped in productions Bishop was told nothing about. The “tight spot” I referred to Post being in was not legal; it was ethical.
