Very Cool

Thanks to Mike Lawler [note: I put Lawton at first, who is the university lawyer here at UNCA! Sorry Mike!] for pointing us to this conference on theatre and ecology: 2009 Earth Matters on Stage.

And an Interview by Somebody Else

Ever wonder what I was doing in 1968? Well, maybe you didn't, but Laura Axelrod did. She interviewed me for her great 1968 project. Check it out here, and be sure to look at the 1968 project!

Oh, and thanks to Travis Bedard for going to bat with "Riddle Me This." (Unfortunately, I think the result will be more comments on my personality, and not many on the issues.)

Another Interview with Myself

What, you again?
Yeah. Can we do another interview? A couple of my readers say I come across as more human in dialog.

Sheesh. When you have to talk to yourself to be human, I think I'd throw in the towel.
Please?

OK. What do you want to talk about?
American Theatre Magazine.

Yeah, what's up with that? I haven't read it for a while -- is it really such a bad magazine?
No, it is a great magazine! It is certainly the best magazine about theatre in the US, in my opinion. In fact, I've considered assigning it as a textbook for my classes, but I haven't figured out how best to do that yet.

Then why are you trashing it?
I'm not trashing it! I just want it to spread all that excellence around. With all the intelligence that comes through every month, it has such potential to really make a huge difference in our view of theatre in this country. They could really make us realize that it is valuable to make a career committed to working in the regional theatre, and that such a career is satisfying in itself and doesn't require building national fame.

Why is that so darned important to you?
Because I have strong objections to globalism.

Ahem. Maybe you oughta explain that non sequitur for all your readers who don't live in your particular twisty mind like I have to on a daily basis...
Globalism substitutes the global for the local. Things are shipped in from all over the world and are sold in place of local goods. You get the same thing no matter where you are in the country, which is comforting but boring and unhealthy. And I think that is as damaging to the theatre as it is to agriculture. We lose what is unique and particular in favor of a homogeneous "product" that has been wiped clean of all connection to a place, a relationship. The regional theatre was supposed to be the opposite of globalism.

So? You eat at McDonalds -- I've seen you.
Yes, I do. But only when I'm too busy to actually eat real food. And if the price was really high -- like the price of theatre is compared to, say, a movie from Netflix, which is the entertainment version of McDonalds -- I wouldn't eat at McDonalds. I'd look for a local place like 12 Bones Smokehouse or 28806 deli -- yum!

OK, but what does this have to do with American Theatre?
I think there ought to be a stronger focus on home-cooked meals, slow food. In other words, people who aren't migrants, but who actually commit to a place.

A couple people are criticizing your methodology for separating Nylachi articles from non-Nylachi articles. They're right, aren't they? Didn't you kind of cook the books?
I think the biggest objection is to classifying articles about regional topics as a Nylachi article if they are written by a Nylachi author.

Well, that is kind of stupid, isn't it?
I don't think so, but there is one part of it that has me on the fence. American Theatre has a staff, so is it fair to include articles written by staff members in the Nylachi count? Wouldn't that automatically make it mostly a Nylachi-written magazine? And maybe that is true, and not fair. But other magazines have bureaus in other areas -- why is the staff for American Theatre so centralized in New York? Wouldn't it make more sense, if your topic was "The American Theatre" to have some staff actually in other parts of America? Or at least, if all of your staff is going to be in New York, wouldn't you make an effort to balance that by publishing articles by really seeking out non-New York writers to write articles about regional theatres?

Didn't you just get the April edition of American Theatre in the mail yesterday.
Yes, but I haven't had a chance to look at it yet.

OK, well, let's do it now. How does all this shake out this month?
Let's start with the features.

• Front & Center: "In Vino Veritas" -- dateline: New York City

Check. Labeled by the magazine itself.

• "Writing About Sex" by Wallace Shawn. I don't think it would be too outrageous to say that Shawn is a New York writer, is it?

Sarah Hart seems to think this is about regional theatre because Shawn says one of his favorite productions of his plays was in Austin, TX.
Well, he's still a NY writer who is known because of his NY productions. I'm not buying that one

• "The Playwright Nobody (and Everybody) Knows" about Wallace Shawn, written by Don Shewey who lives in New York City

Double-dipping!

• "The Monte Spin," which has the subtitle "A Stone's Throw from NYC, Audiences Line Up to See Her Irreverent Staging of the Classics" -- isn't that interesting?
  

