I want you to imagine something. Imagine huge crowds of people filing into a special venue to witness a display by professionals working at the highest tiers of their field. The tickets were expensive, the seats aren’t quite comfortable, the drink prices are outrageous. Specialized, high-powered lights illuminate the playing area and loud music fills the air. The professionals emerge, dressed in specialized clothing and equipment, and begin their hours-long display. The action is intense, sometimes exciting, sometimes heartbreaking, and about halfway through, there is a break for everyone to recover and chat. When it’s all over, the crowd will cheer for a job well done and grumble if their expectations weren’t met, but they’ll probably go to a similar event in the future. Those same fans will gather around their televisions once a year in a celebration of the best of the best, usually with friends, food and drinks at the ready. 

Now, here’s my question: did you picture a Broadway show, or a sporting event?

It was already an emotional time. 

Our theater, the auditorium that had housed all of the theater our district had to offer for 55 years, was slated for demolition. Yes, it was just a building, but to those of us who found our home on the stage, it was a little bit more.

So we planned an event to pay homage to the facility. We dressed in formal attire and walked a pseudo-red carpet. We invited alumni and former teachers. We shared pictures, and songs, and memories.

Then, it happened. My students starting leaving in the middle of the show. First a few, then more, then most. 

What in the world was happening? On one hand I was thinking “This better be an emergency!’ and on the other praying it was not.

Having been performing for over 40 years, I have learned that the most important thing about doing a show is the appreciation shown by the audiences. Did they like the show? What was their take on the production? I also appreciate the constructive critiques they may offer. Then we have…the reviewer. The person who many people use as their go-to person for advice on should they or shouldn’t they see a show. The person who potentially has the power to make or break a show.

Recently, Chris Peterson, the Editor-In-Chief of OnStage Blog, wrote about meeting actors whom we respect and admire and the effect that it had on them. In digesting the article, I wanted to weigh in on this subject and maybe give it some more food for thought.

Personally, I have had the opportunity to meet some celebrities after a show either at the stage door or, on a few special occasions, in their dressing rooms. My expectations were based on my admiration for their work in theatre, TV and/or film. And I was ready to be humbled at the opportunity to meet them.

A while back, I saw an upsetting case of deconstructive criticism brought to the surface in the case of “Karlan Judd and the Cyberbully”. Basically, a show’s creator publicly shamed an actor for posting a negative review. Both the comment and the review have since been taken down. 

Others have talked at length about how unprofessional it was for the creator to take a public stance on a negative review but I want to talk about something else that sparked my interest: the purpose of negative reviews and the role of the contemporary audience member.

I recently went to see a broadcast of David Hare’s new play, ‘I’m Not Running.’ A political comedy that is excellently staged, one exchange stood out to me. “I’m not political” claims Pauline when she first meets Sandy as his doctor, “why not?” is Sandy’s response.

This question is important because we should all be political, whether we want to be actively involved or not we should all be focused on politics as it affects every part of our lives. If you are lucky enough not to be political, it shows how you feel so secure and protected in your existence and have never had to worry about how someone’s opinions will affect your daily life. How far into politics and political agendas should theatre delve? Should theatre stay away from specific political events such as Brexit, and controversial political figures such as Donald Trump?

I recently performed in Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach Memoirs, playing the patriarch Jack Jerome.   The play is a semi-autobiographical look at the playwright’s formative years, and according to his wife, Elaine Joyce Simon, “If you’re looking for the heart and soul of Neil Simon, you’ll find everything you need to know in Brighton Beach Memoirs.   As an aspiring playwright myself, I wanted to get inside Mr. Simon’s head, and see what advice he could offer.  As it turns out, there’s a lot of wisdom in his memoirs,  Rewrites (1996) and The Play Goes On (1999).  Here are some selected pearls of wisdom that I gleaned from listening to what Simon says.

How does a playwright come to write a book of sonnets? A better question might be: Why aren’t playwrights doing it all the time? Basically a 14-line long monologue, the sonnet flows naturally, if ironically, from the first person singular and has a clearly defined second character in the object of its affection. As readers, we can imagine the muse being addressed off-page much like the offstage Rosaline in Romeo & Juliet or all the men in The Women. Who was Shakespeare’s source of inspiration for his 154 sonnets? I’ve no idea. But I certainly know who mine was for Infinity Standing Up.

My mother was strong, smart, independent and funny. She could also be infuriating. Widowed at a young age, she was solely responsible for bringing up my brother and me. I liked that she was strong, but sometimes she was a little too strong. It could make our relationship difficult at times, but there was one place we always got along - the theater.

My mother took me to my very first show. It was the out of town tryout for Annie at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. I was just a little girl, but I was dazzled. I begged my mother for the cast recording, and when she got it for me, I practically wore it out. I was hooked. At nine years old, I even organized the neighborhood kids, and we attempted to put together a production of the show. The production never really came together, but I didn’t care because I had fallen in love. Just the effort alone gave me joy, and I knew from that time on that the theater was my happy place.

The title of the song, ​Monster​, is the word that Elsa uses to describe herself over and over again. In the first chorus, she sings, “​Is the thing they see, the thing I have to be? A monster, were they right? Has the dark in me finally come to light? Am I a monster, full of rage? Nowhere to go but on a rampage. Or am I just a monster in a cage?​” It is a song that resonates with a lot of people. Everyone, at some point in their life, can relate to Elsa’s questions of “am I a burden to people?” or “How badly am I hurting this person?” Everyone has moments where they don’t know who they are. But is this song a good song for a musical whose main demographic is young children?  

I saw a sticker on Facebook today. “Feelings are healthy. You need to feel them all. Don’t suppress them. Sadness, anger, fear, happiness, love. Let them come, let them go.” I love this quote, and I even agree with it; however, we can all agree that there are simply times where we can’t just feel. We may find out something that makes us want to cry, or scream in anger, but we can’t just leave the office. I work at a law firm. My bosses wouldn’t really appreciate me blasting the clients with emotions that translate to “I will cut you!” or if they walk in and I’ve obviously been crying, or even if I’m enjoying some moment and laughing. 

Propriety is king when you’re a paralegal. 

For many people, the beginning of a new year also marks the time of year in which people try to come up with resolutions, in the hopes that these specific goals in their lives will have been achieved by this time next year. Those of us who are highly active in theatre most likely have already come up with such resolutions related to theatre. However, there might be a few additional ideas for resolutions that some of us might not have thought about and should be willing to consider to make their year in theatre even better than last year. 

So without further ado, here are just a few New Year’s resolutions – in no particular order – for all of us in the theatre community to consider…