If there’s one thing we can be sure of in DC Theatre, it’s that each season we’re going to see something by William Shakespeare. According to Washington Post critic Peter Marks, that’s becoming a bore and reeks of security over artistry. But no matter how many times you’ve seen a particular play, you’ll never see […]
Theatre too expensive? Ask a sports fan
Many of us crave the excitement and immediacy that comes from a really memorable live experience. Sports fans dream of making the pilgrimage to a World Series game, an NBA final series, a Stanley Cup game, a championship boxing match, or most hallowed of all, football’s Super Bowl. While I actually do love seeing talented […]
The Helen Hayes Awards: why I’ve changed my mind
I attended the theatreWashington summit a few weeks ago. I read the recent Nelson Pressley article in The Washington Post on one of the topics addressed at the meeting, whether to split existing Helen Hayes categories so that smaller-budget theatres are not competing against larger-budget theatres. It was apparent at the meeting, and reported by Pressley, […]
Theatre for nearly nothing. Who’s tried it?
In Minneapolis, a company called Mixed Blood garnered national attention when it introduced its policy of “radical hospitality,” essentially shifting to a “free entry” model. The Name Your Price-style ticketing now being tried by Forum Theatre all season and Theater Alliance for Thursday productions of Brok-ology is based on that experience.
Let’s play Fantasy Producer – plays we’d like to see in a new season
It’s August, so many people are gearing up to play fantasy football. For me, this is the time of the year when I like to play Fantasy Producer. While the 2012-13 theatre season has come to an end and the 2013-14 season is just starting, I’m already looking ahead to 2014-2015 possibilities.
Giving back
I don’t know where I will file this article. It’s not a review, it’s certainly not news, nor is it an interview (unless one can interview oneself.)
Theater 2.0 – audiences move from passive to active participation
It’s that time of year again—when roughly 1,000 theater makers from around the world converge on a city for the annual Theatre Communications Group National Conference. This year, I was honored to receive an invitation from Clayton Lord, Theatre Bay Area’s Director of Communications and Audience Development, to participate on a panel entitled “Maximizing Impact: […]
DC theatre companies compete and collaborate with each other
Several months ago, local playwright Stephen Spotswood and Washington Post theater critic Peter Marks asked me how much DC theater companies feel like they are in competition with each other, which led me to author this post on my arts marketing blog.
The impact of funding cuts on DC theaters
It’s been an exciting few weeks for us. For the second time in four years, a DC metro company has been honored with the coveted Regional Theater Tony Award, this time going to The Shakespeare Theatre Company, which in my opinion was long overdue.
Confessions of a one time Helen Hayes judge
When I first moved to Washington, DC to accept a position as the Director of Marketing and Communications at Americans for the Arts, I applied to be a Helen Hayes Judge to help learn about my new home city and to remain connected to the theater world. I served as a judge for two years—one […]
What is safe in the theater?
A week before I departed Arena Stage, some in the community were up in arms about the announced future seasons in our city’s regional houses spurred in part by Peter Marks’ story in the Washington Post titled “In new seasons, D.C. theater companies will present the extremely tried-and-true.” Soon charges of “playing it safe” were coming […]
Great theatre? Get out and find it!
Since I have been reviewing theatre in DC I have had the great opportunity to see some pretty incredible theatre from companies just starting out. Recently many of these “fringe” companies got a boost from a two page spread in our paper of record that outlined an exciting kind of theatre that many DC theatre […]