"People should be encouraged to call directors," says Heather B. Gunn '90, who will play Beth in Lie of the Mind and Betty in The Foreigner this semester. But Gunn says if directors were allowed to call actors, problems might still arise.

If a performer were to cross his or her name off a cast list but later on in the grace period decide to take the role and the rule were not in effect, the director might already have called another person to take the role. "It has happened before," Gunn says.

But most actors interviewed say they do not mind being called by directors during the 24-hour period. They say they prefer being told about a role before making other commitments. One performer says she was called and asked if she would switch parts. "It didn't really matter," she says.

Another performer says she had a director come up to her as she stood near the common casting board about 15 minutes before the grace period ended. She was offered a lead part in a play in which she had not originally been cast. She says she accepted the part.

Many actors and directors agree that directors should be allowed to call actors during the grace period if they are offering a new role. Actors say they did not think they would let directors pressure them into accepting a part they did not want.

But Salovaara says, "It seems clear that some sort of adjustment [needs to be] made." He says the HRDC will meet this week to discuss possible changes to the rule.

After learning of the violations, Salovaara says he called directors to admonish them. "I think I made it quite clear that directors are not allowed to call anyone [during the grace period]," one director says Salovaara had told him.

The director says he agreed with Salovaara at the time but later changed his mind after other directors corroborated his original impression that he had not been warned. The director says he had also been told that Yew did not have the authority to tell him he could call second choices.

Although some directors were annoyed by the warning, many say they saw Salovaara's call as a necessary clarification of a confusing rule. According to Adam J. Fratto '90, who is directing The Foreigner, there was "a lot of misinformation floating around" about the rule. But he adds that Salovaraa stopped the illicit calling "before it became much of an issue."

And Peter J. Ocko '88, director of King Lear, says he thought the rules were "made clear before auditions began." Ocko says he did not have any problems with the rule and did not know of any violations of it this semester.

The HRDC has no authority to enforce its rules, according to Watson. "Basically, it's just an honor system," Watson says.