What?
It is about Bonnie J. Monte, who heads up Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey. This could actually be seen as an article about a regional theatre artist who has committed to the regional theatre -- she's been the head of STNJ since 1990, and has done a lot of innovative things. So what's with the subtitle?

I'll bet people in NJ get tired of being seen as the bedroom state for NYC. Doesn't help that both of NY's football teams play in NJ, but still call themselves New York teams... Who wrote the article?
Charles Ney who teaches at Texas State University! Yay! Sounds like he's writing an interesting book, too, where he's interviewed directors across the US about directing Shakespeare.

• Production Notebook: "The Bluest Eye" -- Hartford Stage / Long Wharf Theatre.
  

Those are regional theatres, right?
Indeed they are. Two regional theatres at once in this article. Not exactly ranging far from NYC and the northeast (so far, we have New Jersey and Connecticut), but OK. I love Morrison's book, and would love to see this production.

• "Julie Marie Myatt: An American Longing."
  

This looks pretty cool. Is she a New York playwright?
No, she lives in LA. So I suppose officially she should be classified as a Nylachi playwright. But her plays are being done mostly by regional theatres scattered all over the place. So is she a regional theatre playwright? Is there such a thing? I don't know how to classify this one, but I'm inclined to put her in the non-Nylachi category. The article was written by Sarah Hart, American Theatre Managing Editor. So a New York writer.

• "Craig Wright: Irons in the Fire."

Hmmm.
This is an odd article. Take a look at some of the cut lines: "The playwright-screenwriter is thriving with one foot in Hollywood and the other on stage" and "Even with constant tension between artistic and commercial imperatives in Hollywood, Wright insists, it's possible for him to write satisfying scripts for TV." Wright is a playwright who left Minneapolis to write for TV six years ago, and the article seems to focus on whether it is possible to keep a foot in both art forms.

So?
I don't know. What's it doing in a theatre magazine?

But doesn't it reflect the reality of the American theatre?
So I'm told. The message concerns me, though. Anyway, he's a LA guy. Article written by Kevin Nance of Chicago. Lots of Nylachi here.

• "Mainstream Remix: Frank talk about casting, training, and presenting actors and works of color" -- this is a panel discussion.

Who's on the panel.
Zakiyyah Alexander, a playwright and actor who lives and works in New York City.

Check. Who else?
Daniel Banks -- New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Uh-oh. Who else?
Debra Cardona, dramaturg for Classical Theatre of Harlem.

I can see what you're thinking.
Stephanie Gilman -- director and teach in Brooklyn.
Antonio Ocampo-Guzman -- based in Boston!

Diversity!
Eduardo Placer resides in New York City.
Tlaloc Rivas serves as an associate for a number of New York-based companies.
Elsie Stark, agent and casting director for Stark Naked Productions -- New York City.

OK, so that was pretty New York-centric, wasn't it. But it was a panel discussion, so it is cheaper to have everybody in one place.
True. Although in the day of Skype and teleconferencing, having a broader representation is pretty easy.

Then there's an "Antecedents" article about Dorothy Parker.

Dorothy Parker? Was she a playwright?
Well, she collaborated on a few plays; I wouldn't say she's a playwright. But whatever she is, she's definitely New York. Marion Meade, who wrote the article, lives in New York City.

• Strategies: "Friends with Money."

This is a monthly feature about finance written by Editorial Assistant Eliza Bent. This month, it is about Victory Gardens in Chicago. So Nylachi, but it's nice to see Chicago in the mix.

And then a play by David Henry Hwang. Photos from the Public Theatre producti9on.Play opened in LA, then came to NY. Nylachi.

So what's the count?
Articles about New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago: 8
Articles about somewhere else: 3
The three non-Nylachi articles are about New Jersey, Connecticut, and I counted Jule Marie Myatt as a non-Nylachi even though she lives in LA.

What about the authors?
Articles written by authors in New York, Chicago, or LA: 9, 3 of which were American Theatre staffers
Writers from somewhere else: 1

Are there any articles that are about a non-Nylachi subject and written by a non-Nylachi writer?
Yes, one. The one about the Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey.

OK, so what? I mean, that's the way it is, right? I mean, Isaac said it: Edward Albee in Houston was critical exile. "I might not like it, you might not like it, but there are no critics important to the national theatre culture at large in Houston, TX."
The argument there is that the media doesn't create reality, it just reflects it. Right?

Right.
Let me ask something. How is the "national theatre culture at large" defined?

What do you mean?
I mean who defines what is important in the so-called "national theatre culture"? Who decides what gets to be in it and what is excluded?

