This morning, April 18th, 2008 Michael Riedel reported on the resignation of Tony Phillips from the Drama Desk Committee (click here for the story). Phillips is a national arts correspondent for the gay-themed Edge Publications. Phillips wrote a stinging letter to the committee bashing chairwoman Barbara Siegel as an "imminent danger to the integrity of the organization". Riedel goes on state that Phillips claims he has "watched with growing alarm as Siegel steered this organization away from its mission statement into some wan, doddering, second-rate mock of the Tony Awards."
William Wolf, the Drama Desk responded today with the following letter sent to members of the media:
Dear Drama Desk Members and Production Team colleagues:Today's NY Post will carry a
Michael Riedel column reporting on a hysterical blast by Tony Philips in retaliation for our dismissing him from the Nominating Committee. He gave the Post a copy of his long resignation rant he plans to send to our membership. It is full of lies about the nominating process and is a vicious personal attack against
Barbara Siegel. I'm giving you this heads up, and sending you the following comment that I have given Mr. Riedel in response to his request for one:
The unprofessional attitude that led to our dismissal of Tony Philips from our Nominating Committee is reflected by his telling the press of his resignation before sending it to the Drama Desk.
His attack on
Barbara Siegel, the chair of our Nominating Committee, is outrageous and filled with untruths. I have worked with Barbara closely and have found her to be the most competent, dedicated, efficient and principled leader one would ever hope to find. Like the other dedicated nominators, she serves voluntarily. Because we cover Broadway, Off Broadway and Off-Off Broadway in competition in the same categories, the level of theater-going throughout the season to see more than 400 shows is a huge effort that also requires many discussion meetings by the nominators, especially as we get closer to the end of the season.
The nominators sacrifice much of their time in the spirit of carefully evaluating each show seen and are warned of this intensity when they agree to serve. Shows are short-listed by vote all season so they are kept to the forefront. It turned out that Philips couldn't or wouldn't cooperate to the extent needed and had been non-compliant since mid-winter. We hoped his attitude would change, but for the sake of smooth operation of the committee, dismissed him a few weeks ago as he was becoming increasingly uncooperative. He accuses
Barbara Siegel of bias in evaluating shows. This is absolutely not the case but just the opposite. She is scrupulously fair in making certain that all decisions are taken by vote according to our long-standing nominating procedures. I know from personal experience on the committee last season that Tony's accusations against Barbara are total nonsense and patently false. All decisions are made according to votes within the committee.
Given the necessity of the frequent meetings, it is our policy that the volunteers be served an appropriate lunch when they meet at mealtime. We have a fund for that sort of thing, as well as to pay for necessary equipment, and all is done with approval by our Board of Directors. I am confident that Philips' long, hysterical letter to the membership will be seen as a biased and a disgruntled rant. I not only give a full vote of confidence to
Barbara Siegel but salute her for her leadership.
I am also confident that when the Drama Desk nominations for the 2007-08 season are announced at the Friar's Club on the morning of April 28, they will reflect the hard work of the dedicated nominators arrived at by the most meticulous of voting procedures and dedicated theatergoing.
William Wolf, President, The Drama Desk
