Mondays are Dark

A brief cold snap made for a good weekend to huddle around the computer with a hot cup of coffee.  Lots of good stuff on your Monday reading list this week.

Sadly, the only "new" article from the Sun-Sentinel is last year's review of VICES.  Once again, the Sun-Sentinel contributes nothing to local theatre coverage.  Zip. Nada.  Bupkis.

Hail to the Chief
South Florida Theater Review reports that Meredith Lasher, who has been president of the Theatre League of South Florida since 2006, has stepped down.  Margaret M. Ledford, resident director of The Promethean Theatre, has been elected to take her place.
Lasher did an excellent job increasing the role of the League in regional theatre; and Ledford has a strong connection to the local theater scene.  Congratulations are due to both!

Bob Carter
The Palm Beach Post interviews Bob Carter, two-time founder of the Actors' Workshop and Repertory Company.  Nancy Barnett and I both made our South Florida debut at the old Actors' Rep, as did Gordon McConnell.  It was West Palm Beach's first resident theatre company, predating The Stage Company and The Florida Repertory Company.

Critically Speaking
Parabasis examines what the role of a critic should be, in response to a recent article by the New York Times' Ben Brantley.

Of course, I guess it all comes down to what a reader believes the responsibilities are of someone in Brantley's position.  If one sees his job as simply seeing-something-and-then-saying-something, then really, this Critic's Notebook is just fine. But if one believes-- as I do-- that a Critic's Notebook should actually cast a critical eye on something as a way of enlightening the reader, then it's a  total failure.

Huh. 
The Producer's Perspective reflects on how to get more students to participate in their high school arts programs, and comes up with one of those ideas that is striking in its obvious but untested simplicity:

And then I thought... Why doesn't every high school musical have a Producer? ...Think about it... You could grab a kid who might not even be thinking about a career in the theater, but instead he or she might be planning on and attending business school.  What better way to learn about business than to do it?

Not only does this get "non-artsy" students involved in the arts, it may bring a generation of arts-oriented business people into the arts.

Nothing Wong with that...
South Florida Theater Review tells us about Going Green the Wong Way, presented by Mad Cat Theatre and the Arsht Center.

Big Drama Queen on Campus
The Drama Queen runs down the theatre scene at South Florida colleges.  Productions include RENT directed by a former Broadway cast member, Hedda Gabler, Bodas De Sangre, and The Diviners, which is at FAU, which is where I last saw a production of that play.

Also on Campus
The Drama Queen also reports that Michael Yawney and Matthew David Glass are presenting Somethng Something Uber Alles at Miami-Dade College's North Campus.

Despite Histrionics, Show Goes On
Even though Rising Action's artistic director threw a hissy fit when a local reviewer panned Fit to be Tied, it's time to look ahead to The Boys In The Band.  J.W. Arnold obliges with his piece in The South Florida Gay News.

(But I can't help but point readers at the ironic third entry on the Rising Action Theatre's Press Gallery.)

More on "Miami" Stage Door
It looks like the Stage Door Theatre will do more than simply present plays at Miami Beach's Byron Carlyle Theater: The Miami Herald reports that what's being negotiated is a management contract.

The proposal presented to commissioners Wednesday is a five-year contract with The Broward Stage Door Theater, a nonprofit theater in Coral Springs. Stage Door would be in charge of managing and maintaining the Miami Beach theater, paying the city $1 a year for rent.

Not to disparage the Stage Door, but the city should make sure that maintaining the space has clear benchmarks, clearly stated in writing.  The 26th Street Theatre was a wreck (although to be fair, I don't know what Stage Door's agreement with their landlord was), and their current home has HVAC units that desperately needed replacing the last time I was there.  Again, perhaps that's a landlord issue, and maybe they have no control over the condition of the converted movie house they are headquartered in, but a clear contract will only protect interests on both sides.

Hey, What's Ken Kay Up To?
He's still in Fort Myers, in the Florida Rep production of Noises Off.  You can find all the reviews linked at The Naples News Stage Door.