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Neither McVay nor Zacek has said an untoward public word about these events; in a Reader story by Deanna Isaacs, Zacek even wished “the best” to his successor as artistic director, Chay Yew. But there are other ways to make a protest. If I had Zacek’s particular talents, I might, for instance, decide to direct a play about a rich, philistine corporate raider who makes a move on a venerable old firm, figuring that he and his handpicked board can pump up profits by wrecking its traditions, closing down its core business, and throwing its longtime staff out of their jobs. I might, in short, direct Jerry Sterner’s Other People’s Money.
Garfinkle has determined that New England Wire & Cable is ripe for his style of Darwinian liberation. Ironically, it’s NEW&C’s apparent soundness that put him on its scent. With no debt, plenty of hard assets, stable leadership, some profitable subsidiaries, and an undervalued stock price, the 73-year-old Rhode Island company is a veritable metaphor for old-fashioned New England probity itself. But Garfinkle believes that technological advances have rendered the wire-and-cable business obsolete. NEW&C can’t grow, in his analysis—it can only try to capture a larger share of a dying market. (Anybody in the print news business will find that part depressingly familiar.) His plan is to spin off the subsidiaries while shuttering the main factory, laying off its 1,200 employees, and selling the machinery for scrap.
Through 10/19: Thu-Sat 8 PM, Sun 3 PM Theater Wit 1229 W. Belmont 773-975-8150
theaterwit.org $12-$30
