Wall Street Journal theatre critic Terry Teachout advises today in his "About Last Night" blog that he is looking to travel to review regional theatre presentations -- and Texas is a location of interest. Excerpts:
April 27, 2009
TT: So you want to get reviewedIf you read the Friday Wall Street Journal or this blog with any regularity, you probably know that I'm the only drama critic in America who routinely covers theatrical productions from coast to coast. As I wrote in my "Sightings" column a couple of years ago:
The time has come for American playgoers--and, no less important, arts editors--to start treating regional theater not as a minor-league branch of Broadway but as an artistically significant entity in and of itself. Take it from a critic who now spends much of his time living out of a suitcase: If you don't know what's hot in "the stix," you don't know the first thing about theater in 21st-century America.
But suppose you run a company I haven't visited? How might you get me to come see you? Now's the time to start asking that question, because I'm starting to work on my reviewing calendar for the fall of 2009. So here's an updated version of the guidelines I use for deciding which out-of-town shows to see--along with some suggestions for improving the ways in which you reach out to the press:
• Basic requirements. I only review professional companies. I don't review dinner theater, and it's unusual for me to visit children's theaters. I'm somewhat more likely to review Equity productions, but that's not a hard-and-fast rule, and I'm strongly interested in small companies.
• You must produce a minimum of three shows each season... That doesn't apply to summer festivals, but it's rare for me to cover a festival that doesn't put on at least two shows a season.
• ...and most of them have to be serious. I won't put you on my drop-dead list for milking the occasional cash cow, but if The Foreigner is your idea of a daring revival, I won't go out of my way to come calling on you, either.
• I have no geographical prejudices. On the contrary, I love to range far afield, particularly to states that I haven't yet gotten around to visiting in my capacity as America's drama critic. Right now Colorado and Texas loom largest, but if you're doing something exciting in (say) Mississippi or Montana, I'd be more than happy to add you to the list as well.
Click to read the full posting of "So You Want to Get Reviewed" by Terry Teachout
Teachout's e-mail at the blog: tteachout@artsjournal.com
Teachout's video blurb review of Guys and Dolls
I read that this morning, and I was scheming and plotting (as I do most mornings) how to set up a weekend for him to come to Austin for Orestes in late-July...A package deal with other companies, a sort of state of the stage in ATX.
ReplyDeleteBut that's not what he's talking about here. He would like Grapes of Wrath Steppenwolf style, or something Mr. Toner is doing at the Playhouse. But in terms or what's really Happening here in Austin, the Austinest Austin as it were: the Rudes, Rubber Rep, or Salvage... that's not what he's looking for.