[NEohioPAL] i'm blogging

[TONY BROWN]

as many of you know,i have been forced  - by cuts in freelance budgets, the changing arts & life section, trims in newsprint and staff buyouts - to shrink our coverage of the busy theater scene in the cleveland area. and as far as the dead-tree product goes, things don't look much better.

but there's some good news here.

for one, i've been given my own theater blog: www.cleveland.com/onstage. bookmark it. read it. help me keep it vital.

this DOESN'T mean we're giving up on reviewing and reporting the news and features in the newspaper, but we've got newsprint cuts coming up that will make it more difficult to get as much arts news in the paper as quickly and as in-depth as i'd like. yet despite my sadness about some trends in the newspaper industry these days, i'm psyched about the possibilities of better online coverage of what you're doing out there.

among other things, i'll be able to post news and reviews faster, sometimes on the night i see a play, if it's newsworthy. and we'll be able to use more photos, and post items that we might not have paid much attention to in the paper. and YOU (and other readers) will be able to post immediate comments (anonymously or not - i don't care if people agree or disagree with me, so long as they read me), and i'll be able to respond to the comments. cool! dialogue about the theater! that's what i see my job as being all about anyway. finally, i'm determined to use as many hyperlinks as possible in my postings to refer readers to your sites, your bios, your imdb pages, even other reviews that disagree with mine.

but, again, you gotta help me do this. i'm counting on you to keep me informed, via fred's terrific listserve and via the usual phone calls and especially direct emails to me. here are some tips about getting your news in the paper.

1. send me stuff, about yourself, people you know, rumors you've heard, anything you think i'd think is news. you can use my office email (this one) or my laptop address (though, PLEASE don't send me a lot of junk; after nearly nine years of having to put up with me, surely you know what i think junk is): tonycritic at google.com.

2. in addition to sending your hi-rez color jpegs to the paper's picture desk (pdphoto at plaind.com), please also send them to me at the above email addresses. the protocol is the same: 200-300 dpi, big files, one jpeg per email, fill in the subject line in a reasonably informative way, and put the caption info in the body of the email, including ids of characters, actors, show, times, dates, venue, address, reservation phone number and website. AND CREDIT FOR PHOTO (who took it). (please know that i am now equipped with my own digital nikon slr camera, and i'll be glad to take photos of your productions if you're willing to run a few scenes for me after the closing curtain when i'm at your theater to review.)

3. if it's big news and you can't reach me on my desktop phone (216-999-4181), call me on my cell, 216-870-0803. time is of the essence in this business, and that's now more true than ever.

4. when i call or email you, please respond asap.

5. SPREAD THE WORD: www.cleveland.com/onstage. up and running NOW. (the latest post explodes the rumor, posted on neohiopal, that ensemble theatre is leaving the play house for the abandoned kalliope theatre space, at least for the foreseeable future.) 

i hope to soon set up several other features and widgets on the onstage blog, including an easily accessible online database/archive of past reviews, perhaps even going back as far as my predecessor in this job, marianne evett, and eventually a forum expressly for you guys in the theater business to post audition notices, openings, etc.

at any rate: many thanks. call or email me with any questions, problems, etc. we must do what we can to preserve and grow cleveland's great cultural institutions - large and small - as well as the pd's coverage of what they - YOU - do.

cheers.

tony


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