I don't know. It just sort of...gets defined.
Come on. Use your intellect. I know you have one -- it's the same one I have!

Sometimes you're a dick.
I know. And it gets in the way of my being taken seriously. I suspect it has something to do with my having tenure and health insurance -- makes me arrogant. But answer the question: who defines the "national theatre culture"?

I suppose...people who write about it.
But aren't there people who write about theatre in Houston?

I suppose so. They have newspapers there.
So why aren't they included in "national theatre culture"?

I know what you're trying to get me to say.
Then say it -- there's no way around it. They aren't included because they aren't in New York. New York writers define the "national theatre culture." When we use the phrase "national theatre culture" what we really mean is the New York Times, the Village Voice, and other NYC newspapers.

But what about magazines?
Exactly. That's my point. So: American Theatre, Theater, Performing Arts Journal. They could balance the New York media, broaden it a bit. Instead, they are focused as relentless on Nylachi as everyone else. American Theatre has the greatest potential to diversify the discussion, broaden it beyond the Hudson. That's why I care so much. They have a responsibility, according to their charter, to make that dialog open up to all 50 states. And every time they reinforce the centralized status quo by referring to Houston as exile, for instance, they marginalize all the important, creative regional theatres that are struggling to create outstanding work in the face of massive media neglect. They could do so much better.

But they're trying!
I know. It's not purposeful! I don't think Sarah Hart is twirling her mustache and trying to figure out a way to turn American Theatre into Variety. The focus on Nylachi just happens, slowly, inch by inch, until somebody actually looks at where we've come.

But what about what Freeman said: "So your goals are being met. So they're respecting you and responding. Not all discussions are about who wins. Sometimes, knowing that your concerns are even a factor in the decision making of the decision makers is a big step in the right direction."
I was very flattered that Sarah Hart responded at all, and appreciate her willingness to do so. But the response indicated to me that she still didn't see the issue clearly. To argue that Wallace Shawn is not a New York story because he says that his favorite production was in Austin TX and there are two pictures from that production -- well, to me, that says she doesn't quite get it yet, and I'd better be clearer. And if that seems impolite, then I guess it is impolite. If my concerns are going to be heard, I want to make sure that they speak in a clear manner. It's not enough to just be at the table, the issue have to be taken seriously. The numbers speak for themselves:

• Articles about New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago: 8
• Articles about somewhere else: 3
• Articles written by authors in New York, Chicago, or LA: 9, 3 of which were American Theatre staffers
• Writers from somewhere else: 1
• Total number of articles about a non-Nylachi subject written by a non-Nylachi writer: 1

To me, that's pretty clear.

Can't Resist

My wife sent this to me:

Reply to Sarah Hart

I have been thinking how best to reply to the welcome response from Sarah Hart, the Managing Editor of American Theatre to my post "The Nylachification of American Theatre Magazine," as well as to a comment left by Isaac concerning my methodology in writing that post. It is certainly not my intention to demonize the American Theatre staff -- publishing a monthly magazine about a topic as large as the American theatre is a very difficult job, and involves making many difficult choices, as Ms. Hart points out in her letter, and I respect that. My purpose is to tease out of the data an orientation that I feel works against the original noble goals of the regional theatre movement.

In his 1972 book Regional Theatre: The Revolutionary Stage, Joseph Wesley Zeigler, who from 1966 to 1969 himself led the TCG, decided to use the word "regional" to describe the theatre about which he was writing "mostly because it reflects the anti-capital philosophy which is the core of the story." In his first chapter, "Defining a Revolution," Zeigler elaborated about this commitment to decentralization. "The regional theatre phenomenon has been a major and determined attempt to spread American culture throughout the country and even more to create a new basis of theatre not dependent on Broadway. The purpose of decentralization has been less to spread the wealth than to triumph in an ideological war between the institutional theatre and the commercial theatre. Those in the forefront of the regional theatre movement see it as a way to strip Broadway of its power. The primary force of their crusade has been centrifugal." Unfortunately, in the years since 1972 entropy has robbed this centrifugal force of most of its energy, and the gravitational pull of Broadway (and its once rebellious but now equally tamed sibling, Off-Broadway) has reasserted itself. Charles McNulty, in an article about San Diego's Old Globe entitled "Theaters Playing to Bottom Line," does a nice job illustrating how the increasing focus on New York transfers is undermining regional theatres like the Old Globe, who "have come to mark their success by the number of Tonys their splashiest shows go on to win."

