[NEohioPAL]Withdrawal from Performance Due to Tragedy

Sat Sep 15 23:56:02 PDT 2001

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As many of you may or may not know, Huntington Playhouse was in its final 
week of production with Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know. After a 
mind-boggling week, I felt the need to remove myself from the final three 
performances of this production. The material in this review deals with 
travel horrors and is now wildly inappropriate, insensitive and irreverent 
after the past week's tragic events.

I can't begin to tell you how difficult Thursday night's performance was 
and how much of the show's content made me physically and emotionally sick 
to present. I came to the theater under the pretense that some of the more 
sensitive material was going to be cut. I was completely appalled to find 
upon my arrival to the theater that night that the show would basically be 
presented "as is." Minor edits were made: the deletion of the sound of an 
incoming plane, the removal of the phrase "Flight 911", the deletion of 
explosion sounds, the removal of a costume of robes for a song about 
Uzbekistan.

This review, although written a while back and not intended with any ill 
will, sports some of the following lyrics: "On behalf of your entire crew, 
I'd like to welcome you aboard Flight 911" ... "We can gamble with fate in 
Kabul or Kuwait, Guaranteed we'll have a blast, Seeing America Last" ... 
"If the pilot says you're crashing, simply treat it as a joke" ... "Before 
some ayatollah starts a righteous row, see it now" ... "Buckle your seat 
belt, hold your breath, time again to flirt with death, Oh God I love to fly."

I have found some people trying to minimize this tragedy: "life goes on", 
"people were in need of a laugh", "ticket sales have gone up", "we don't 
have a security risk being so far away." Not the point. I stand firm in my 
belief that we must pause and honor the many people who lost their lives, 
not make a mockery of the terror they went through. Sometimes the show 
MUSN'T go on, especially when it is distasteful in the light of recent events.

I have apologized profusely to my cast members but felt that my decision for 
what met the standards of proper and decent was the correct one for me. I am 
putting this out there so that my decision will not be misconstrued and to 
thwart the rumor mill that might distort it into a garbled mess as it has 
done so many times before.

Many thanks for listening and hopefully understanding,
Laurel Held-Posey

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<HTML>As many of you may or may not know, Huntington Playhouse was in its final 
 week of production with Secrets Every Smart Traveler Should Know. After a 
 mind-boggling week, I felt the need to remove myself from the final three 
 performances of this production. The material in this review deals with 
 travel horrors and is now wildly inappropriate, insensitive and irreverent 
 after the past week's tragic events.
 
 I can't begin to tell you how difficult Thursday night's performance was 
 and how much of the show's content made me physically and emotionally sick 
 to present. I came to the theater under the pretense that some of the more 
 sensitive material was going to be cut. I was completely appalled to find 
 upon my arrival to the theater that night that the show would basically be 
 presented "as is." Minor edits were made: the deletion of the sound of an 
 incoming plane, the removal of the phrase "Flight 911", the deletion of 
 explosion sounds, the removal of a costume of robes for a song about 
 Uzbekistan.
 
 This review, although written a while back and not intended with any ill 
 will, sports some of the following lyrics: "On behalf of your entire crew, 
 I'd like to welcome you aboard Flight 911" ... "We can gamble with fate in 
 Kabul or Kuwait, Guaranteed we'll have a blast, Seeing America Last" ... 
 "If the pilot says you're crashing, simply treat it as a joke" ... "Before 
 some ayatollah starts a righteous row, see it now" ... "Buckle your seat 
 belt, hold your breath, time again to flirt with death, Oh God I love to fly."
 
 I have found some people trying to minimize this tragedy: "life goes on", 
 "people were in need of a laugh", "ticket sales have gone up", "we don't 
 have a security risk being so far away." Not the point. I stand firm in my 
 belief that we must pause and honor the many people who lost their lives, 
 not make a mockery of the terror they went through. Sometimes the show 
 MUSN'T go on, especially when it is distasteful in the light of recent events.
 
 I have apologized profusely to my cast members but felt that my decision for what met the standards of proper and decent was the correct one for me. I am putting this out there so that my decision will not be misconstrued and to thwart the rumor mill that might distort it into a garbled mess as it has done so many times before.
 
 Many thanks for listening and hopefully understanding,
 Laurel Held-Posey
 
 </HTML>

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