[NEohioPAL] Criticism-Requiescat In Pace.

[Ensemble Theatre]

Mr. Kerr, 
 
Yes, I also enjoyed the 'criticisms' on commentary, and vice versa. 
But even if it is true, as your uncle Walter said, that criticism is no longer needed
or valued, what is getting just too painful to watch is the slow dying, and death of the very craft and profession that spawns the life of critics - live theatre performances. 
 
It is like the honey bees, and the frogs, and the glaciers - vital and necessary elements of our living and breathing, natural living essences that are disappearing - vanishing from our
everyday lives with a rapidity that forms a large lump in our throats, and an 
even larger vacuum in our hearts and souls. Live theatre is humanity's mirror -
enacted within the very same darkened chamber where our real emotions, dreams, 
and nightmares are created and perceived, for joy or for terror. Every culture
on the planet needs to measure themselves, for sheer bliss or for utter anguish.   
 
There can never be a substitute for human contact within 25 feet, and 
sometimes much, much closer.If you think there is, it is no longer human.
No wonder that critics are a vanishing breed - they are like koala bears
in a forest with no eucalyptus plants- pelicans without fish, and. . oops!!.
 . . .here we go again. ..critics without plays. 
 
If 'nasty, brutish and short' is a description of life, no matter who said it, 
why art then? Why theatre, or dance, or poetry or any form of beauty or
grace that firmly puts the lie to the naysayers, the nihilists and, for the
younger ones among us, the' dark force?'
 
Technology is replacing human culture from a 'path that twisted in the woods'
to an eight lane expressway.What Borgian monstrosity will appear next
to swallow whole the flower of human creativity, as it has already attacked
the natural world with its lethal consequences and vanishing species? 
 
"Straighten up and fly right," as the song says now -  but what song or beautiful phrase
will attract you to look up - and what breeze of air will bear you aloft? 
  
Martin Cosentino
 
 

--- On Fri, 1/23/09, Tom Kerr <kulturekids at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: Tom Kerr <kulturekids at yahoo.com>
Subject: [NEohioPAL] Criticism
To: neohiopal at listserve.com
Date: Friday, January 23, 2009, 5:29 PM

I've enjoyed the commentary on criticisms (or vice versa).
   It's becoming a moot point, though.  My uncle (Walter Kerr) said to me
shortly before he died in 1996:
   "My breed is dead, or near death.  We are no longer valued or needed. 
Though, of course, we should be both."

Tom Kerr


      
_______________________________________
MARK YOUR CALENDARS FOR CTC BENEFIT: Collectively Speaking ... Cleveland
Theater Collective Celebration February 9, 2009, 7:30pm!!
______________________________________
NEohioPAL is SELF-SERVE. If you need to unsubscribe, change from digest to
one-at-a-time delivery or vice-versa, go on hiatus while out of town, switch
from mime to plain text or vice-versa, etc. check out the FAQS at
http://www.fredsternfeld.com.
______________________________________
please consider a voluntary contribution to support Neohiopal -
http://www.fredsternfeld.com/faqs.htm#support
______________________________________
Disclaimer: The facts and/or opinions expressed in this message are solely
those of the person in the 'from' or 'reply-to' header. The fact
that this message is posted should in no way be taken as an endorsement by the
administrator of this list. Subscribers should perform due diligence for all
goods, services and activities promoted on NEohioPAL.
_____________________________________
NEohioPAL mailing list
http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20090123/b96d1f01/attachment-0004.htm>