'REEFER MADNESS' FINALLY GETS GO-AHEAD FROM CITY

PRESCOTT - When then-Elks Opera House manager Dawn Castaneda told
Clyde Neville in mid-September she would not accept the advertising
poster for his upcoming play, "Reefer Madness," which depicted a large
marijuana leaf, he considered it much ado about nothing.

"I told Jacob (d'Armand) he would have to redesign the poster," said
Neville, who is producing the play and is managing director of the
Lonesome Valley Playhouse, which sometimes holds productions at other
venues. "It was no big deal."

D'Armand is co-artistic director of the Prescott Independent Theater
(PIT) and director of PIT's upcoming plays at the Elks, "Rocky Horror
Show" and "Reefer Madness." He designed the advertising posters for
both plays.

"Dawn said she wanted to do the show, but we just needed to change the
poster," Neville said.

Redesigning the poster was the beginning of a rollercoaster ride for
Neville while he tried to get contracts for his plays.

In the midst of d'Armand redesigning the poster, Castaneda suddenly
resigned the week of Sept. 20.

Subsequently, Neville received some conflicting information.

"Dawn told me that Prescott government wouldn't allow the poster
because of the marijuana leaf," Neville said.

Not true, said Mic Fenech, administrative services director for the
city.

"We don't care - as long as they're renting the theater, they can put
up whatever they want," he said.

Neville already had verbal agreements with Castaneda, but had not
signed the contracts. After her resignation, he made new appointments
to sign the contracts, but for weeks city officials repeatedly
cancelled them.

Then, he noticed that all of the performances scheduled on the Elks'
website were deleted from the calendar.

"I don't know what that means because no one from the city is
talking," he said toward the end of September.

While Neville and his casts and crews wondered if the shows would go
on, Fenech assumed management of the theater and scheduled a contract
meeting with Neville.

"Fenech was a very user-friendly guy, and he understood our situation
and worked with us," Neville said. "My shows are in place."

The city charged Neville $1,000 per day to rent the theater, which is
what Castaneda promised him, but is less than the $1,500 written in
the city's charter. However, they said it would cost him $150 an hour
with a four-hour minimum to rehearse at the theater.

"We'll have to do rehearsals off-site, which isn't the best way to get
ready for a play, but we didn't have any money built in for rehearsals
because that's not the agreement we had with Dawn," Neville said Tuesday.

Neville's "Rocky Horror Show," which plays Oct. 22 and 23, is back on
the Elks website, but it is the only performance listed.

"The theater is operational and we're good to go," said Laurie Hadley,
deputy city manager. "We have no intentions of canceling anything."

Hadley said she would bring up the missing calendar items with Colette
Greenlee, the Elks business manager. She added that anyone who had a
performance scheduled and has questions should call Greenlee at 777-1359.

"But it's safe to say the shows will go on," Hadley
said.

The city recently accepted d'Armand's third poster design, which
combined his first and second designs. The marijuana leaf is back in,
although it is slightly camouflaged.

"We're on schedule for 'Reefer Madness,'" Neville said. "They accepted
the flyers and posters, so not to worry about the show going on."

"Reefer Madness" opens Nov. 27.