Shared Use of the Indoor Forest Theater 05-03-16

8/17/2019 Shared Use of the Indoor Forest Theater 05-03-16

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I

CITY OF CARMEL-BY-THE-SEA

AGENDA BILL

AB 1122

May 3 2016

Orders

TO: Honorable Mayor and Members

of

the City Council

Chip Rerig, City Administrator

FROM: Janet Bombard, Library and Community Activities Director

SUBJECT: Consideration of a request to authorize shared use

of

the Indoor Forest Theater between

the Forest Theater Guild, Pacific Repertory Theater, and the 2016 Centennial Committee

during the 2016 season.

AMOUNT O EXPENDITURE N/A

AMOUNT BUDGETED N/A

APPROPRIATION REQUIRED N/A

RECOMMENDATION

Community Activities and Cultural Commission recommends that the:

1 City Council authorize exclusive use

of

the Indoor Theater to SoDA (Pacific Repertory School

of

Dramatic Arts) until May 2017, and that in the meantime the City explores ways of creating a

more user friendly space that can be shared, and that

2. City Council direct PacRep to cooperate with the Centennial Committee to provide access to the

Indoor Forest Theater during the Centennial Celebration week and support their efforts.

Staff recommends that the:

1. City Council authorizes shared use of the Indoor Theater between Forest Theater Guild and

PacRep, and that

2. City Council direct PacRep to cooperate with the Centennial Committee to provide access to

thelndoor Forest Theater during the Centennial Celebration

week

and support their efforts.

SUMMARY

Background

The Forest Theater is scheduled to open

for

use during the 2016 season . The occupancy schedule for

the outdoor theater, which is dictated by the weather, comprises the months of April through October

each year. The Indoor Theater can be occupied year-round.

Since

t

least 2005, multiple year contracts

for

tenancy of the outdoor Forest Theater have been

granted to two user groups: Forest Theater Guild and Pacific Repertory Theater. Multiple year

contracts were also granted

for

use of the Indoor Theater, at first to the Children s Experimental

Page 1


2/66

Theater, and subsequently to Pacific Repertory's School

of

Dramatic Arts (SoDA). The most recent

contracts under which the Forest Theater Guild and Pacific Repertory Theater were operating expired

in

2014 and 2015 respectively.

Staff was directed by former City Administrator Doug Schmitz to issue a contract for the use

of

the

Forest Theater, for 2016 only, to the following three user groups: Forest Theater Guild, Pacific

Repertory Theater (PacRep), and the 2016 Centennial Committee, which will put on a one-week

production directed by Walt Defaria as part of the 2016 Centennial celebrations. The groups will

occupy the Outdoor Theater for the following time periods:

• Forest Theater Guild: May 1

-July

28 2016

• PacRep: July

9

October 16 , and, October

24-31

2016

• Centennial production: October

17

- 23, 2016

Staff has received requests from the Forest Theater Guild and Walt Defaria for the Centennial

Committee to use the indoor theater during the terms

of

their tenancies.

The Forest Theater Guild proposes to use their tenancy

of

the Indoor Theater to offer free theater

classes to adults and children.

Walt Defaria, acting on behalf of the Centennial Committee, would like two evenings' use of the main

hall and central area of the indoor theater for additional dressing room space during the 2016

Centennial production dress rehearsal and show at the outdoor theater.

Pacific Repertory Theater wishes to retain exclusive use of the Indoor Theater

to

resume SoDA classes

there. Under the terms of its most recent Forest Theater use agreement, approved

in 201

1 by the City

Council, Pacific Repertory Theater was granted year-round, exclusive use

of

the indoor theater to

operate the School

of

Dramatic Arts (SoDA) for children. Since the closure

of

the Forest Theater,

SoDA has operated out of the Golden Bough Playhouse (which is owned by Pacific Repertory Theater)

on Monte Verde between 8

1

h and g t

h.

Community Activities and Cultural Commission Recommendation

The Community Activities and Cultural Commission (CA CC) considered the matter at its March 8,

2016 and Apri l12, 2016 meetings. After hearing public comment at both meetings, in support of and

against shared use, Commissioners variously gave their opinion that:

• It was not fair to ask a year-round program to suspend activities and that since Pac Rep had

previously had a long term contract, the City should give Pac Rep a year-long contract for the

indoor theater

•

In

the interest

of

what is best for the community, and acknowledging that the City has a clean

slate with regard to tenancy of the venue, the City should help to fac

il

itate sharing the space;

however, the space as it stands is not conducive to sharing

As a result, the Commission voted to make the following recommendation to the City Council: 1. That

the City Council grant exclusive use

of

the Indoor Theater to SoDA (Pacific Repertory School

of

Dramatic Arts) through May 2017, and that in the meantime the C ity explores ways

of

creating a more

user friendly space that can

be

shared, and that 2. The City Council directs PacRep to cooperate with

the Centennial Committee to provide access to the indoor Forest Theater during the Centennial

Celebration week and support their efforts.

Page 2


3/66

City Staff Recommendation

Staff agrees with the Community Activities and Cultural Commission's second recommendation that

Pac Rep should work with the Centennial Committee to accommodate the committee's requested use

of the Indoor Theater during its week-long tenancy in October.

With regard to the first part of the Community Activities and Cultural Commission 's firstrecommendation

- that the City Council authorize exclusive use of the indoor theater to SoDA (Pacific Repertory School

of Dramatic Arts) until May 2017 - in Staff's view no part of the Forest Theater, as a City-owned

community venue, should be reserved for continual use by one group or individual to the exclusion

of

all others. It

is

also fair and logical to allow a user group using the outdoor theater to use and rent the

Indoor Theater during its tenancy at the theater.

SoDA clearly offers an important service to children; however, opening the Forest Theater to a wider

variety of educational opportunities for people of all ages provides added value to the community,

especially given, in this case, that the Forest Theater Guild

is

proposing to offer free classes.

In

the past the Children's Experimental Theater moved out

of

the Indoor Forest Theater during the

summer so that the Forest Theater Guild could make use of both the Indoor and Outdoor Theaters

during its tenancy.

In

the interest

of

fairness and putting a community venue to its best use it would

seem, therefore, that returning to this past practice would serve the needs of all for this year's contract

cycle.

The Pacific Repertory Theater owns a venue out which it currently operates SoDA classes: the Golden

Bough Theater. Pac Rep could continue to hold SoDA classes there through the end of July, thereby

giving the Forest Theater Guild the opportunity to use the Indoor Theater during its tenancy from May 1

through July 8. Alternatively, should Council want to allocate more time to sorting the matter out , the

Indoor Theater contract could be issued to Pacific Repertory through May 2018 with a provision to its

use agreement allowing the Forest Theater Guild to use the indoor theater during its 2017 tenancy.

Furthermore, as part

of

their motion to recommend that Council grant the exclusive use of the Indoor

Theater to SoDA through May 2017, the Community Activities and Cultural Commission also

recommended that the City explores ways of creating a more user friendly space that can be shared .

Should the Council accept this recommendation, in full from the Community Activities and Cultural

Commission, Staff is requesting direction for creating an inclusive and shared theater space.

PRIOR CITY COUNCIL CTION

At its April 5, 2011 meeting the City Council authorized a resolution to enter into a five-year lease

agreement with the Forest Theater Guild for the use

of

the Forest Theater facility.

At its April 5 2011 meeting the City Council authorized a resolution to enter into a five-year lease

agreement with Pacific Repertory Theater for the use

of

The Forest Theater facility, including the Indoor

Theater.

Page 3


4/66

ATTACHMENTS

Attachment

:

Correspondence regarding shared use o the Forest Theater

A P P R O V E D

Date

~ Z t i . ~

Chip Rerig, City fdministrator

Page 4


5/66

Ashlee

right

From

B C

Friday,

April

01, 2016 2:50 PM

Laura Lasnik

nt

Cc:

Steve Dallas; Victoria Beach; Carrie Th eis;

Ken

Talmage Council; ch [email protected];

Ashlee

Wright

Subject

Re : Indoor Forest Theater

Thank you Laura for writing.