What I was asserting in my post on American Theatre is that this primarily New York (but also, to a lesser extent, Los Angeles and Chicago) orientation has come to inform this fine magazine both through its choice of articles and through its choice of writers. Are the articles written by these writers informative and inspirational? Absolutely, I would certainly never argue with that -- I read my American Theatre almost the moment it arrives. But I believe a magazine published by a regional theatre service organization ought to promote the values described by Zeigler that gave the movement its power and distinctiveness, and also resist the pull of the celebrity culture in which we live.

Isaac asks "why does something about a production in Kentucky written by someone who lives in NYC considered a NYLACHI article?" The answer, and I suspect it is one that will lead Isaac and other NY bloggers to throw up their hands, is that a New York author will write about a subject through a lens that is shaped by the New York context in which they live. It isn't intentional; it is a natural adjustment that occurs when one lives in a place and regularly encounters the values embedded in that place. Richard Florida's book Are You Living Where You Should Be?, which Joe Patti describes at "Butts in the Seats," says essentially the same thing. Joe writes about Florida's ideas, "communities have a certain character on a macro-level. There is always an artistic/bohemian, etc. area in any city of size. However, this area in Oklahoma City, OK is not equal to the same area in Philadelphia, PA but rather reflects what each city will tolerate of their artists. As I understand Florida, he is saying the artists of Oklahoma City will have absorbed the more conservative vibe of their city." [ital mine] I agree, and I New York is exempt from this effect. So when New York critic David Cote visits Reykjavik, Iceland, for instance, his reactions are filtered through his New York sensibilities. Can you imagine an Icelander writing this way about Reykjavik? I can't:

"It was interesting. Farty-smelling water from sulphur. Wickedly expensive. Insular. Nordic. Beautiful people - if you like the translucent-skinned elvish type. Scary, depressing hard drinking on weekends. Local theater is both slick-Euro and about 15 years behind the avant-curve. Reykjavik is a small Scandy town with one main street full of overpriced boutique stores. Men who look like rugged, homicidal Vikings but turn out to be exceedingly polite. Four-dollar hot dogs with crumbled onion rings and three types of sauce…very popular. And delicious. Dank, cold, dark....Iceland has not produced its Robert Wilson, its Wooster Group, its equivalent of Off-Off Broadway, or even its own exportable mainstream playwrights. Its productions hardly ever make it to the Brooklyn Academy of Music or Le Festival d’Avignon.

How in the world can we take it seriously if it hasn't even made it to BAM? I mean, whatEVer.

In American Theatre, this surfaces in articles like the cover story about Edward Albee written by Carol Rocamora, a New York University professor, who refers to Albee's "distinguished 15-year teaching career at the University of Houston, where that city's Alley Theatre also gave him a home" as -- get this -- "critical exile." The Alley Theatre, founded by regional theatre pioneer and visionary Nina Vance, is one of the original flagship theatres of the regional movement. It should not be dismissed as a place of exile, least of all in American Theatre. Grinding salt into the wound, Rocamora lionizes the New York-based Off-Broadway Signature Theatre for doing the same thing the Alley Theatre did -- "giving the playwright a new home," and then she concludes the sentence by repeating the same insult: "after a decade of critical exile from New York." While Houston may seem like exile to a New York University professor, for those of us who believe in the value of the regional theatre movement, and who hold to the "anti-capital philosophy" of decentralization described by Zeigler, such throwaway insults are a slap in the face to everything regional theatre stands for.

Perhaps a more subtle example can be found in the December 2007 cover story Ms. Hart refers to about the Arkansas Repertory Theatre's production of It Happened in Little Rock, which portrays the 1957 events surrounding the integration of Central High School. That was a powerful article, there is no doubt about it, and it was inspiring to read about the production, and I applaud American Theatre for writing about it. But I'll also point out that it was written by Nicole Estvanik, American Theatre's Associate Editor (New York), about a play that was written by New York playwright Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj (who Estvanik points out has a father from India, a mother from the Caribbean, and who grew up on Long Island and did not come to America until he was school-aged), and was directed by Robert Hupp, who before taking over the Arkansas Rep spent nine seasons as the Artistic Director of the Jean Cocteau Rep in New York. So what? Am I suggesting that only people from Arkansas can write about Arkansas? Hardly. But I am suggesting that the lens of an outsider does have an effect on what is perceived, and that that is important.

