All sorts of kerfluffles with theater companies downtown. Washington Shakespeare Company takes some casting liberties with Lillian Hellman's The Children's Hour (hi, Bill and Jay!) and nearly has the rights pulled.

Then, an overzealous house manager at Arena Stage gets sniffy with a post by volunteer user Mindy Maddrey, who really hated Eric Overmeyer's On the Verge (thanks, Lori!). Briefly, Maddrey was disinvited from serving as an usher in future.

I happen to be very fond of Overmeyer's script, though I didn't see the Arena Stage production; I'd like to think that the production let Maddrey down, rather than the text.

When you see a show for free, even in exchange for some simple labor, the contract between viewer and presenter changes. Still, I think that Maddrey is more in the right than the wrong here, and I'm glad that Arena overruled its house manager and re-invited Maddrey to volunteer as an usher.

posted: 10:16:22 PM