Jason K. Burnett

8

I 238.0009

[email protected]

On Apr I, 20

t

6, at 2:46PM Laura Lasnik

wrote:

wan t my voice to ma

ke

a

di

ff

erence on a Cannel City

Co

un

c

il

di sc

us s

ion

and decision

for

the

small theater. By opening up the space to the community, it would allow other small groups a place to hold me etings,

have small lectures, book talks, art discussions , and it would allow other gro ups to also teach classes. There

is

a

misconception thilt by opening up the venue to other user groups that SODA wo u

ld

be eliminated. That is not the case.

In the

three years SODA had exc lusive use, they made the life

of

the Guild miserable by not allowing our actors

use of

the

lower deck to warm up. They would schedule classes and events on top

of

our reltearsals and shows, and it made life very

uncomforrable at the theater for Gu ild participants.

We

did our best to ignore the problem, but at times, it was

unbearable. At a recent Commission meeting, a Commissioner erroneously spoke about this, stating that the groups

~ ] l v a y got along and wo rked together. There is also a large percentage of people that don t even realize there are mu ltiple

use

rs

at

the Forest Theater. People come to see a movie or a play without giving much thought to what theater company

is

there.

PDcRep

bas a strong presence in the community, but

t t ~ y

aren t the only

h t

att:r group in town. Our voice may be

small,

bm

it is mighty, and it is passionate about our community.

Thank you,

Laura Lasn ik

La ura

Lasnik,CALB

RE 01132625

David Lyng Real Estate

Lincoln between Ocean

7th

Ca rmel-by-the -Sea, CA

93

9 21

Ambassador to the Carmel Chamber

of

Commerce

(831) 419-4035

[email protected]

Lauraca

rmel

ByTheSea. com

[ j


6/66

Ashlee right

From

Sent

To

Cc

Subject

Council

Todd Weaver

Fnday April

2016

3:03 PM

Victoria Beach; Steve Da llas; Carrie Theis; Ken Ta lmage Counci l;

[email protected]; [email protected]

As

hlee

Wr

i

ght

Indoor

Theater for the Com munity

I am wnt ing as a board member of

the

Forest Theater Guild a proud Carmel

commun

ity

member,

and from a family

who

enjoys the arts.

It 1s mv strong op inion and pragmatic ethical duty to allow the in

door

theater to be uti l ized by the community. This

i

ndoor

space must be available for use

by

groups that want

to

use it.

I

fo r one

would

utilize the space to conduct

audit ions for a

community

theater play I wrote and hope to

perform

in the 2017 season I also

know of

many others who

would utilize the space throughout

the

year that

would benefit our community

At the last counci l

meeting

there seemed

to

be a

lot

of discussion

about

the

complex

it ies of offering this space to the

co

mmu

nity or what

to

do about the copier and other such trivial of f-topic things .

The FIRST topic is

IF

the i

ndoor

space should be used as a community space. Nothing more until that is voted on .

IF the answer is

YES as

it SHOULD

BE),

then we work out the

detai

ls to

allow

the community to use the space.

IF the answer is NO then the status quo stays.

So I ask you

to

FIRST decide if th is space is a commun

it

y space or an exclusive space. Which one?

Since the logical choice is it is a community space and I would

hope

your

vote would

agree unanimouslv THEN we move

on

to

the details

of

which

group

gets

to

use

it at what time

and

duration

each year.

But

I

want to

make it cl

ear that

the

FIRST question must be

answered

before moving on

to

the details

o

how to implement.

Thanks for listening

I

Todd Weaver


7/66

Ashlee right

From

Sent

To

Subject

Todd Weaver

Friday, April 01, 2016 3:10 PM

Victoria

Beach;

Steve Dallas; Carrie Theis;

Ken

Talmage Council;


Ashl

ee

Wr

i

ght

Re:

Indoor

Theater for the Commun ity

As a follow-up, and rebuttal

to

the Fight for SODA message, I would suggest using this quote Share the Indoor

Theater

SODA

can and SHOULD have access

to the

theater . Just like all

community

groups.

It is about

SHARING

the community space.

So when you hear Fight for SODA or other such language, which is twisting a message

to

make it sound as though any

opposition to exclusivi

ty means SODA cannot use the space.

The goal

is

to

have the space usable by ALL the community, including SODA .

A nice peaceful resolution.

Thanks again

for

listening'

Todd Weaver

>On Apr 1, 2016, at 3:

03PM,

Todd Weaver

wrote:

>

>Council,

>

> am writing,

as

a board member of the Forest Theater Guild, a proud Carmel community member, and from a family

who enjoys the arts.

>

> It is my strong opinion, and pragmatic ethical duty, to allow the

indoor

theater

to

be ut ilized by the community. This

indoor

space

must

be available

for

use by groups

that

want

to

use it. I for one

would

utilize

th

e space

to

conduct

auditions for a

community

theater play I wrote and hope to perform in the 2017 season, I also know of many others who

would utilize the space throughout the year that would benefit

our

commun ity)

>

>At the last council meeting

there

~ e e m e

to

be a

lot

of discussion about the complexi t ies of offering this space

to

the

community

, or

what

to

do

about the

copier

and

other

such trivial

off-topic

things.

>

>

The FIRST

topic is IF

the

indoor space should be used as a community space. Nothing more unti l that is voted on.

>

>IF

the

answer is YES (as it SHOULD BE), then w e work out the details

to

allow the community

to

use the space.

>IF the

answer is NO,

then the

status quo stays.

>

>So I ask you to FIRST decide if this space is a community space, or an exclusive space. Which one?

•


8/66

>

>Si n

ce

the logical choice is

it

is a

community

s

pa

ce, and I would hope your

vot

would agree unanimously,

TH N

we

v

on to the details,

of wh

ich

group

gets to

use

it at

what

t i

me

and durati on each year. But I

want

to

make

it

clear

that the FIRST question

must

be answered before moving on

to

the deta ils

of

how

to implement.

>

>Thanks for listening

>

Todd

Weaver

>


9/66

Ashlee Wright

From

nt

To

Subject

To Whom It May Concern:

RB@gmai l

Friday Apri l 01 2016 3:37

PM

[email protected]; Ashlee Wr ight; Victoria

Beach;

[email protected]; Carrie Theis;

Ken

Talmage Council;

ch

ipcarmel@gmai l com

Indoor

Theater for the Community

Please consider the Indoor

Theate

r to be regarded as a

Community

space for all.

Allowing

only

one user/group

to have

ful l exclusive rights

to

the indoor

theater

limits the community It is possible

to

share this space which would benefit the

needs of the many.

Thank you for

your

t ime

Roeya Banuazizi

roeyabanuazizi@gmai l.com


10/66

Ashlee right

From

Sent

To

Subject

Dear C

it

y Council Members

Ben Jonas

Fr

iday, Ap ril 01 2016 5:02 PM

Ashlee Wri

ght

Use of the Indoor Theater at the Forest Theater

It s really exciting to hear

that

yo u are considering opening the

indoor portion

of the Forest Thea

ter

to the

communi ty at large. The Forest Theater was created to serve the

Ca

rm el community. It was built for the commun ity- a

group of people living in the same place connected by common feelings and beliefs. That

is

its history. It is therefore,

ridiculous that any

member of the Ca

r

mel community

would fight against opening

the indoor

t heater to everyone

because they d be able to use the facility just like any other member of the

community

.

Why

exclude your neighbors and

community members

from

tak ing advantage of such a wonderful amenity? Community is

about

more than increased

revenues.

The

Forest Theater is ideal for community, amateur performances and shows because it s

sma

ll and wi thout

many

of the amenit ies

that

a professional

theater

has . And that s OK. A place fo r

com

muni

ty membe

rs to

perfor

m and

share

th

eir art distinguishes the Forest Theater in a wonderful way. Not all art needs

to

made on high.

Also I

wou

ld request

that

City Council clenr the air a bit . There s a gr

eat

deal

of

confusion rega rding

who

operates the Forest Theater. One group

or

production company does not so lely own nor operate the Forest Theater. It s

used by community members and is owned by the City. Please affirm that.

Opening the oo r theater of t he Forest Theate r to the commun ity as a who le

is

a wo nd erfu l idea . Thank you.

Doing so wil l encourage

community

participation, bring people closer to their neighbors and increase civ ic pride (and we

could use some more of all that).