Jill Dolan, in her brilliant book Utopia in Performance, writes about this very topic in her chapter on The Laramie Project, which raised similar question about the us/them, there/here binary. "The project," Dolan writes, "proceeds from the perspective of outsiders for outsiders, with the danger of condescension to the local using such techniques involve." The use of the word "exile" to describe fifteen years in Houston is an example of such condescension, which assumes a non-Houston audience that would share such an attitude. Poor Edward Albee, stuck in the fourth-largest city in the United States having all his plays performed at a nationally-recognized regional theatre with a 75,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility when he could be being performed in a 160-seat theatre on 42nd Street in New York City. Why, it's just tragic.

As far as the articles themselves, Hart asks: "In our April issue is an essay by Wallace Shawn on his writing process; he’s obviously a New York writer, but he reports that his favorite production of his work was done by Rubber Rep in Austin, Tex., whose productions are prominently featured in the issue. Is that a New York story?" I haven't received my April issue yet, but I would venture to say of course it is a New York story. Wallace Shawn is a New York writer, as Hart says, and that is why his article is being published. If he were an Austin, TX playwright, is it likely that American Theatre would be at all interested in his writing process? Not very. He is being published because he is the author of a number of plays that have been produced to some acclaim and notoriety in NYC, and because he achieved national recognition as a result of his film work. Is it nice that his favorite production was in Austin? Sure. Will the article be a good one? No doubt. But that's not the point. The point is, to use a phrase that continues to resonate in academia, the Problem of The Canon.

When people in literature departments argue about the canon, the argument often focuses on what underrepresented voices are going unheard because of a tight focus on canonical dead white males. In theatre, NYC has come to define, even for the regional theatre movement, the nature of the canon, by which I not only mean plays, but also actors, directors, designers, critics, and playwrights. When American Theatre interviews "8 Tall Actors on How to Play Albee" as part of the Albee cover story, they talk to Myra Carter, Rosemary Harris, Bill Irwin, Brian Murray, Bill Pullman, Mercedes Ruhl, Marian Seldes, and Kathleen Turner. I could be mistaken, but those all look like actors who have appeared in New York productions of Albee's plays, and yet for 15 years his plays were being done in Houston at the Alley Theatre. Why aren't those actors interviewed? Because they lack New York cache, they stand outside the NY canon of actors. They are the underrepresented voices that are going unheard.

Yes, In the Red and Brown Water received its premiere at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, and that is truly wonderful. But playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney is a New York playwright, a Yale Drama School graduate of the MFA program in playwriting, and his previous play opened in 2007 simultaneously at the New York Public Theatre and London's Young Vic (which also plans to produce In the Red and Brown Water). The play is being directed by Steppenwolf member and Anne Bogart collaborator Tina Landau, designed by NY designers Mimi Lien, Jessica Jahn, and Scott Zielinski. These are all NY-canonical names and credits. This is not a regional playwright, nor a product of a regional theatre. This is an import.

My intention is not to dismiss the value, quality, or importance of these people or plays or productions; my intention is to show that a New York pedigree seems to be critical to being included in the pages of American Theatre. And to say that I don't think that is truly supporting what the regional theatre was meant to be, or those who have devoted their lives to working in it.

What I want to see from a magazine purportedly committed to the health of the regional theatre is a focus on people who have committed themselves and their career to the regional theatre movement. Not a complete and total focus -- I like to read about Wallace Shawn and Anne Bogart as much as the rest of you -- but some level of equity. People need to know that it is possible, indeed admirable, to have a rich and satisfying career by committing your life to the regional theatre alone, and even better one regional theatre, rather than bouncing from Broadway to film to regional theatre to TV. Commitment to the vision of the regional theatre should be an important guide for choosing subjects to spotlight in American Theatre. I want an article about James and Rose Pickering, who I saw give brilliant performances at the Milwaukee Repertory Theatre when I was in high school 30+ years ago, and who are still there and part of the resident acting company. I want to read about people like Cliff Fannin Baker, who founded the Arkansas Rep in 1976 and ran it for 23 years. I want the spotlight to fall on people whose names we don't already know, because they have spent their career devoted to a regional theatre movement that was supposed to be decentralized and anti-capital. I want an article about Charlie and Angie Flynn-McIver. the co-founders of North Carolina Stage Company, who have committed themselves to creating a professional regional theatre here in Asheville, NC, and who are not bouncing around the country picking up acting and directing jobs in NYC. It is a crime that incredible acting teachers such as Jean Scharfenberg and Cal Pritner, who taught at Illinois State University through much of the 1990s and who had a hand in teaching many of the founders of Steppenwolf as well as a whole boatload of talented actors like Judith Ivey, Laurie Metcalf, and the founders of Chicago's 500 Clowns and Breadline Theatre , were ignored because they didn't teach in a "name" east coast theatre department but in central Illinois. Instead, we get interviews about teaching acting with Andrei Serban, of all people, who teaches at -- you guessed it -- New York University.

