Congratulations to those Capital Fringe productions which received a rating of 4 or 5 from our reviewers. They became the nominees for the DCTS Best of Fringe awards and, on Sunday, July 25 we opened the polls so that our readers could select the final winners.
We deeply regret that voting irregularities seriously impacted the outcome, making it necessary for us to rescind the awards and remove the announcement which originally appeared here.
Jennifer, I think you misunderstood my point. Or perhaps I wasn’t clear, and if so, I apologize.
I said, “I can tell you that audience awards mean squat.” I was specifically referring to the Fringe audience awards. Truthfully, and I think I was clear on this, I’d rather have sold-out houses (i.e. more people seeing the show) then an award. I think any theatre professional would say the same thing: what good is a show if no one sees it? If we are able to affect even one person per show, then we’ve done our job. My point was not about my performance, or to trumpet “we’ve made so much money!” That’s not at all true. What I was trying to articulate is that, of course, we do what we do for the audience, not for money.
I’m not sure where all your venom comes from, but I’ll be honest; it’s not warranted. If DCTS wants to hand out awards based on what they saw, great. I’m all about it. But “audience awards” become a popularity contest. I can’t tell you how many email blasts I got from friends in Fringe shows who asked me to vote for their show, even if I hadn’t seen it (and in the case of a few shows, especially because I hadn’t seen it). That’s not audience voting; that’s a “let me see how many people I can get to vote for me” contest, and that’s why I say that the Fringe audience awards don’t matter to me. Give me an appreciative audience who wants to be entertained any day of the week.
Can’t we just all get along?
James, you’re right, it stinks that there was a way for people to vote extra. But I wonder if you voted more than once. Frank, you’re right too, “Any PR is good PR” – Madonna. Dead, I think I wet myself a little when you called out Frank (he’s clearly in on it).
Graham, as an audience member, your comment hurts me. It’s the cold hard blade of your ridiculous self importance that will make sure that ANY show you’re in doesn’t get my money or the money of my friends. What I think doesn’t count? What if I don’t show up? What if 50 friends don’t show up? Or their friends?
I’ll tell you this much. The audience determines if you stay open, not the reviewers and not some poll. The people paying for the tickets who, by the way, have opinions THAT COUNT keep you employed. If you want to test this theory, let us know the next show you’re cast in.
“If you really want to help American theatre, don’t be an actress dahling, be an audience.” -Tallulah Bankhead
Hey Frank, way to be slanderous. Most people with computer knowledge would know how to do the exact same thing, since it’s fairly common knowledge. Furthermore, James has a good point. DCTS picked shows based on user reviews. So if people who see a show don’t come to DCTS to vote on how good it was, they weren’t included. That doesn’t mean the show wasn’t worthy. It just means it wasn’t a part of the poll. So rather than DCTS putting ALL shows up for the vote (which, really, should have been done), only those with the high rating were.
I don’t know if you’re in theatre or not, but I have a hard time believing that a DCTS audience-choice award will lead to more work for anyone. Maybe a little more recognition for the company for 10 seconds, but none of those actors are going to walk into an audition and hear the director say, “Hey now! He had a role in that show that won an audience vote on DCTS! No need to audition, young man. The part is yours!”
Finally, if you read Lorraine’s press release about why the poll was closed, you’ll see that those shows weren’t actually receiving “all those votes.” Someone exploited a loophole.
As a cast member of the highest-selling show in Fringe, I can tell you that audience awards mean squat. It’s nice to be recognized, but when it becomes a popularity contest of “Who can get the most people to vote for them,” the award becomes less important. Give me sell-out houses every night, and you can have the award.
Kudos to DCTS for catching the unethical voting.
Hey Dead, I think that Frank’s comment is really commentary on the whole idea that ANYONE can vote even if you didn’t see the shows. At the core this poll is a popularity contest. It’s not subjective in any way. Otherwise you’d need proof that you actually attended the show, right?
It sounds like my high school had stronger security around voting for the prom queen than this poll did.
Frank, I didn’t participate in or see a single Fringe show, so I don’t have a dog in this fight. But, congratulations! I think this is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone try to rationalize stuffing a ballot box.
James, as for not holding anything personal against the winners – you kinda are. They do deserve credit for their hard work on the stage AND just as much for getting people interested enough to vote for them.
Furthermore, a ‘sold-out’ show doesn’t mean that show was any good. And what DOES sold out really mean? Did someone paper the house or were there real dollars exchanged for those tickets? It could just be a really good producer that did really good marketing . . .
. . . just like a really good producer or cast getting their network of friends and family to vote for their show after the close of the festival gets them to the winning position of a poll.
It’s a business and some are better at it than others.
As for ‘clearing the browsing history,’ whatever that means – it sounds like you may have voted more than once yourself, since you clearly know how to hack this site. Should we assume that you did and that you just didn’t have the energy to keep up with the other shows and their supporters?
Those that knew that this poll was going on clearly read at the top of the poll that the poll was extended to 11pm. If some blogger or member of a listserv didn’t announce it – sounds like a case of bad reporting or better yet, a conspiracy. (insert overly dramatic music here.)
Here’s the thing, if anything, this poll got people to pay attention to the shows even AFTER the end of the festival. Doesn’t that translate to more work for actors, production teams and crews? Sounds like a win-win, even if you didn’t.
Clearly, you didn’t.
While I hold nothing personal against any of the “winners”, and they indeed deserve credit for their hard work, the layout of the polls carried no distinction as to why there were four categories in the first place, nor honestly reflected the support that every show deserved. Shows with sold-out performances had few votes while shows with lesser turnouts had exceedingly higher numbers in this poll. The voter had the ability (after clearing the browsing history and reloading the website) to vote as many times as possible.
Also, the polls stayed open until 11pm, not 10pm as was announced over TheGreenRoomDC listserv, allowing supporters to vote their numbers well into the hundreds and over one thousand; far beyond any venue can hope to hold for five or six performances of a single company.
This is why theatermania.com was the recognized poll-takers for this year’s Capital Fringe Festival at their closing-night award ceremony. I wish DCTS much luck in their future endeavors to better their website.