Thank you for your consideration,

Benjamin Jo

nas


11/66

Ashlee Wright

rom

nt

To

Subject

De ar City Coun

ci

l

RoCo Schmidt

Friday April 01 2016 3:56 PM

Ashlee Wrigh

t;

Vi

cto

ria Beach; dallasforcarmel@gmai

l.com

; Ca rrie Theis; Ken Talmage

Council; [email protected]; [email protected]

Ind

oor

Theater

=

Communi

ty

Space

Please consider the indoor theater space to be used y and for the community. Gra nt ing one user group exclusivity

limits the community and is counter productive . Please chose to share the indoor theate r.

Many

thanks

The Schmid t Family

[email protected]


12/66

shlee

Wright

From

Sent

To

Cc

:

Subject

Hello Stephen,

Stacy Meheen

Saturday Apri l 02 2016 7:16 PM

Stephen Moorer

Ashlee

Wright

Victoria Bea

ch

Vi

ctor

ia Beach Council; Steve

Da

l

las

Carrie Theis;

Ch

ip

Rerig; Jason Burnett;

Ken

Ta

lmage Counci l; klg legal@hotmai l.com; Ch ip

Re

rig; Janet

Bombard

Illegal propaganda fo r

Indoor

Forest Theater

As you are aware, my

daughter

is a

cast member

in Alice in Wonderland for PacRep s

SODA

production that

opened last night. Although I am connected to the Forest Theater Guild, I am passionate about the arts, and my

family supports all theaters

and

dramatic programs, because I strongly believe in t

he

value

and

importance of

dramatic arts. I bring

my

voice

students to your productions to inspire them

by

watching musical theater,

my

daughter participates in

your SODA

productions, and I

am

a regular patron to

as many shows

as I can

make

time to see. But you, sir, have

crossed

the line with your current method for

drumming up

support for your

position regarding the

Indoor

Theater, and I will not stand for it.

This morning, you sent a wonderful congratulatory email to the cast (the email is listed below) in which you

chose

to

use a

moment

t

hat

should

have

been a sincere congratulations to a cast for a

job

well done to further

advance your message

about

the

Indoor

Theater. I especially Jove your line from Alice, "Curiouser and

curiouser", since, altl1ough

my daughter

is

in

the cast, my email address was conveniently left

off

this

email to

a ;

parents. You twisted

your

position to influence the parents of this production, and that in itself is

wrong. But what

REALLY

has

me

fired up is what

just

happened when J dropped

my daug

hter

off

tonight for

the evening show.

As I was getting her in

her

costum

e, a cast mem ber was running around, gathering

other child

actors. He came

to Karen, and told her

she was ''

needed" outside.

He

said she wasn't in trouble, but that

she

needed to go

outside. I assumed it

was

a cute, inside-ca:::.t kind

of

thing,

so

I let her go .

She

was gone ab

out

ten minutes, and

when she came back,

she was

visibly upset. 1asked

her

what was wrong, and she said that

the

city is closing

the SODA program, and the kids were

making

videos to talk about why it

shou

ld

be

saved. SHE'S EJGHT

YEARS OLD

1

Number

one,

you hav

e NO RI

GHT

to use

MY

CHILD,

or

ANY CHILD in your

propaganda. You

DlD NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION

to use

my

daughter in a propaganda video, and I can

guarantee since

T

was there

and

witnessed everything that NO PARENT was asked for permission. I

immediately took Karen

outside and

confronted

the

students, but I know they didn't

come

up with this idea on

their own. I also spoke to

your

stage manager.

You should be ashamed

of

yourself. I get that you are a business man and you

want your

theater t.o continue to

be successful. But if

my

daughter,

or

any of these chi ldren s

how

up in a video that goes before the council on

Monday, will be contacting legal counsel. Leave the children out of this. It has nothing to with them.

I am most disappointed for

my

daughter. She loves

any

opportunity to perform,

and seeing her

face after she

was coerced into

making

a

video based

on

half

-truths

just

makes

me

sad .

She didn

't deserve to be pulled into

this fight. And it never

had

to be a fight in the first place.

-Stacy Meheen


13/66

From: Stephen Moorer

Date: April 2, 20 I 6

at

7:40:57 AM PDT

To: Michele Swanston < ~ ¥ a n s t o m @ g m a i l c o m >

Cc: Regan Mornhinweg , AkashaJ Brown

, Seth Bates , Nick Mireles

, [email protected], Barbara Utter ,

Barren Heyv.·ood , [email protected], Lydia

Mansour , lauren Mansour , Stephanie Ott one

, Jessica DiMar

co

, wendy more

, [email protected], A Swanston

, Bryan Swanston

, "Bailey BREWER

(Christine Belleci)" , "h ilarylefort@,yahoo.com"

, Alicia Brent-Nurse , Sandra

McG

uire

, "[email protected]" , Gina Michaels

, Robyn Sorenson , Kimberly Difranco

, Kathryn Baldwin , Angela Roach

, abraham wolfinger , lis a levy

, "[email protected]" , Michelle Ba lco

, Anni Willford ,

"v [email protected]" , Suzanne Wheeler

< w h c c ~ Lisa Derian-Macal

uso

, El izabeth Nozicka

, Christina Holdridge

. [email protected], catherine broz

, Jennifer Berry and Rodney Smith

, tdbunch(dlsbcgloba l.n

et

, "Maddie MJZGORSKI(BRENDA)"

, mmizgorski(a)}lavwardlumber.com, Melissa Ackerman

, "[email protected]"

, [email protected], "[email protected]"

, Chris Evans , Michelle Evans

, Lyla Englehorn , Megan Felthoven

, [email protected], Jennifer Nix ,

FeJTell Daste , Molly Daste , Heather

BuntshceJI , Arnie Burttschell , Maxine

Carlson , "mpra tt@ stevensonschool.org"

, Spratt19rWstcvensonschool.org, Tara Mann

, Tarn MANN , Quinci Teagan Walker

Cox , Jason Mehringer , Cristy Mehringer

. "Bassane

llo,

A essandra

B

, Tess

Frilnscioni , Julie HUGHETT , Cindy Womack

, Joarma Hobbs , Patrick \1cEvoy

, Susan McKendry , Ziona Goren

, [email protected]

t,

tiffany torrez ,

Mark ENGLEHOR.N

Subject: Re: Alice, and SoDA ne eds your help.

Congratulations everyoner How much fun was that?'? Awesome work.

I posted a bunch

of

photos

to

Facebook last night, please enjoy, tag and share wi ll continue

to

take shots of both casts through the run

On a more serio us note, l need vour

he

lp. SoDa needs your

hel

p. I need people- parents and kids

to

come to the Carmel

Ci

ty Council meeting this Monday

Ap

r

il4,

from around 6pm-7:30pm to

speak in support

of

PacRep's SoDA program. These meetings can be boring

so br

ing a book,

laptop, or homework. The meeting actually stans at 5:30, but the first half-hour or so

is

usually

just repo1ts.

The

ba

d news: the city is contemplating restricting our use of the Forest Theater or evicting our

school for large chunks

of

the year, including the summer months

of

June and July when we have

our summer camps

We

have a successful year-round school. We need the city

to

leave it

as it

is


14/66

The.y arc also looking

at

making the small school area a "shared multi-user facility", even though

it

's really just one continuous room with no lockable classrooms. lt would need a major remodel

to

make sharing possible and safe.

Sharing facilities

is

a worthy goal, of course, but the little indoor Forest Theater was not designed

for sub:etting, and would not be safe for our children, or ou r belongings, i strangers were allowe-d

access whi

le

the school is in residence there.

And

having

to

move out

all

our belongings every

summer would be completely unfair

on

our small overworked staff and volunteers.

f we don 't have a large turn-out, we could lose SoDa's year-ro

und

home, or sec it greatly cut

back

. Please come

if

you can, and speak m support

of

our schoo l

If you

can

attend. please let me know by

ema

il or call me at 83 ·238-0941.

Thanks in advance for any help you can gi

ve

Curiouser and curiouser,

Stephen Moorer


15/66

Ashlee right

From

Sent

To

Cc:

Subject

Stacy,

Jason Burnett

Saturday, April

02

2016 7:34

PM

Stacy Meheen; Stephen

Moorer

Ashlee Wright; Victoria Beach; Victoria Beach Council; Steve Dallas; Carrie Theis; Chip

Rerig;

Jas

on Burnett;

Ken

Talmage Council; [email protected]; Chip

Rer

ig;

Ja

net

ombard

Re : Illegal pro Jaganda for

Indoor

Forest Thea

ter

would suggest you bring this to the attention

of

the PacRep board. Please let me know ifyou need an

introduction.

