Mondays are Dark

A weekend that started out dark and stormy turned into a beautiful Sunday afternoon

We had pretty good week of theatre, last week; look for the review pages to come out in a little while.  And we have a good crop of stories for your Monday reading list; you'd hardly notice we no longer include the Sun-Sentinel.

Enjoy!

What is Safe?
The DC Theatre Scene ponders what constitutes "safe" programming in the ever-risky field of live theatre.

I’ve always been fascinated by the accusation of playing it safe in the theater. In my opinion, the words “safe” and “theater” are diametrically opposite. There are very few things riskier than the theater business. Even the most commercial productions on Broadway only recoup their investments 20% of the time, and are considered alternative high-risk investments.

Another Take on Programming
Parabasis makes a game out of Artistic Directors' explanations of their seasons.

...it's time for everyone's favorite game, Artistic Director Excuse Bingo!  Place your bets on which of the following well-worn cliches we'll hear...

New Programming Initiative

City Theatre isn't bringing Summer Shorts to Broward County this year, as they've done in other years. Instead, they are teaming up with the Broward Center  to co-produce Standing on Ceremony: The Gay Marriage Plays.  TheaterMania fills us in on the cast, creative team and the play. 

You might also recall that BroadwayWorld reported that City Theatre is working with Orlando Repertory Theater to bring The Brand New Kid to The Kravis Center, as mentioned here a few weeks ago.

Critical Dialogue
No Plain Jane weighs in on a subject dear to our hearts.

But the questions we need to ask are: a world where “everyone’s a critic” where do we find the support platforms for people who want to be more than the tweeters, or more than the volunteers writing consumer guides? In what ways can we expand the role of the “serious” arts writer or critic? How do we make robust critical discussion a vital part of the culture and community? Is it possible for the main-stream media to be place where we are going to get this? How do we make online platforms viable?

In short: how do we make today’s writers, today’s publications, today’s dialogue better?

A Bad Crowd
It doesn't look like The Broward/Palm Beach New Times will be providing a review of Last Call; John Thomason was too distracted by the audience.

The world premiere of First Step Productions' Last Call on its opening night at Empire Stage last Friday was a miserable experience... The fault lay entirely with the audience, especially the contingency of inebriated Neanderthals in the front row who apparently thought that the show — set inside a bar — was an interactive production.

It's Global
The Globe and Mail also discusses poorly behaved audiences.

There is a growing tension in the performing arts between desperately wanting an audience and bemoaning its behaviour... But when those sought-after new audiences do show up, they don’t always behave the way that venerable institutions and veteran audiences expect.

It's an Epidemic
Butts In Seats also deals with patrons misbehaving, although it's in response to another article complaining about divas.

I have actually had the occasion to pull customers aside and tell them I won’t tolerate them treating my staff in a certain manner more recently than saying the same to an artist.

Round-ups
Round-ups are articles made up of several different stories.  And this week, they're pretty popular.

Florida Theater On Stage rounds up stories about Mad Cat's scholarship program, Jupiter Theater's call for supernumeraries for Amadeus, a schedule change at Stage Door, and another round of short plays in Lake Worth.

The Miami Herald rounds up with stories about The Playground Theatre, a collaboration between Asolo Rep and the South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center (we've got to come up with a better name for that), the final show of the season at New Theatre, GableStage returning to its roots, Free Range Thinking at the Broward Center, a Zoetic Stage play reading being directed by Parade Production's director in Boca Raton, and more.

Talk About a Round-Up
The Miami Herald reports that Actors' Playhouse rounded up over $150,000 in donations at their annual fundraiser.  Again.  Of course, the Playhouse has been raising around that amount for years; but with prices going up, it really means that their net gain has been dropping steadily.  Just sayin'.

Growing  up
BroadwayWorld reports that The Main Street Players will be presenting 13, a musical with a score by Jason Robert Brown.

River City in Lake Worth
The Examiner tells us about the Lake Worth Playhouse production of The Music Man.  The Playhouse is one of South Florida's oldest community theatre groups.