This reply was supposed to be calm and polite, and I know I haven't managed to keep it that way. But it frustrates me to see a movement that I grew up with and that had such promise for creating a true renaissance in the American theatre be co-opted by Broadway aesthetics and succumb to the culture of celebrity. And I want American Theatre and the TCG to be vocal proponents of what the regional theatre was supposed to be.

Response from American Theatre

This was left as a comment on the "Nylachification of American Theatre Magazine" post by Sarah Hart, Managing Editor of American Theatre:

Mr. Walters,

Your concerns about expansive coverage for theatres across the country, regardless of urban proximity, are valid and something we struggle with in every issue. We work to balance a range of diversity over all our issues, including geographic, stylistic, racial, age and size of theatre, while still telling compelling and timely stories. Does it come out evenly in every single issue? Of course not. Does the ongoing reporting in American Theatre show an honest breadth of the work that exists? We hope so.

Still, breaking our national theatre community into reductive statistics is complicated. I doubt an accurate tape measure exists. So many stories reflect national issues and transcend so-called regions. Should we be ghettoizing our writers or training programs because they have a specific address, when their plays or students fan out across America and often internationally? In our April issue is an essay by Wallace Shawn on his writing process; he’s obviously a New York writer, but he reports that his favorite production of his work was done by Rubber Rep in Austin, Tex., whose productions are prominently featured in the issue. Is that a New York story? What about profiles of Julie Marie Myatt and Craig Wright, both playwrights based in Los Angeles, but who have had important productions in Ashland, Ore.; Louisville, Ky.; Houston, Tex.; Washington, D.C.; and Minneapolis, in addition to New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Our March issue features the text of a play by Tarell McCraney, who lives in New York, but whose play premiered at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre and takes Louisiana as its setting. He’s interviewed by a Miami-based journalist. Our December cover features a community-oriented production in Arkansas.

That said, I do wonder which features you were counting and which you weren’t; my tabulations come out differently for the January and February issues.

We are eager to receive pitches and press releases from writers and theatres all over the country--from you or from anyone who might read your blog. The more theatres are in communication with us, the more we can look for the right ways and times to cover them.

Sarah Hart, Managing Editor, American Theatre
with the American Theatre staff

I would like a little time to consider my response to this thoughtful and fair comment. If the signature is any indication, and judging from the fact that I sent my original email to Jim O'Quinn, it seems that the staff of the magazine as a group were involved in addressing this question, which is very flattering and, to my mind, shows great willingness to be open to discussion.

Let me clarify my method for delineating the articles, which I also must admit was done fairly quickly. If an article was written by a NY/LA/Chicago-based writer, it went into the Nylachi pile. This included articles by staff members. If the article was about a Nylachi-based artist, or seemed to be receiving attention because of a Nylachi production (regardless of the location of the premiere), that went in the Nylachi pile. As far as the News-in-Brief numbers, I used the datelines as the arbiter.

While I consider my response, if any of my readers would like to communicate with Ms. Hart, please feel free to use the comments box for this post.

Stage Direction Magazine

I'd like to second Jacob's plug for Stage Directions magazine -- he seems to be doing some good work there. Here is what he said in a recent comment:

I'm going to do a little self-promotion here -- Stage Directions magazine, which I recently became editor of, is committed to promoting/examining/reporting on theatre of all levels, everywhere. In the April 2008 issue we have 15 mentions of theatre companies/schools/organizations

. These aren't just off-handed remarks but either major elements of a story (e.g., talking to three different artistic directors about how they choose a season, none of whom were based in NYC). Of those 15, only 3 were based in NYC. One was from L.A. Every other source was based across the country, including Kansas, Arizona, Pennsylvania, Arkansas, Iowa, etc. As a magazine we focus on the practicalities of creating better theatre, no matter what your skillsets are, and on educating the next generation of theatre artists -- which means letting them know what's going on everywhere. There is an alternative. Check out our March issue online: stage-directions.com/current-issue. Alright, I'm done stumping, thanks for your patience.

Go take a look!