Jason

On Sat. Apr 2, 2016 at 7:15

P\1

Stacy Meheen wrote:

Hello Stephen,

As you are aware,

my

daughter is a cast

member

in Alice in Wonderland for PacRep's SODA production that

opened last night. Although I am connected to the Forest Theater Guild, I am passionate about the arts, and

my family supports all theaters and dramatic programs, because I strongly believe in the value and importance

of dramatic arts. I bring my voice students to your productions to inspire them by watching musical theater,

my daughter participates in your

SODA

productions, and I am a reg

ul

ar patron

to

as many shows

as

1 can make

time

to

see.

But

you, sir, have crossed the line with your current method for drumming up support for your

position regarding the Indoor Theater, and I will not stand for it.

This morning, you sent a

wonde

rful congratulatory email to the cast (the email is listed be low) in which you

chose

to

use a moment that should have been a sincere cong ratulations to a cast for a

job

well done to further

advance your message about the Indoor Theater. I especially love

your

line from Alice, "Curiouser and

curiouser", sinc

e

although my daughter is in the cast, my email address was conveniently left

off

this ema

il

to

all parents. You twisted

your

position

to

influence the parents

of

this production, and that in itself is

wrong. But what REALLY

has

me fired up is what just happened when I dropped

my

daughter off tonight for

the evening show.

As I was getting her in her costume, a cast member was running around, gathering other chi ld actors. He

came

to

Karen, and told her she was "needed" outsid

e.

He said she was

n

t in trouble, but that she needed to

go

outside. I assumed

it was

a cute, inside-cast kind

of

thing, so I let her go.

She

was gone about ten minutes,

and when she came back, she was visibly upset. I asked her what was wrong, and she said that the city is

closing the SODA program, and the kids were making videos to talk about why it should be saved. SHE'S

EIGHT

YEARS OLD

Numbe

r one, you have

~

RIGHT to use

MY

CHILD,

or ANY CH

ILD in your

propaganda. You DJD NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION to use my daughter in a propaganda video, and I can

guarantee since I

wa

s there and wi

tn

essed everything that NO

PARENT

was asked for pe

nn

ission. I

immediately took

Karen

outside

and

conf

ronted the students, but I

know

they didn't come up with this idea on

their own. I also spoke to your stage manager.


of

yourself. I get that you are a business man and you want your theater to continue

to be successful. But if my daughter, or

any

of these children

show

up in a video that goes before the council

on Monday, I will be

contact

ing legal counse

l.

Leave the children out

of

this. It has nothing to with them.


16/66

I am most disappointed for my daughter. She loves any oppo ttunity to perform, and seeing her face after she

was coerced into making a video based

on

half-truths just makes

me

sad.

She

didn't deserve to

be

pulled in

to

this

fight.

And it

never had

to

be a fight in the first place.

-Stacy

Meheen


Date: April 2, 2016 at 7:40:57 AM PDT

To: Michele Swanston

Cc: Regan Momhinweg , AkashaJ Brown

, Seth Bates , Nick Mireles

, mirelesam\;[email protected], Barbara Utter ,

Barren Hey wood < 1 2 _ Q _ e ~ o o d 6 6 @ y a h o o . c o m > , [email protected], Lydia

Man sour , lauren Mansour , Stephanie

Onone , Jessica DiMarco , wendy more


, Bryan Swanston , "Bailey BREWER

(Christi

ne

Belleci)" , "[email protected]"

, Alicia Brent-Nurse

, Sandra

McGuire , "mcasian l [email protected]" , Gina

Michaels , Robyn Sorenson , Kimberly

DiFranco , Kathryn Baldwin

< ,

Angela Roach , abraham wolfinger

, lisa levy . "bjbworld a:aol.com"

, Michelle Balco , A..nni Willford

, lauren.mansour@santac.:atalina.o

rg

, catherine broz

, Jennifer Berry and Rodney Smith

, [email protected], ''Maddie MIZGORSK

f(B

RENDA)"

< b r e n d a . m i

z g o r ~ k

i @ m i z w e b . c o m > ,

mmizgorski

(Q).haywardl

umber.com , Melissa Ackerman

, "angelajhart@comcast. net"

, goldens iIverrose@gmai I. com, "amybgoodson@aol. com"

m y h g o o d s o n @ a o l . c o m

Chris Evans , Michelle Evans

, Lyla Englehom , Megan

Fel

thoven

, gulyacordiertii),yahoo.com, Jenn ifer

Nix

,

Ferrell Dasre , Molly Daste , Heother

Burttshcell , Arnie Burnschell , Maxine

Carlson , p r a n @ s r e v e n s o n s c _ b ~

, Spranl [email protected], Tara Mann


17/66

speak

in

support

o Pa

cRep's SoDA program. These meetings

can he

boring

so

bring a book,

laptop, or homework. The meeting actually starts at 5:30, but t

he

firs t half-hour or so

is

usually

just reports.

The bad news: the city is contemplating restricting our use of the Forest Theater

or

evicti

ng

our

school

for

large chunks o the year, including the summer months o June and July when we have

our summer camps We have a successful year-round school. We need the city to leave

it as it is

They are also looking

at

making the small school area a

"s

ha

red

multi-user facility", even though

it's

really just one continuous room

with

no lockable classrooms. It would need a major remodel

to make sharing possible and safe.

Sharing facilities is a worthy goal , o course,

but

the little indoor Forest Theater

was not

designed

for

subletting, and would not be safe for our children,

or

our belongings, if strangers were

allowed access while the school is in residence there.

And hav

i

ng

to

move

out

all our belongings

every summer would be completely unfair on our small overworked staff

and

volunteers.

If

we

don't have a large tum-out,

we

could

lose

SoDa's year-round home, or see

it

greatly cut

back. Please come i you can, and speak in support o our school

If you can attend. please

let

me know hy email or call me at 831-238-0941.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give,

Cu

riouser and curiouser,

Stephen Moorer


18/66

Ashlee right

From

nt

To

Cc:

Subject

Stacy,

Stephen

Moorer

Saturday April

02

2016 8:27

PM

Stacy

Meh

een

Ashlee Wright Victoria Beach; Victoria Beach Counci l; Steve Dallas; Carrie Theis;

Ch

ip

Rerig;

Jaso

n Burnett;

Ken

Talmage Counci l; klg lega

l@hotm

ail.com; Chip

Rer

i

g;

Janet

Bombard

Re: Illegal propaganda for Indoor Forest Theater

Please ge t a gr ip. In no way did I ask anv children . parents crew or

staff

to ma ke any video, whatsQever. I have

checked and yes, the

kids

got t

ogether and made

a

gr

oup video.

You know

what I

say

to that? -

Good

for them.

But I didn't ask for it, didn't arrange it, and certainly wouldn't show it at a City Council meeting. But I'm not

going to condemn the

kids

for ma k ing it.

An

d I have

never

said that the city

was

closing

SoDA .

That

's

not

even possible

.

You

need

to

think

throug

h

this more clearly and get your ht:ad out of the gossip bucket. Maybe you should read my email. It 's correct. And

of course I didn't send it to you. Why would I ask you for help to fight you and your board?

So let's be clear, the city

staff

has proposed

evicting

the Soda program

d ~ r i n g

the_;;1,1mmer season, and any other

time that the outdoor theater is rented.

And

you and your board are actively

push

ing fo r it.

Stacy, before the cultural commission meeting, both my board chairperson

and

myself tr ied to reach

out

to

Yvonne and you, but

the tw

o

of you

refused to meet, and Yv01me saying it was a board m atter a

nd

she couldn't

comment. Then, after the cu ltural commission meeting, Yvonne said that she was letting it drop and would

maybe do a class at

the Youth Center

.

Two weeks

later, howev


19/66

"Jellicle cats Jove Jellicle p h o n e s ~

On Apr 2,

2016,

at 7: I 5 PM Stacy Meheen wrote:

Ilello Stephen,

As you are aware,

my

daughter is a cast member in Alice in Wonderland for

Pa

cRep's SODA

production that opened last night. Although I am connected to the Forest Theater Guild, I am

passionate about the arts, and

my

fami ly supports all theaters and dramatic programs, because I

strongly believe in the value

and

importance

of

dramatic arts . I bring my voice students to your

productions to inspire them by watching musical theater, my daughter participates in your SODA

productions, and I am a regular patron to as many shows as I can make time to see. But you, sir,

have crossed the line with

your

current method for drumming up su

pp

ort for your position

regarding the Indoor Theater, and I will not stand for it.

