About This Blog
I have recently found myself wanting to exercise my creative writing
muscles. I see a lot of theatre and tend
to have a lot of thoughts on these various productions so I’ve decided to start
writing some of those thoughts down. Read them or don’t. This is pretty much
for me but if I spark a reaction in you, that’s cool too. After all, I’ve named
the blog “Trevor Trove.” If I’m willing to be that cheesy/stupid with the
title, maybe you shouldn’t take it too seriously.
Where I’m Coming From?
First and foremost, I want to point out my basic belief that all art is subjective. The thoughts in the blog posts that follow are based on my own experiences with the productions. I kind of go into this with the understanding that as an artist writing about productions, there’s every possibility I’ll inadvertently burn some bridges and never work in this town again. I obviously hope that isn’t the case. But it has bothered me for a long time that we tend to be a largely thin-skinned bunch when it comes to criticism so I'd rather have the conversation.
Example 1: Sometimes
you are wrong for a part. It’s great that you got to play it but if
you’re 20 years too old or too young, it might be worth pointing out.
In back to back shows at ASU, I played a 60-year-old+ character followed by a
father whose children were both portrayed by actors older than myself.
Example 2: I worked
on a production of Julius Caesar set in the Civil War and Marc Antony was
played by an African-American actor. In my opinion, he did a great job but that
casting/setting combination makes a very
particular statement and when asked about it, the director said he wasn’t
focusing on that aspect. In my opinion, that’s the wrong answer.
I understand these decisions are made for a myriad of reasons but from
time to time, they may come up as a criticism. I’m not trying to attack anyone or the decisions they’ve
made, I’m just writing an exploratory essay about my response to those
decisions. If it offends you, you don’t have to read it (just like I didn’t
have to see the show). But if you have something to add to the conversation, I
encourage you to post something in the comments.
In my heart of hearts, I want the Phoenix theatre community to thrive.
And it is my theory (and could be a completely inaccurate one) that just
smiling to each other’s face and saying “great show!” at the stage door and
then going out to the bar with friends and saying “…and I hated this, and this was way
off, and I don’t get what they were thinking with that…” might serve as an
obstacle to that goal. We can’t always be honest with people because we don’t
want to hurt feelings but doing so also might keep an artist from pushing
themselves to be better.
Ultimately: I have an opinion. You don’t have to agree. Just recognize
that it’s my opinion.
The Imagined Hierarchy of My
Audience
1. Me.
As I said up front, I’m pretty much doing this for me.
2. My family. I've told some of them about this and now I'm pretty sure they're going to read every post. Awwwww.
3. Patrons of a show. As I’ll be writing these posts from the perspective of someone who has already seen the show in question, I imagine other people who have also already seen the show will take away the most (or have the most to say in response).
3. Patrons of a show. As I’ll be writing these posts from the perspective of someone who has already seen the show in question, I imagine other people who have also already seen the show will take away the most (or have the most to say in response).
5. Marketing
departments. Realistically this one is probably more like number two
because marketing a show with reviews and word of mouth is an industry standard
(plus the smart marketing departments
tend to have Google alerts set up to notify them when anyone on the internet
says something about them so they might find out about this blog before the
general public). “This person liked our show so you will too. BUY NOW” is an easier campaign than boiling
down a 2-hour story into a paragraph-long synopsis that will hook some, even though
most will just skim or never read it. You
probably would if you’re still reading this
but even you still might not find the synopsis interesting enough (but you’d
totally love the show itself).
6. Artists
involved in the production after it has
closed. Once the show’s closed and reading a review won’t affect the
time and energy you’ve put into a show, read away, but...
