http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/critics.html
I posted the link for quotes about critics because a lot of the quotes made me smile and feel a little bit better about a situation that occured this weekend ... sometimes an artist needs to realize that, yes, the critics are apart of your audience, but you can't allow them to completely reflect your audience. GreyZelda has a couple of critics that seem to wish we would curl up and die (yes, I'm being a bit melodramatic here) ... but, to quote Tori Amos, "Let's not give that one a try." We can't create shows wondering what the critics will say ... we have to create shows that we believe in and, through that belief, hopefully our audiences, including critics, will believe, too.
There are a lot of critics that I've had the pleasure to meet here in Chicago that I really admire: Jack Helbig, Mary Shen Barnidge and Kris Vire and the Timeout Chicago gang and most of the Reader's critics top my list of reviews that I always enjoy reading. My favorite experiences have been when a critic will come before or after the show and talk with us about what they just saw, for good and for bad .... it creates a two-sided conversation that has really been informative and helpful to our endeavours. And, I like meeting people in our audience, point blank. We like it when critics come just because ... we know they're extremely busy but like seeing them when they're not there for their respective publications. It's nice to see them. Unfortunately, I've run into some negative situations with reviewers because, for example, they've come to see our shows, came and left without a word, published their review (either through a respected publication or their own blog) and then got really mad when I either responded to them via email about their review (yeah, I've got a mouth - I sure as heck won't deny it) or went through their review online with the Lady Crow tongue-in-cheek. I believe in what I say and what I put my (or Lady Crow's) name to - and I'm not saying I'm the sweetest corn on the cob, by any means. The situation this weekend involved the fact that I was accused of writing someting I didn't (and I was so not looking for something like this, but what can a girl do sometimes?). I'm looking at the whole thing with a positive spin and believe that it's as resolved as it's going to be. On the learning front, it exposed a fact that I was unaware of ... there are people who read everything you write online even if it's no longer available on the internet and was taken care of through private correspondence and a reached understanding. Never forget this fact, fellow bloggers and artists. You must stand by your word and art. By all means, don't hush up your voice in fear of having it used against you. For God's sake, please don't do that. Just know ... if that's something that bothers you, be careful what you say.
Big Brother or Sister may come and get you someday.
In the meantime, I'm really looking to focus on our upcoming season and hope that there won't be any further skermishes that I can or can't take credit for on public forums. I like to join the discussions on the other theatre blogs, but please know, readers, that if the comment's not from GreyZelda, RebeccaZ, RZ, Lady Crow, or bz then it ain't my stink. I don't like being anonymous nor do I like being falsely accused of being an anonymous coward. It's the theatre person in me, I guess. And, to all you, to quote Don Hall, "anonymous fuckwads" out there ... put your name to what you write, please. You're making other people look bad.
Rebecca
No comments:
Post a Comment