This morning, you sent a wonderful congratulatory email to the cast (the email is listed below)

in which you chose to use a moment that should have been a sincere congratulations to a cast for

a

job

well done

to

further advance your message about the Indoor Theater. I especial ly love your

line from Alice, "Curiouser and curiouser", since, al though

my

daughter is in the cast,

my

emai l

address was

com

eniently left

off

this email to all parents. You twisted your position

to

influence

the parents

of

this production, and th

at

in it self is wrong. Bur

what

REALLY has me fired up is

what just happened when I dropped my daughter off tonight for the evening show.

As 1 wa

s getting her in her costume, a casl member was running around, gathering other child

actors. He came

t

Karen, and told her she was "needed" outside. He said she wasn't in trouble,

but that she needed to go outside. I assumed

it

was a cute, inside-cast kind of thing, so I let her

go.

She was

gone about

ten

minutes, and when she came back, she was visibly upset. I asked

her what was wrong, and she said that the city is closing the

SODA

program, and the kids were

making videos to talk about

why

it should

be

saved. SHE'S

EIGHT

YEARS OLD ' Number

one, you have

NO RIGHT

to use

MY

CHILD,

or

ANY

CHILD

in your propaganda. You DID

NOT

HAVE

MY PERMISSION

to use my daughter

in

a propaganda video, and I can guarantee

since I was there and witnessed everything that

NO PARENT

was asked for permission. I

immediately took Karen outside and confronted the students, but I

know

they didn't come up

with this idea on their own. I also spoke to your stage manager.

You should be ashan1ed

of

yourself. I get that you are a business man and you

want

your

theater to continue to be

suc

cessful. But

if

my daughter, or any

of

these children show up in a

video that goes before the council

on

Monday, I will be

co

ntacting legal counsel. Leave the

children out

of

this. It has nothing to with them.

am most disappointed for

my

daughter. She loves

any

opportunity to perform, and seeing her

face after she was coerced into making a video based on half-truths j

us

t makes me sad . She

didn't deserve to be pu lled into this fight.

And

it

never had to be a fight in the first place.

-Stacy Meheen


Date: April2, 2016 at 7:40:57 AM PDT


Cc: Regan Momhinweg , AkashaJ

Brown

Seth Bates , Nick Mireles


20/66

, mire [email protected], Barbara Utter

, Barren Heywood

, andrew.mansour(alsantacatalina.org. Lydia

Mansour , lauren Mansour

< ] Q l . ~ l e t l l @ g m a i l . c o m >

Step hanie Ottone , Jessica DiMarco

, wendy more


, Bryan Swanston , "Bailey

BREWER (Christ

in

e Bel eci

)"

< ~ m ~ >

"[email protected]" , Alicia Brent-Nurse

, Sandra McGuire ,

"m casian ll (a)aol.com" ,

Gina Michaels

, Robyn Sorenson ,

Kim berly DiFranco , Kathryn Baldwin

, Angela Roach , abraham

wolfinger , lisa levy

< isalcvy3 778@gmai .com>, "[email protected]" ,

Michelle Balco , Anni Willford

, "victoria

.bun

ch@sbcglob al.net"

, Suzanne W'heeler ,

Lisa Derian-Macaluso , Elizabeth Nozicka

, Christina Holdridge

, lauren.mansour@santacatalina. org, c

at

herine

broz , Jennifer Berry and Rodney Sm

it

h

, [email protected], "Maddie

MlZGORSKl(BRENDA)"

, [email protected], Melissa

Ackerman ,

"an

[email protected]''

, Chris Evans

, Michelle Evans ,

Lyla

Englehom , Megan Felthoven

, [email protected], Jennifer

Nix

,

FeJTell

Daste , Molly Daste

, Heather Burttshcell ,

Arnie

8untschell

< a r n i b u r t t ~ c h e l i W g m a i l . o m >

Maxine Carlson


, [email protected]

rg,

Tara Mann

, Tara MANN , Quinci

Teagan Walker Cox , Jason Mehringer

, Cristy Mehringer ,

"Bassanello, Alessandra

8 , Tess Franscioni

, Julie HUGHETT , Cindy Womack

, Joarma Hobbs , Patrick

McEvoy , Susan McKendry

, Ziona Goren

, rosenrr@prod igy.net, tiffany torrez

f f a n y t o r r e z @ y a h o o

Mark

E:.IG LEH

ORN

Subje

ct: Re: Alice,

and

SoDA needs

your

help .

Congratulations everyonet

How

m

uc

h

fun

was that? ?t Awesome work.

1

posted a bunch

of

photos

to

Facebook last night, please enjoy, tag and share

I

will continue to take shots

of

both casts through

the

run

On a more serious note, need vour help. SoDa needs vour help. need peop

le-

part:nts and kids to come to the Carmel City Council meeting this Monday

April4, from around 6prn-7:30pm to speak in suppon ofPacRep's SoDA

program. These meetings can be boring so bring a book, lap top, or homework.

The meeting actually starts

at

5:30, but

the

first half-hour or so is usually just

reports .


21/66

The bad news: the city

is

contemplating restricting our use

o

the Forest Theater

or

evicting our school for large chunks

o h

e yea r, including the summer

months o June and July when

we

have ou r summer camps'

We

have a

successful year-round school. We need the city to leave it as it

is

1

They are also looking at making

rhe

small school

area

a "

sha

re d multi-user

faci

lity". even though it's really just one continuous room wi

th

no lockable

classrooms. t would need a major remodel to make sharing possible and safe.

Sharing facilities is a worthy goal,

o

cours

e

but the little indoor Forest Theater

was

not designed for subletting, and

would not be

safe for our children,

or

our

belongings, if straneers were allowed access while

thll

schoo l is in residence

there. And having

to

move out all our belongings every summer

wou

ld be

completely unfair on our small overworked staff and vo l

un

teers.

If

we


we

cou ld Jose SoDa's year-round

home

or see

it greatly cut-back. Please come i you can,

and

speak

in

support

o

our school

If you can please let me lsnow hy email

or

call me at 831-238-0941.

Thanks

in

advance for any help you can give,

Cu riouser and curiouser,

Stephen Moorer


22/66

Ashlee right

From

Stacy

Saturday Apr il 02 2016 10:07 PM

Stephen Moorer

Sent

To

Cc

Ashlee Wright

Victor

ia Beach; Victoria Beach Council; Steve

Da

llas; Carrie Thei

s;

Ch ip

Rerig; Jason Burnett; Ken Talmage Counci

l;

klg lega

l@

hotmail.com; Chip Rerig;

Ja

net

Bombard

Subject Re:

Illegal

propaganda

for

Indoor

Forest Theater

Stephen,

Thank you for

your

response. We can agree to disagree on many of

your

points. I hope the show was successful

tonight. t was the first performance of my daughter that I've ever missed But it's a great show, and I'm sure it

was well-received.

As I said earlier, I may be involved with The Guild, but my loyalty is to the success

of

all dramatic arts. But my

main focus, the only reason I do anything, is for my family. I recuse

myself

from every commission item

involving theater. make a point of being open and honest about my involvement with the Guild .

I

also openly

encourage

people

to take

SODA

classes and audition for other theater companies.

We

all win when theater

groups work together.

l

hope

someday,

we can

wor

k together. Life is too short, and this

town

is too small for

petty drama.

My

was written as me, the mom , protecting my daughter. She always comes firs

t

Have a good night,

Stacy

Sent from my iPhone

On

Apr

2, 2016, at 8:26PM, Stephen Moorer wrote:

Stacy,

Please get a grip. In no

way

did I ask any children, parents

crew or staff

to make anv video,

whatsoever. I have checked and yes, the kids got together and made a group video . You know

what I say to that'? -Good for them.

But

I didn't ask for it, didn't arrange it, and certainly

wou ldn 't show it at a City Council meeting. But I'm not going to condemn the

ki s

for making it.

And I have never said that the city was closing SoDA . That's not even pos sible. You need to

think through this more clearly and get your head out

of

the gossip bucket. Maybe you should

read my email. It's correct.

And

of course I didn't send it to you. Why would I ask you for help to

fight you and your board?

