The Theatre of Western Springs

Cast (in order of appearance)
William Coles, Dave Bremer
Andrew Jorgenson, George Dempsey
Lawrence Garfinkle, Greg Maurer
Bea Sullivan, Marilyn Weiher
Kate Sullivan, Janel Palm

Dramaturg's Diary
By Bonnie Hilton
“All they can do is change the rules, they can’t stop the game.”
–Larry Garfinkle–
Barbarians at the Gate, Burrough and Helyar’s bestseller about the RJR Nabisco takeover, aptly describes the third certainty in life after death and taxes: bullies. From the Assyrian venture capital-type groups in 2000 B.C. to the Italian merchant empires of the 15th and 16th centuries to the Carl Icahns of the world, history bears out that bullies are here to stay, and they will always play the money and power game.
Garfinkle represents a fact of life. He also has a right to try to buy out Jorgy’s firm. Yes, he is horridly abrasive and insulting, but New England Wire and Cable is a publicly held corporation, not a private firm or partnership. Jorgy is a naïve manager if he is not aware that his firm could be taken over. Why didn’t he take the steps necessary early enough to forestall an overture? If Garfinkle didn’t come along, someone else would have.
Though hostile raiders are often viewed as troublemakers, the outcome of their games is part of a bigger picture, proving that they are necessary to society’s health. A hostile bid is a wake up call. Like a cattle prod, it nudges management to improve their contribution to the world or forces them to find better ground. In the end, the success of foul-mouthed
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bullies like Garfinkle can benefit future generations when the “barbarian” money falls into philanthropic hands or is put to better use.
By virtue of their title, “the robber barons,” Rockefeller, Carnegie, Vanderbilt, and Morgan have been accused of being ruthless and inhumane.Yet if it were not for their energy and shrewdness, building the railroad infrastructure and producing steel and oil more efficiently, there would be little or no growth of the West or middle class. Their actions brought the cost of living down, and many necessities, like kerosene, finally became affordable to millions of people. Ironically, their actions also brought forth the chain of events that crumbled the monopolies in the form of antitrust laws (protection against future ‘bullies’). But after all is said and done, the money they made was not wasted, and their riches benefit individuals to this day. Since 1929, the Rockefeller Foundation has provided over $13 billion in grant money to help world hunger, homelessness, and education. Carnegie devoted most of his $12 billion to fund programs such as the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
Decades after the robber barons, the likes of Carl Icahn and Ronald Perelman forced fat to be cut out and operations streamlined at lazy conglomerates like RJR Nabisco and Revlon. In effect, they corrected the mistakes made by managers from the conglomerate mergers in the 1970s. Along the way, workers were displaced, but studies show that most of the takeovers and leveraged buy-outs of the 1980s have produced efficiencies and innovation in every sector of the economy, resulting in net benefits for individuals.
As for rules of the game, they do change in response to the collective effect of individual activity. Being amoebic creatures by nature, corporations are constantly changing to reflect the current morals imposed by governmental and societal bodies. It is a slow process perhaps, but a reasonable solution given the millions of Jorgys and Garfinkles fighting in the world. Barbarians are always at the gate wanting to play
the game. But sooner or later, money finds a good home.

Director's Corner
By Edward W. Wavak
Other People’s Money has been a real joy to work on. I’d like to thank all those whose confidence in me provided me the opportunity to direct this play and to extend my many thanks to the fantastic cast and crew as well.
Other People’s Money is a play that can appeal to us on many different levels. On one level, as a very entertaining play, it provides a comic relief from our everyday lives; on another level it can teach us a little about ‘Wall Street” and how it works; and on yet another level, it really can raise significant questions.
I can’t tell you whom you should side with, but it’s clear to me that it’s not necessarily all that black and white. Is Jorgy responsible to his shareholders or to his employees? How responsible is he to the community? How responsible is the community to him and to New England Wire and Cable? Is Larry “right” when he answers some of these questions, “Who cares”? Why is it that Larry wants to “own” the company rather than make money (lots of money) by greenmail? After all, everyone’s a winner (“except for the stockholders”). And why wouldn’t he take a cool million from Bea, yet spend a million for the right to vote Coles’ shares?
I hope you enjoy our production of Other Peoples’ Money, whether it be just for an entertaining night at the theatre or something to talk about on the way home. Hopefully both. Thanks for coming.

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