A Renewed ‘Next in Line’

Don Shirley’s review, “Long Wait for Payoff in ‘Next in Line’ at New Ivar” (May 18), spends a lot of time criticizing the book. When I first saw and heard a sit-down read-through of the script three months ago, I knew that I wanted to see the drama onstage.

Is there a difference between S. L. Stebel and Charles Rome Smith’s play and my short stories, published 45 years ago? There is. But stage drama has its own aesthetic demands. Reading a short story is not the same as experiencing the half-fantasy, half-real world of the stage or the totally real medium of films.

I try to differentiate between these three ways of seeing and being when I make decisions about the future of my tales. I felt that Sid Stebel and Chuck Smith had something to add to my characters and their lives or I would not have let them re-plot their conflicts.

In sum, night after night, their play is rewarding, and Nancy Dussault, whom Shirley ignored, adds dimension to the character.

RAY BRADBURY

Cheviot Hills