So let's be clear, the city

staff

has proposed evicting the Soda program

du

ring the

summer

season, and any

other

time that the outdoor theater is rented. And you and

your

board are

actively pushing for il.

Stacy, before the cultural

commission

meeting,

both

my board chairperson and

myself

tried to

reach

ou

t to Yvonne and you, but the two of you refused to meet, and Yvorme saying it was a

board matter and

she

couldn t comment. Then, after the cultural commission meeting, Yvonne


23/66

said that she was letting it drop and would maybe do a class at the Youth Center. Two weeks

later, however,

and

you and your

boa

rd are at it again. You pushed fo r this controversy, and now

you won't let

it

drop, so let's stop fooling ourselves.

Yes, I have DEFJ )IITEL Y asked Board members, teachers, parents and

FORMER

students t

either

come

to the council meeting and speak in support of SoDA , or send an email, just as you

have boa

rd members

and others doing the

sa

me thing. Just

so

you know,

your

Jetter writers are

misstating informa

ti

on and misleading city

staff

and

council members, bu t they are only

operating on the limited information that you have given to them.

? -Jow Stacy, will say that more than

one

person has commented that you are using your position

as

a

m

ember

of

the

c

it

y cultural commission to further your

own agenda

as president

of

the

Forest

Theater Gu

ild.

You have

discussed the situation

ou

t

ofthe

public view with Jan

et

Bombard, and can only assume that she is getting much

of

her info rmation about PacRcp and

the Golden

Bough

from you.

Now

you are throwing around accusations that

have

no basis in

reality, and making threats. You need to step back and do some fact checking.

I have talked to NO children . None.

emailed the parents (and stand by the facts stated in the

ema

il), and

ha

ve conversed

wi

th a

handf

ul

of

them.

Exactly as yo

u ha

ve

done. That's it.

Stephen

Sent from

my

fe line's iToy

cuz

..

Jellicle cats love Jellicle phones

On Apr 2, 2016, at 7: 15

PM

, Stacy

Meheen wrote:

Hello

Stephe

n,

As

you are aware,

my

daughter is a cac;t

memb

er in Alice in Wonderland for

PacRep's

SODA

production that opened last night. Although am connected to

the Forest

Th

eater Guild,

am

passionate

about

the arts, and my family supports

all theaters

and

dramatic programs, because

st

rongly helieve in the value and

imp

ortance

of

dramatic arts. bring my

vo

ice

st

udents to your productions to

inspire t

he

m

by

watch

in

g

mu

sical theater,

my

d

aug

hter participates

in

your

SODA

productions,

and am

a regular

patr

on to as

many

shows as

I ca

n make time to

see. But you, s ir, have crossed the line with your current method for drumming

up support for your position regarding the Indoor Theater, and will not stand for

it.

This

morning

you sent a wonderful congratulatory email to the cast (the email is

listed below) in

wh

ich you chose to use a m

oment

that should have been a sincere

congratulations to a

ca

st for a

job

well done to f

ur t

her advance your message

about the Indoor Thea ter . I especially Jove your line from Alice, Curiouser and

curiouser , since, although my daughter is in the cast, my email address was

conveniently left offthis

em

ail to all parents.

You

twisted your position to

influence t

he parents

of this production, and that

in

itself

is

wrong.

Bu

t what

REALLY has me fired up is wh

at

j ust happened when I dro

pped my

daughter off

ton i

ght

for the

even

i

ng show.


24/66

As I was

getting her

in her costume, a cast

member

was running around,

gathering

other

child actors. He came to Karen, and told her she was "needed''

ou

tside.

He said she

wasn't

in

trouble, but that she nee ded to go outside .

assumed

it was

a cute, inside-cast kind of thing,

so

let

her

go. She was gone

abo ut ten minutes, and when she came back, she was visibly upset. I asked her

what was wrong, and she said that the city

is

closing the

SODA

program, and the

kids were m

aking

videos to talk about

why

it should be saved.

SHE

'S E I

GHT

YEARS OLD

Number

one, you

have NO RIGHT

to use

MY

CHILD, or

ANY

CHILD

in

your

propaganda. You

DID NOT HAVE

MY PERMISSION to

use my

daughter in

a propaganda video, and

1

can guarantee since

I

was there and

witnessed everything that

NO PARENT

was asked for pennission. im

media

tely

took Karen outside and confronted the students, but I know they didn 't come up

with this idea

on

their own. also spoke to

your

stage manager.

You should be ashamed of yourself. I get that you are a business man and

you

want your theater to continue to be successful. But

if

my daughter,

or

any of

these children

show

up in a video that goes before the council on Monday, will

be contacting legal counsel. Leave the children out of this. It has nothing to with

them.

am

mos t disappointed for

my

daughter. She loves any oppo11unity to perform,

and seeing

her face after she was coerced into making

a

video based

on ha

lf-truths

just makes

me

satl. She didn't deserve to be pulled into

this

fight. And it never

had to be a fight in the first place.

-Stacy Meh3en

From:

Stephen Moorer

Date: April 2, 2016 at 7:40:57

AM

PDT


Cc: Regan Momhinweg ,

AkashaJ Brown [email protected]>, Seth Bates

, ? -iick Mireles

, [email protected], Barbara

l 'ner , Barren Heywood

, andrew.mansour@santacatalina

rg, Lydia Mansour , lauren Mansour

, Stephanie

On

one

, Jessica DiMarco

, wendy more

, [email protected], A

Swanston , Bryan Swanston

, "Bailey BREWER (Christine

Belleci)" , "hilarylefon(alyahoo.com"

, Alicia Brent-Nurse

, Sandra McGuire

, "mcasian I l(ll)aol.com"

, Gina Michaels


25/66


, Michelle Balco

s t e r s h e l l 5

7 2 0 0 3 @ g m a i l . c o n p

Anni Willford

,

v

[email protected]"

,Suzanne Wheeler

, Lisa Derian-Macaluso


26/66

hebad news: the city is contemplating restricting our use of

the Forest Theater or evicting our school for large chunks of

the year, including the summer mon ths of June and July when

we

have our summer camps

We

have a successful year-round

school. We need the city to leave it as it is

They are also looking at making the small school area a

"shared multi-user facility" , even though it's really just one

continuous room with no lockable classrooms. It would need a

major remodel to make sharing possible and safe.

Sharing

fac

ilities is a worthy goal, of course, but the little

indoor Forest Theater was

not

designed for subletting, and

would not be sate for our childre

n,

or our belongings, i

strangers were allowed access while the school

is

in residence

there . And having to move out all our belongi

ngs

every

summer would be completely unfair

on

our small overworked

staff and volunteers.

If we don't have a large turn-out, we could lose SoDa's year

round home, or see it greatly cut-back. Please come if you can,

and

speak in support of our schooJI

If

you can attend. please let

me

know by email or

< :all

me

at

831 238 0941.

Thanks

in

advance for any help you can give,

Curiouser and curiouser,

Stephen Moorer


27/66

Ashlee right

From

Sent

To

Cc:

Subject

Stacy,

Stephen

Moorer

Sunday,

Apr

il 03, 2016 3:43 AM

Stacy

Ashl

ee

Wright Victoria

Beach

Victoria

Beach

Council; Steve Dallas; Ca rrie

Theis

Chip

Rerig; Jason Burnett; Ken Talmage

Co

uncil; klgleg [email protected]; Ch ip Rerig;

Ja

net

Bombard

Re

: Illegal propaganda

for Indoor Fo

rest Theater

If that was an apology then 1 accept it, of course, and, believe me, I do understand. I have a daughter, as well,

and would do anything to protect her. But I

have also

learned to check my facts -especially information

coming third hand thru a hunch

of

kids - lest I end up making wildly false accusations, as you have done.

also worry

\ vhen

you s

ay

you took

it

on

yourself

and ''confronted the students .

Our

kids expect a safe

atmosphere and don't deserve to be Yerbally attacked. I hope you apologize to those kids and their parents, as

well.

As I mentioned,

my Board Chair

and I have reached out to Yvonne and you several times in the last few

months. My chair emailed Yvonne and called you. I emailed Yvonne numerous times and spoke to her directly.

Neither of

you

responded

other

than We'll

get back

to you - and you never did.

-

If

you actually wanted to avoid a fight, instead of starting one, all you had to

do

was return our calls

or

email

like your predecessor, with

whom

we

met

often. But since you became

FTG

president, communication with

your board has been cut-ofT.

