<html><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space; ">Were this person truly operating under the impression that the Cleveland theater community is a community (scroll down, it's in the body of the email), they wouldn't be looking for fights or posting provocative emails. <div><br><div><div>On Jul 20, 2009, at 11:20 AM, James Kosmatka wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><blockquote type="cite"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: rgb(0, 0, 0); font-family: Verdana; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: auto; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; "><div lang="EN-US" link="blue" vlink="purple"><div class="Section1"><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">I hate to jump to conclusions and make inferences without any facts to back me up…<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">BUT<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Take a look at this, CWRU’s MFA Acting Program postcard for their production of<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><i>All’s Well</i>: <o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><a href="http://www.twitpic.com/b02ri" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.twitpic.com/b02ri</a><o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">“No insipid takes on the script.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">No mosquitoes.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Just well trained actors and a great director.”<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">I find it impossible to believe that this isn’t a slight directed at the Cleveland Shakespeare Festival, and perhaps the Ohio Shakespeare Festival. They are very clearly comparing themselves to outdoor Shakespeare performances (“mosquitoes”), of which there are only two in the region and only one in Cleveland. The postcard then links “insipid takes on the script” and a lack of “well trained actors and a great director” to the aforementioned outdoor Shakespeare company.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">This may be one of the most brazen, shameless pieces of advertising I’ve seen in Cleveland theatre. It displays a total lack of class on the part of department chair Ron Wilson, director Geoff Bullen, and whomever else at Case signed off on this.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">There are certainly valid criticisms to be made of Cleve Shakes, but let’s face it: a $35,000/year university beating up on free Shakespeare in the park is pretty crass, and amounts to nothing more than bullying.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">I like to operate under the naïve impression that Cleveland’s theatre community IS a community. It’s a pretty rich and diverse community, too, considering the problems Cleveland faces. We have a lot of great theatres to fill all kinds of niches, from CSF to Theatre Ninjas to the Play House to CSU Summer Stages to Cleveland Public Theatre. And to see an organization say “We’re above all of that. We are separate, we are better, and we don’t want you philistines dirtying up our Shakespeare” just gets my blood boiling. At this point, my rant’s starting to lose focus, so I’ll close with this:<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">I think Ron Wilson and Geoff Bullen owe CSF a big public apology.<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; "><o:p> </o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">Sincerely,<o:p></o:p></div><div style="margin-top: 0in; margin-right: 0in; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; ">James Kosmatka, never affiliated in any official capacity with CSF, but thinks they’re good people and good artists.<o:p></o:p></div></div>______________________________________<br>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<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.fredsternfeld.com" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.fredsternfeld.com</a>.<br>______________________________________<br>please consider a voluntary contribution to support Neohiopal -<span class="Apple-converted-space"> </span><a href="http://www.fredsternfeld.com/faqs.htm#support" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://www.fredsternfeld.com/faqs.htm#support</a><br>______________________________________<br>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.<br>_____________________________________<br>NEohioPAL mailing list<br><a href="http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal" style="color: blue; text-decoration: underline; ">http://mailman.listserve.com/listmanager/listinfo/neohiopal</a><br></div></span></blockquote></div><br></div></body></html>