Indy Theatre Habit

 

The tagline for this blog is “Reviews and reflections related to all aspects of live theatre in the Indianapolis, Indiana (USA) area.”  The tagline may or may not show up on the home page, depending on which “theme” or blog outfit I am trying on at the moment, so I thought I’d better put it on a separate page as well.

Also…

Here are my content goals for this blog in 2008:

1.  One review of a show per week.  It will probably be 2-3 reviews per week, simply because I love going to shows and writing about them, but I am trying just to establish the cake first.  Anything else will be icing.

2.  One “reflection” post about some aspect of theatre per week.  I use the term “theatre” very broadly.

3.  The occasional review of a storytelling recording or play-based movie or some other form of theatre-related media.  However, what I most want to write about here is live theatre.

My policies (updated 7/22/08):

• I welcome and appreciate offers of media passes.  I have gone back and forth on the ethics of this, but the reality is that I simply can not afford to continue to write about as many shows as I have been if I have to pay all my own way.  I am still donating to the community my time plus the cost of my transportation and the cost of hosting my blog.  That’s the best I can do until I win the lottery big.  I also appreciate getting press releases, publicity photos, announcements, and other info about upcoming shows.  Please feel free to email me at amarylliswriter at gmail dot com. 
• I don’t usually write reviews of preview performances.  I used to think I was doing a theatre a favor by writing about a preview performance, but Megan McKinney, then Senior Marketing and Public Relations Manager for the IRT, told me they do not give media passes to reviewers for preview performances because in a preview, the actors are still rehearsing and the show is still changing.  Once the show has opened, it has been “set” and is in the form it will be in for the run of the show.  In other words, reviewers are not writing publicity pieces, they are evaluating and discussing finished pieces of art. I want to give every show a fair chance to be at its best before I write about it.
• I concentrate on reviewing shows that have been produced by adults for adults.   There is a lot of wonderful youth theatre in the Indianapolis area, and I know several teens who do theatre at their high schools and middle schools.  I will try to see their shows and support them emotionally, artistically, and financially as much as I can.  I believe it is important to “nurture the seeds” of future theatre artists and audiences.   However, I don’t have time to see and write about everything, so in this blog I am going to focus on what I like best, which is theatre for grown-ups.   By the way, I encourage all adults to find shows and theatres that you like because you like them, not because your kids are in them.  Life really is better with a shot of (grown-up) theatre in it.
• I don’t pretend to be an expert on theatre.  I worked on a handful of shows at the Phoenix Theatre more than a decade ago - acting, assistant directing, stage managing, running lights…but in the years since then I have concentrated on oral tradition storytelling, and even that only in my spare time.  One reason I write about theatre is to learn about it.  I encourage everyone to go to shows and decide for themselves whether the shows are “good” or not.

My inspiration:

I have a handful of quotes that I try to keep in mind as I work on my reviews.  In most cases, they are more like distillations of conversations rather than quotes.  Here they are, in the order that I received them:

1.  Professional storyteller Heather Forest often says, “Plan to be a storyteller for at least 25 years.”  In other words, don’t think you have to, or that it is even possible to, get yourself a business card and “ta dah!” be a perfect storyteller.  Add to your repertoire slowly and effectively.  Set goals each year.  Don’t be too hard on yourself about what you don’t know yet, but just keep building on what you have.  Enjoy your successes and strive to be continually improving.  (Okay, “continuous improvement” is a management buzz phrase that I picked up at my day job, but it fits here, too.)  I know even less about reviewing theatre than I do about crafting and telling stories, but I am just going to keep doing my best, learning as I go, and trust that I will get better at it over time. 

2. Tom Robertson, Development Director at the Phoenix Theatre, once told me that a professional review should do two things: it should offer an independent assessment of a piece based on its artistic merits and it should educate the public.  Again, I don’t have a lot of theatre expertise or experience from which to draw, but I’ll do my best.

3.  One night after a show, I cornered Whitney Smith, the arts writer for The Indianapolis Star, and asked him for advice on becoming a theatre reviewer.  He encouraged me to read as much as I could: theatre reviews by other people, scripts, books about theatre.  He said, “You have to keep in shape physically, too.  Eat right, get enough sleep, exercise often, pace yourself.”  I sighed when I heard this, but I knew he was right. 

4.  I got to hear a reporter and a photographer from The Philadelphia Inquirer talk about a book they had created together.  It was called Rocky Stories: Tales of Love, Hope, and Happiness at America’s Most Famous Steps. (Paul Dry Books, 2006)  Both the writer, Michael Vitez, and the photographer, Tom Gralish, had won Pulitzer Prizes for their work at the Inquirer.  The subject of their talk was about the challenges they had had in fulfilling their dream of making the Rocky Stories book.  I waited in line to have them sign my copy of the book, and then, since I was the last person and they didn’t seem to be in a hurry to leave, I told them that one of my dreams was to be a theatre reviewer.  Did they have any advice for me? 

At first they thought I wanted to earn my living as a theatre reviewer, so they gave me good advice about approaching newspapers.

“No,” I said.  “I am already earning my living another way.  I want advice on how to write.”

“Be helpful,” they said.  “Be honest, but even more importantly, be helpful.  Give your readers information that will help them decide for themselves whether or not to see a particular show.”

This reminded me of a fifth piece of advice:

5.  Joyce G. Saricks, author of Readers’ Advisory Service in the Public Library, says that “a good book” means different things to different people.  Sometimes it means different things to one person depending on his or her mood.  Therefore, a librarian’s job is not to judge people or books, but to help them find each other.  That’s my job as a theatre reviewer, too: to help shows and audiences that are good fits for each other, to find each other.

6.  Lou Harry, arts writer for The Indianapolis Business Journal, said in an Indiana Auditions thread about reviews:

“Writing regularly for my college paper not only was essential for learning how to write critically, accessibly and responsibly, it also allowed me to see lots of shows–something essential in a critic’s development. I was lucky to write for a college paper (Temple University Press) that gave significant space to the arts and pushed writers to go well beyond ‘I liked it/I didn’t like it.’ ”

Critically, accessibly and responsibly.  That is how I want to write, too.

Hope Baugh - www.IndyTheatreHabit.com

P.S. -

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P.P.S. - Photo added 8/29/08.  Photo taken by Julie Curry.