And

you

have

never-

not onc.e- attempted to contact us. We can't force you to

be

up front with us, and repeatedly

going behind

our backs has not engendered much in the

way

of trust. In spite of

thi s, we have continued to provide technical assistance to your group.

Best regards,

Stephen

P.S . One of your

new board memhers

is spreading misinformation, saying that SoDA doesn't share the

ba

ck

deck. Having been in

shows

there yourself, you

know

that to be absolutely false . Please correct them on this.

Sent from

my

feline's

iToy

cuz . .

Jellicle cats love Jellicle

phones

On

Apr 2, 2016, at 10:07 PM, Stacy wrote:

Stephen,


28/66

Thank you for your response. We can agree to disagree

on

many

of

your points. I hope the

show

was successful tonight. It

was

the first performance of my daughter that I've ever missed. But it's

a great show, and I'm sure it was well-received.

/\ s I said earlier, I

may

be involved with

The

Guild, but my loyalty is to the success

of

all

dramatic arts. But

my

main focus,

the

only reason I do anything, is for my family. I recuse

myself

from

every commission

item involving theater. I

make

a point

of

being open and honest

about my involvement with the Guild. I also openly encourage people to take

SODA

classes and

audition for other theater companies. We all win

when

theater groups

work

together. I

hope

someday, we

can work

together. Life is too short, and this tov.n is too small for petty drama.

My

email was \.vritten as me,

the mom

protecting

my

daughter.

She

always comes first.

Have a good night,

Stacy

Sent from

my

iPhone

On Apr 2, 2016, at

8:26PM

Stephen

Moorer

wrote:

Stacy,

Please

get

a grip. In no way

did

ask

any

children. parents,

crew

or

staff

to

make

any video, whatsoever. I have checked and yes, the kids got together and made a

group video. You

know what

I

say

to that? - Good for them. But I didn't ask for

it, didn't arrange it,

and

certainly wouldn't

show

it at a City Council meeting. But

I'm not going t

condemn

the kids for

making

it.

And

I

have never

said that the city was closing SoDA . That's not even possible.

You need to think through this more clearly and get your head out

of

the gossip

bucket.

Maybe

you should read

my

email. It's correct. And of course I didn 't send

it to you.

Why

would I

ask

you for help to fight you and your board?

So let's be clear,

the

city

staff

has proposed evicting tl e

Soda

program during the

summer

season,

and any other

time that the outdoor theater is rented.

And

you and

your board are actively

pushing

for it.

Stacy, before the cultural commission meeting, both my board chairperson and

myself

tried to reach out

tO Yvonne

and you, but the two

of

you refused to meet,

and Yvonne

saying it

was

a

boa

rd matter and she couldn't comment.

Then

after

the cultural

commission

meeting, Yvmme said that she was letting it drop and

would

maybe

do a class at the Youth Center. Two weeks later, however, and you

and your

board

are at it again. You pushed for this controversy, and now you

won't let it drop, so let's stop fooling ourselves.

Yes, I

have DEFINITELY

asked Board members, teachers, parents

and FORMER

students to either

come

to

the

council meeting and speak

in

support of

SoDA

or

sen

d

an

email, just as you have_boarcj

meml;>ers

and others doing the

same

th ing.

Just so

you

kno\.v,

your

letter writers are misstating information

and

misleading

city

staff and

council

members

but they are

only

operating

on

the limited

information that

you

have

given

to them.


29/66

Now

Stacy, I will say that more than one person has commented that you are

using your position as a member

of

the city cultural commission to further your

ow

n agenda as president of the Forest Theater Guild. You have discussed the

situation out

of

the public view with Janet Bombard, and I can only assume that

she is getting n:uch of her information about PacRep and the Golden Bough from

you. Now you are throwing around accusations that have no basis in reality, and

making threats. You need to step back and do some fact checking.

I have talked to NO children. None.

emailed the parents (and stand by the facts stated in the email), and I have

conversed with a handful of them. Exactly as you have done. That's it.

Stephen

Sent from my feline's iToy cuz

Jellicle cats love Jellicle

p h o n e s ~

On Apr 2, 2016, at

7: 15

PM, Stacy Meheen wrote:

I Iello Stephen,

As you are aware, my daughter is a cast member in Alice in

Wonderland

fo

r PacRep's

SOD

production that opened last

night. Although I am connected

to

the Forest Theater Guild, I am

passionate about the arts, and my family supports all theaters and

dramatic programs, because I strongly believe in the value and

importance of dramatic arts. I bring my voice students

to

your

productions

to

inspire th

em by

watching mus ical theater, my

daughter participates in your SOD productions, and I am a

regular patron to as

many

shows as I

can

make time to sec. But

you, sir, have crossed the line with your current method for

drumming

up support for your position regarding the Indoor

Theater, and I will not stand for it.

This

morning, you sent a wonderful congratulatory email to the

cast (the email is listed below) in which you chose to use a

moment that should have been a

si

ncere congratulations to a cast

for a job well done to further advance your message

about

the

Indoor Theater. I especially love your line from Alice, Curiouser

and curiouser , since, although my daughter is in

the

cast, my

email address was conveniently left off this email to all

parents. You twisted your position to influence the parents

of

this

production, and that in

itself

is wrong. But what

RE LLY

has me

fired up is what

just

happened when I dropped

my

daughter

off

tonight for the evening show.

As I was getting her in her costume, a cast member was running

around, gathering other child actors . He came to Karen, and told

her she was needed outside. He said she wasn't in trouble, but

that she needed to go outside. I assumed

it

was a cute, inside-cast

kind

of

thing, so I let her go. She was gone about ten minutes, and


30/66

when she came back, she was visibly upset. I asked her whar was

wrong, and

she

said that the city is closing the

SODA

program, and

the kids were making videos to talk about why it should be

saved. SHE'S EIGHT YEARS OLD Number one, you have

NO RIGHT

to use

MY

CHILD,

or

ANY CHILD

in

your

propaganda. You DID NOT

HAVE MY

PER.MISSION to use my

daughter in a propaganda video, and I can guarantee since was

there

and

witnessed everything

that

NO

PARENT

was asked for

permission. immediately took Karen outside and confronted the

students, but know they didn't come up with this idea on their

own

. also spoke to your stage manager.


of

yourself. get that you are a business

man

and you want your theater to continue to be successful. But

i f

my daughter,

or

any

of

these children show up in a video that goes

before the council on Monday, will be contacting legal

counsel. Leave the children out of this.

1t

has nothing to with

them.

am

most disappointed for my daughter. She loves any

opportunity to perform, and seeing her face after she was coerced

into making a video based on half-truths

jus

t makes me sad. She

didn't deserve to be pulled into this fight. And it never had to be a

fight in the first place.

-Stacy Meheen


Date: April 2, 2016

at

7:40:57 AM PDT

To: Michele \ \ anston

Cc: Regan Momhinweg

, AkashaJ

Brown , Seth

Bates . b a t e s @ s j s y e d u >

Nick

Mireles

, m i r e l e s a ~

mail.com, Barbara Utter

Barrt:tt Heywood

<

Bheyyyood66

@yahoo.com>, andrew.mans

o u r ~ W s a n t a c a t a i n a

org. Lydia Mansour

, lauren Mansour

, Stephanie

Ottone , Jessica

D1Marco ,

wendy more

< w e n m o r e 9 ~ . @ h o

i l . c o m >

eugeneplatypi

@gmail.com, A Swanston


31/66

Sandra McGuire

,

mcasian ll@ao

l.

com

, Gina Michaels

, Robyn Sorenson

, Kimberly

DiFranco

,

Kathryn Baldwin ,

Angela Roach

, abraham

wolfinger

, lisa levy

,

[email protected] ,

Michelle Balco

, Anni

Willford ,

vi

croria. bunch @sbcglobal. net

, goldens i venos

[email protected], [email protected]

, Chr

is

Evans

, Michelle Evans

, Lyla Englehom

, Megan

Fclthoven

, gu yacord

ier0ly


32/66

, Julie HUGHETT

, Cindy Womack

, Joanna Hobbs

, Patrick McEvoy

, Susan

McKendry ,

Ziona Goren

< z i o n ~ o r e n @ g m a i l . c o m >

rosenrr@prodig

y.net, tiffany torrez

, Mark

ENGLEHORN

Subject Re: Alice, and SoDA needs your

help.

