Applause to Trey Graham for telling it like it really is at the 1999 Helen Hayes Awards (Artifacts, “Helen Hazed,” 5/7). The majority of area actors are not the chosen ones destined to receive a pricey invitation to the soiree, much less get cast as an understudy in a nominated production. All we get are gushing Washington Post articles about the ballyhooed party.

So thanks for the enjoyable scoop on the “glacially paced, interminable” shindig.

Kensington, Md.