[NEohioPAL] An Open Letter to the Cleveland Critics Circle regarding the recent announcement of "Worth Noting"

[Deanna Cechowski via NEohioPAL]

Thank you, Kevin! 



I thought the same thing when I read this, and was hoping someone would step up about it.



Blood, sweat, tears, heart and soul goes into EVERY theatrical production. To label any of them “worth noting” is an insult. The gum on the bottom of your shoe is “worth noting” so you don’t track it into your house.

To me it sounds like prior to this new, albeit dubious, distinction, these other pieces were “not worthy”


Deanna Cechowski

From: NEohioPAL [mailto:neohiopal-bounces at lists.neohiopal.org] On Behalf Of Kevin Kelly via NEohioPAL
Sent: Monday, January 18, 2016 3:07 PM
To: post at neohiopal.org
Subject: [NEohioPAL] An Open Letter to the Cleveland Critics Circle regarding the recent announcement of "Worth Noting"

 

Dear Cleveland Critics Circle, 

 

For some reason, I find this "Worth Noting" announcement a little too high brow.

As many of us in the theatre community know, the brilliance of a piece of theatrical work has no dependency on the building that houses the piece.

I have seen many professional productions that needed CPR, and I have seen many community theatre and independent venue productions that took my breath away.

If there was a theatre that paid each actor a dollar, it could be listed as a professional theatre.

In the past, some of you have been contacted by theatres to review a quality show, and your response has been "I only review Professional Theatre."

You don't even listen to the case to be made.

Case in point is when Near West Theatre opened a 7.3 million dollar theatre in the Gordon Square Arts District. Near West Theatre is not a "professional" theatre, however, that building is a tremendous theatrical addition to the Gordon Square Arts District, the City of Cleveland, and the Cleveland theatre industry as a whole. It is something that the professional theatre critics should have applauded.

How many of you have walked through the doors and wrote about it? I can tell you. Two. Christine Howey and Andrea Simakis. 

 

This recognition of quality community theatre productions and quality theatrical pieces that are performed in non-professional venues is long overdue.

So for many actors in Cleveland, thank you for the fact that you will now "allow" these types of reviews to be posted.

But, thank you to those reviewers who stepped out of the box to realize that all theatre matters.

Kevin Kelly

 

 



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