Congratulations everyone ' How much

fun

was that? ?' Awesome work.

r

posted a bunch

of

photos to Facebook last

night, please enjoy, tag and share

1

r

will

continue to take shots

of

both casts through

the run

On a more serious note. I need your help.

SoDa needs your help. I need people -

parents and kids - to come

to

the Carmel

City Council mee ting this Monday April 4,

from around 6pm-7 :30pm to speak in

support ofPacRep's SoDA program. These

meetings can be boring so bring a book,

laptop, or homework. The meeting actually

starts at 5:30,

bu

t the first half-hour or so

is

usually just

rep011s.

The bad news:

the

city is contemplating

restricting our use

of

the Forest Theater or

evicting our school for large chunks of the

year, including the summer months

of

June

and July when we have our summer camps

We have a successful year-round school. We

need the city to leave it as it

is

They are also looking

at

making the small

school area a "shared multi-user facility",

even though it s really just one continuous

room wi

th no

lockable classrooms.

It

would

need a major remodel

to

make sharing

possible and safe.

Sharing facilities

is

a worthy goal , ofcourse,

but the little indoor Forest Theater was not

designed

for

subletting, and would not be

safe for our children, or our belongings, if

strangers were allowed access while the

school is

in

residence there. And having to

move out all our belongings every summer

would be completely unfair

on

our small

overworked staff and volunteers.

lfwe


we

could

lose SoDa's year-round home, or see it


33/66

greatly cut-back. Please come i

you

can

and speak in support

of our school

If you can attend please

let

me know by

email or call me at 8 1-238-0941.

Thanks

in advance

for

any

help you

can

give

Curiouser and curiouser

Stephen Moorer


34/66

Ashlee right

From

[email protected]

Sent

Sunday, Apri l

03, 2016 10:10

AM

To

Cc:

Subject

Chip Rerig; Ashlee Wright ; Janet Bombard; jason burnett


Fo

rest Theaters indoor space u

se

Dear Ch ip, Ashley, Janet and Mayor Burnett-

Due

to

a prior commitment that I am unable to reschedule, I may not be able to attend the council

meetmg

on

Monday. I know that you will see to it that my thoughts are shared with the appropriate

persons. I am writing because I feet as though my concerns have not been fully understood regarding the

us

e of the indoor theater. In March, when CACC motioned that the indoor use would be rev iewed again in

November, I did say to Stephen that I would not pursue it and I also stated that we would be looking at

possibly domg classes at the CYC, which we are work1ng on.

First. it is r.ot the Guilds intention to displace or harm Pac Reps SODA program; it is a good program that

has benef

it

ed many participants and one that I hope will cont inue for many more years I have

encouraged the youth partici

pa

nts in our programs to learn from

as

many people as possible, includ ing

the SODA prog ram. .. t mai


35/66

Forest Theater Gu ild members th at helped bu ild the indoor thea ter under the direction

of

Hugh Comstock,

a local contractor. A comment was made at the CACC meeting by an individual stating th at they did not

know why the Guild had not bought a building or theater. To be honest and right to the po int the Forest

Theater Guild was

formed

because

of

the Forest Theater, It is

our

namesake, i t is

our

home ..

why

should

the guild need to move elsewhere when the Guild

built

it? In the early 1970's

it

was there-

structured Forest Theater Guild that rallied the

community

and raised the

money

to

save the

facility ..had

they

not

done so at that time

I

would

not

be

writing this letter

today.

Gu

i

ld

membership

swelled in the 70 's when they filed for incorporation as a nonpro

fi

t The Guild has had it's ups and downs

over the years, it has had wonderful shows and a few terrible shows.

Th

ere have been years wi

th

few

members and years wi

th

many members

bu

t,

it

has always remained a

community

theater

group

and

open to all

who wished to

participate . There have been

multiple

generat i

ons

that have enjoyed the

beauty, the

magic

and

the

joy

of

the

Forest

Theater tradition mine

included

..my daughter is a 4th

ge neration performer here and

my

grand kids will soon be 5th.

Ou

r mission statement reads The purpose

of

the Forest Theater Gu ild is to uphold the heritage and

integrity

of

Carme

l

s historic outdoor theater through stewardship, preservation

of

it's

un

ique character,

and enhancement of facilities. Moreover, th e mission of the Guild is

to

present quality performi

ng

arts,

and

to foster the growth and appreciation of the dramatic and a

ll ie

d a

rts

among the broad communi

ty

utilizi

ng

our Community

ta

lent with emphasis on our youth .

With the reopening of the Forest Theater approaching and a new contract to be approved soon, the

Board

of

Directors

of

the Forest Theater Guild voted unanimously

to

pursue the opportunity of part

tim

e

use

of

the indoor theater

..

to insure that discussion is initiated about how the facility is to be used now

and in

the future. To have the opportunity to use the indoor space for

cl

asses and ins

t

ruc tion , rehearsal

and preparation. It was also perhaps somewhat self servi

ng

in that the anxiety over the parking situation

cou ld somehow be lessened by not havi

ng

to coordinate with shared user space.

If

both users are

on

site

at

the same time who has the right to the parking spaces? Who's parking program is in place and who's

insurance is covering the veh ic les? Beyond th e parking, who's insurance will be cover ing the faci lity and

the visiting participants? There is so much more

to th

is than at first meets the eye

th

an how

to

sched ule

classes, rehear

sa

l

s,

f

il

ms, performances so as not create a conflic t f

or

upstai

rs

/

do

wnstai

rs

use and users.

As

the current Executive Director for the

Fo

rest Theater Guild l am in a position

to

fully understand the

reason s that PRT wants exc

lu

sive use of the indoor theater for the SODA program and I

un

derstand the

arguments that they wi

ll

use to make the point that it should n

ot

be sha r

ed

. F

ro

m a business stand point I

understand them very well and cou

ld

use the exa ct same arguments fo r the Gu

il

ds excl

us

ive use of the

space with the exception of the argument that it has been ours exclusively for the entire year

in

the

past(at least

th

e immediate past

).

Many years ago the entire faci lity was used exclusively

by

the Gu ild. It

then became a shared space when Marc

ia

Hovicks classes were ask

ed to

leave the Sunset

Ce

nter. I

believe that it could and shou ld be again a shared space. This wi ll

def

in itely take so me adjustments.

Pe rh

aps the only items that should ever be left at the indoor year arou

nd

would be items

tha

t

be

long

to

the

Forest Tt1eater or that belong to the Forest Theater Foundation for use by the Forest Theater as a

facility .sound equipment, l ighti

ng

equipment, etc ... then there would be a usable space fo r a

ll.

One last though t, I have been to ld that a statement regarding the city closing SODA down or evicting

th

em is being circulated at this time, l do not have the exact wording bu t it

is

to that effect. To

be

evicted,

you must be in residence. To assume that any contract will automatically be renewed with exactly the

sa

me terms is th at, an assumption. That is why there are renewal periods

.

.for a review

of

what will serve

bo

th parties best and it

is

up to bo th

to

accept

or

decline. FTG, PRT and SODAs contracts have all

exp1red

and it is time to look at the contracts to determine what best serves the

co

mmunity as we ll as the

organiza tions . The decision to make the indoor thea ter a community space will not effectively shut the

SODA program down

.

.The only person that ca n do that is the person th at is circu lating the statement. It

is just another

in

the multitude of negative propaganda statements that is meant to pu ll at heart stnngs.

FTG is

be

ing made out

to

be a space stealer, whe n in fact they bu

il

t the very space that they are aski

ng

to sha re. The city is being made out to be the bad guy when the oppos ite is true ... t is the duty of the city

council

to

represent all

of

the citizens of Carmel and make fair judg ments that will benefit the commu nity.

appreciate your taking the time to read my thoughts and will be happy

to

answer an y quest ions you may

have regarding what I have written.

Thank you,

Yvon ne Hildebrand-Bowen

Ex

ecutive Director


36/66

Forest Theater Guild

PO Box 2325

Carmel Ca 93921

CC

FTG Board President Meheen Exec AssUBook keeper Hirahara


37/66

May 2 16

- Tech

Work

tl&'

2016 Fo rest e h t ~ r > a l s

t · _- · · -

J ~

I Mary Poppms at GS)

1

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Shared Use of the Indoor Forest Theater 05-03-16