LAST. Artists involved in the production during the production. In any universe, these are the last people who should be reading a review of the show. At least during the run of a show because it has the potential to (even on an unconscious level) alter the performance that the review discusses. If they want to read it after the show’s done, fine, but don’t take it personal if I don’t mention that awesome thing you did” or “completely missed what you were going for” or “am just an idiot who doesn’t know what he’s talking about.” At Stray Cat Theatre, we have a “No review talk at the theatre” rule. People are free to read the reviews if they want but out of respect for those who do not, they’re off limits. I have always loved this mentality (and I’ve worked places good reviews get posted backstage while bad reviews remain suspiciously absent because again: thin-skinned). But at Stray Cat, the mentality leans more towards “A good review can usually do more harm to a show than a bad review.” The thought being that people can become complacent or assume that “everyone will love the show so we should get angry when there’s a less-than-responsive audience and give them a less-than-good show…those jerks.” As described in point 4, reviews are probably first and foremost tools for marketing. Even a bad review of a show is likely to move tickets because “any press is good press.” So the actors should let the marketing people worry about that while they themselves focus on continuing to provide the performances they have spent the past few weeks rehearsing.
Speaking of Stray Cat Theatre…
Conflict of Interest?
As of this writing, I serve as the President of the Board of Directors
for Stray Cat Theatre. I also work as the Tessitura Data and Analytics Manager
for Phoenix Theatre (translation: I manage the Customer Relationship Management
system and create/analyze sales and development/fundraising reports). As
described above, I think you should take everything
I say with a grain of salt but I encourage you to keep that especially in mind
when I write about these companies. That said, I know I’ll still want to write about
them so I have made the decision to refrain from taking them off the table completely.
A conflict of interest in this situation would imply that I were
getting paid on all sides of the equation (a bit like Paula Dean selling her diabetes causing cookbooks and then being the spokesperson for diabetes medication...but not quite). I receive no compensation
from Stray Cat (unless I’m working on a particular production and even in those
cases I tend to donate my stipend back to the company in my role as Board
Member/Donor). And Phoenix Theatre pays me a salary to do the job they have
hired me to do. As this is a personal venture, my decision to write about
either one nets me no additional revenue. If Stray Cat or Phoenix Theatre
started paying me for my work on this blog, that would be a conflict of
interest where the conflict that exists (or appears to exist) is “because they’re paying me, I treat them differently when I review them.”
I don’t even plan on seeking out comp tickets for this blog. I do occasionally
receive comp tickets through friends or my work with companies or other factors
but I have no intention of calling a box office and saying "So…I write
this blog, would you give me tickets to come see your show?”
Just in case, here’s a legal-sounding warning in bold:
IMPORTANT: The views and opinions expressed are mine and
mine alone and do not reflect the views of Stray Cat Theatre or Phoenix Theatre
or anyone else. The only exception I can foresee to this would be if I invited
in outside parties to guest-review or something in that vein. And in that case,
the views would solely represent the reviewer and not anyone else they might be associated.
Content
Theatre is certainly my passion and entry point for this writing
exercise but I also enjoy a lot of television, film, and (probably most of all)
video games so I have already imagined instances where I branch out into
writing down my thoughts in these other mediums as well but we’ll see how it
goes. I could write out my first couple posts and decide, “Meh, this was a dumb
idea. Nevermind.” and drop the whole thing.
Inspirations
I’m approaching this as someone who regularly reads articles/reviews on
sites like IGN, Hitfix, and AV Club. I also fall in the camp of artist who
(despite what I said above) has long read local theatre reviews from the likes
of The Arizona Republic/AZ Central, the Phoenix NewTimes, and CurtainUp
Phoenix.
Wow, This Was Long?
Oh yeah, sometimes I have a lot to say. If you’re the kind of person
who is so busy that you have to abbreviate “Too Long; Didn’t Read” to “TL;DR”
then:
1. Congratulations on making it this far and/or
just scrolling to the bottom!
2. This might not be the place for you. And that’s
fine. Enjoy your BuzzFeed lists.
3. I’m also more interested in writing a thorough
take on the content than I am assigning a letter grade. If I do my job as a
writer, you should have a pretty decent sense where I stand on a show and
assigning a show three stars out of five or an eight out of ten is would
detract from the write-ups themselves.
They just end up placating the TL;DRers of the world and I’d much rather
create an opportunity for dialogue.
In Closing
Thanks for reading. I hope you enjoy. Or if not, I hope you continue
the conversation I’m attempting to start.
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