That missing post.

Those of you who visited this site late Saturday or yesterday (and just my luck, it was an unusually traffic-heavy Sunday) may have seen an entry I posted about a comment that came in on the TOC Blog Friday, on this post I wrote about A Steady Rain.

Last night I took down the post I wrote here; I came to the decision that it sets a bad precedent to defend myself point-by-point against the anonymous taunts of commenters who hide behind fake names. But since the post was apparently seen by a good number of folks in the 24 hours it was live—Bilal noticed it, and two other people asked me about it today—€”I thought I should acknowledge my decision.

I stand behind my opinion of A Steady Rain as well as what I said here about where I'm coming from as a critic, and I firmly believe that we can all benefit from more open lines of communication among critics, theater artists and audience members—if I didn't, I wouldn't have started this blog. I thoroughly enjoy the exchange of ideas here, on the TOC Blog, and on all the other theater blogs around with Bilal, Don, Tony, Nick, Marisa, etc., and with our non-blogging commenters who sign their names, from Mark Jeffries to Kerry Reid to Brian Golden to Mia McCullough.

I had a conversation today with TOC's new editor in chief, Frank Sennett, who's been going on an introductory tour of sorts, putting himself out in front of the people the magazine covers. It's a reminder to us that the beats we cover locally are real people, and a reminder to our subjects that the folks reviewing them are real people as well, doing it because we're passionate about our fields. That's a big part of the reason I write here at Storefront Rebellion, too. Giving my opinion about plays is, in fact, my job, and I get paid for it, but I wouldn't be working a job that sends me to the theater 200 times a year if I didn't love theater and hope that all 200 of those plays were going to be good.

Critics are real people, and speaking for myself at least, I'm not "out to get" anyone. I understand that I'm bound to piss some people off from time to time; that's the nature of the beast. If you disagree with me about something, I'm more than happy to have a conversation about it. But I'm being open about who I am and where I'm coming from, and I hope that if you want me to take you seriously, you'll be honest about who you are and where you're coming from too.

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So that's that. Hey look, new reviews! My reviews of the Goodman's The Trip to Bountiful, the House's The Attempters and Greasy Joan's The Misanthrope are up at the newly redesigned TOC website, along with six others. Have at them.

Comments

[Bilal]

"If you disagree with me about something, I'm more than happy to have a conversation about it."

Gods, this is refreshing, and exactly what I wish there were more of in the critical sphere.

I, personally, can't state with hindsight whether I would have been brave enough to take you up on this offer the last time you reviewed something I wrote, but I do genuinely believe that the ability of a critic to contribute to artistic growth is best helped by agreeing simply to a conversation.

On a sidenote, I'm glad to see, in your review of The Attempters, that somebody else believed, as I did, that Hatfield & McCoy was the true gem of The House's Sparrow season (and for my money was the most mature and interesting work the company had ever produced).

I'm sorry to see that your review of The Attempters more or less concurs with others I've read; I wasn't looking forward to seeing it despite Pfautsch's pen for the simple reason that I'm done with watching the House do youthful superhero fantasy--yes, I know by now that you can do it incredibly well--and now I can't see myself making the time.

[Tony]

I think the biggest downside to online communication is anonymous snark like "dramaturgsanonymous" or the person bashing Anne Adams (no relation) on Jones' blog-review of Carters Way.