June 14

No Conflict? No Interest.

By Jason Sherman

A letter arrived at my virtual doorstep the other day, from Lynn Slotkin, who reports on matters theatrical for CBC radio’s commuter news program Here & Now. Ms Slotkin had a thing to say about our recently concluded Coldax Festival.

First off, bravo for producing such a bracing series of readings. As for the winner of the Coldax contest, yes Aaron (sp?) Tager certainly got to thinking about the name of the festival. Interesting too, that he was one of the readers in the series (The Murder of Isaac). Looks like a conflict of interest to me. If a similar conflict appeared elsewhere in the ‘community’ you would be all over it with moral outrage. Be careful. Cheers, Lynn Slotkin.

A reply seemed warranted.

Dear Lynn, If a similar conflict appeared elsewhere in the ‘community,’ there would be no need to “be all over it with moral outrage,” since “a similar conflict” would, as in the present case, be no conflict at all. No one from Coldax or the Tarragon benefits materially or otherwise from Mr Tager’s winning the contest. Perhaps the charge you meant to make was one of favoritism, but even then your accusation would be incorrect. Mr Tager’s submission was chosen because it was clearly the most interesting; it even got you thinking, which I would suggest is reason enough to give it the gold star. However, should you come across any true conflicts “elsewhere in the ‘community,’” I trust you will report them at once to the proper authorities, with or without moral outrage. Best, Jason Sherman.

This was followed by a sweet, if short, response.

Dear Jason, It’s always good to read your writing. All the best. Lynn Slotkin

The lollipop is nice, but I’d sooner Ms Slotkin had continued the discussion. Perhaps she has no conflicts to report. But then why the reference to “a similar conflict”? And who in the ‘community’ may have committed it? And why is the word community surrounded by single quotation marks? So many questions. Perhaps you, loyal reader, can be of service. Won’t you take The Slotkin Challenge? If you know of any true instance of conflict of interest in the Toronto theatre ‘community,’ please report it at once to us here at The Wrecking Ball. We promise to launch as thorough an investigation as possible and to report our findings. If only we had as many tools as The Toronto Star or the Globe & Mail, fine newspapers which look for conflicts in every corner of public life, just think what we might do. Well, almost every corner.

Here, to get you started, are some definitions of conflict of interest.

And speaking of morality and art, the Royal Court Theatre in jolly ol’ recently held a debate on the increasingly intertwined subjects. Here’s what was said.

• 14 06 2005 - 08:48