My point about the fellow who took his life is not that there may or may not be culpability from the director and conductor - we'll find that out in due course. But as in all things, I think it prudent to get all sides of the story, then make judgments based on that - my point is that that single rehearsal may have been the final straw in something that was building up. It may have been their attempt to get him to quit, but it was a first attempt and it wasn't that long a rehearsal if I've read the reports carefully. Until that single rehearsal he had no other incidents with anyone at Chicago in the twenty-two years he received regular employment and payments from them, nor had he been on since February and he was allowed to phone in and not show up. And while they may indeed have been trying to get him to quit, I'm sure he went to Equity to see what his position was, which was the correct thing to do. What they said to him would be interesting to know. But clearly he was having other problems on top of this single rehearsal, and that was and is my only point. None of us know the answers and none of us may ever know the answers but an investigation is ongoing. I'm not taking one side or the other because I don't have all the information I'd need to to that. It's a tragic situation any way you slice it.
