Back Again!!!
Hey all! So it is with some remiss to consider that it has been FOUR years since I've updated this blog. It's been FOUR long years since I've neglected to finish my reviews and FOUR long years since I've had the opportunity to watch the Boston Theater Marathon Again. So why am I coming back?
Well, the truth of the matter is that three of those four years I've sadly been acting in a play that coincided with the Boston Theater Marathon or I had rehearsal during such a period. It seems blatantly insane for theater companies to tie up their actors during such an important cross-theater extravaganza such as this, but I am here to tell you that that's the truth. The other year? I was completely broke and couldn't justify buying tickets.
But that's all changed now! I am NOT either performing in any or in rehearsals for any shows right now so I'm all charged up to once again revisit my marathon reviewing attempt. In my last two times I have not once come CLOSE to reviewing all the plays and this time, after much feedback from my last attempt, I'm doing something a tad different:
This time I'm not going to even attempt to review all the shows. I am indeed going to watch them all and I will dutifully take notes of each and every one of them. However, this time I am going to reserve my... criticism and impressions only for the plays I really enjoyed. I do not know how many of the ten-minute plays will qualify. If it's anything like last time then my plan will be to review roughly fifteen to twenty of them. Not saying that three-thirds of the plays last go around were awful or anything. In fact, in general, it's quite rare to get an absolute stinker in the bunch (though it's definitely been known to happen). However, the Boston Theater Marathon is both a fundraiser for a worthy cause and it's also a celebration of local playwrighting talent, and in the spirit of celebration I've decided that while I personally find it equally (if not more so) elucidating to examine what didn't work, as basically the only person on the planet blogging about this event, that gives my hare-brained opinions a lot more weight than they're due. If I was one of several voices commenting on the festival, I would try to review them all again. But considering that my lack of competition gives my voice way more weight than it should have I don't want my opinion to be the last word on any of these plays.
I have my own biases. Last time I reviewed these plays I had already done a high degree of Boston Theater. Four years later and I have even more connections. I've worked with a lot of people on a lot of different plays. I would like to think I'm not going to be biased based on my feelings towards different actors (or even playwrights), but that also sounds fairly naive. Likewise, as someone who actively auditions and would very much like to be cast by a bunch of different companies, I have a pretty good reason to not piss off most companies who are putting on these plays.
Indeed I have a good friend who runs a theater company who is one of the fifty who are putting on plays this year. I was talking to her about this very subject and she told me outright that she would be personally angry with me if I gave her play a negative review. And she's a good friend!
So the solution: I'm not going to write any negative reviews. UNLESS: if you are one of the playwrights whose work is being performed and you would like feedback of either a private or public nature, please comment somewhere on this blog and I will put you in the queue.
The truth is I find the process of playwrighting endlessly fascinating and I'm always astounded at how much can be accomplished and explored in a ten-minute time frame. If I wasn't such an active participant in the Boston Theater scene I'd love to review myself, because there is nothing on this planet I love more than the theater itself, in all its forms. I'm not sure I'd gain many friends that way. Everyone loves positive press. And the inverse is also true. So I'm taking the old saw "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all" to heart.
But in the meantime, if you are vaguely interested or intrigued by the concept of the Boston Theater Marathon (50 new ten minute plays written by local playwrights performed by various companies) I cannot encourage you enough to buy tickets. Buy them online as they're significantly more expensive at the door. You don't have to be like me and watch the whole thing. Most people pop in and out, watch an hour or two and do something else. It's super fun and super engaging and there's tremendous talent on display.
However, if you are curious about testing your endurance I would like to advocate for mainlining the entire thing. It's an experience like no other. It's the reason I love the festival so much. That amount of unending concentrated narrative is absolutely wild and wonderful to behold. It makes me so glad I live in Boston and it makes me so grateful for the Boston Playwright's Theatre and their ability to organize such an ambitious event year after year after year. It can't continue if people don't continue to buy tickets and I can assure you you'll see nothing like it throughout the rest of the year.
Post - Script
I WILL be reviewing once more the full-length play readings that are being produced the previous Saturday. I will, however, try to keep any criticism I have constructive. By the by, those readings are 100% free and they are generally AWESOME and at least always interesting. I couldn't think of a better way of spending a Saturday afternoon.
Well, the truth of the matter is that three of those four years I've sadly been acting in a play that coincided with the Boston Theater Marathon or I had rehearsal during such a period. It seems blatantly insane for theater companies to tie up their actors during such an important cross-theater extravaganza such as this, but I am here to tell you that that's the truth. The other year? I was completely broke and couldn't justify buying tickets.
But that's all changed now! I am NOT either performing in any or in rehearsals for any shows right now so I'm all charged up to once again revisit my marathon reviewing attempt. In my last two times I have not once come CLOSE to reviewing all the plays and this time, after much feedback from my last attempt, I'm doing something a tad different:
This time I'm not going to even attempt to review all the shows. I am indeed going to watch them all and I will dutifully take notes of each and every one of them. However, this time I am going to reserve my... criticism and impressions only for the plays I really enjoyed. I do not know how many of the ten-minute plays will qualify. If it's anything like last time then my plan will be to review roughly fifteen to twenty of them. Not saying that three-thirds of the plays last go around were awful or anything. In fact, in general, it's quite rare to get an absolute stinker in the bunch (though it's definitely been known to happen). However, the Boston Theater Marathon is both a fundraiser for a worthy cause and it's also a celebration of local playwrighting talent, and in the spirit of celebration I've decided that while I personally find it equally (if not more so) elucidating to examine what didn't work, as basically the only person on the planet blogging about this event, that gives my hare-brained opinions a lot more weight than they're due. If I was one of several voices commenting on the festival, I would try to review them all again. But considering that my lack of competition gives my voice way more weight than it should have I don't want my opinion to be the last word on any of these plays.
I have my own biases. Last time I reviewed these plays I had already done a high degree of Boston Theater. Four years later and I have even more connections. I've worked with a lot of people on a lot of different plays. I would like to think I'm not going to be biased based on my feelings towards different actors (or even playwrights), but that also sounds fairly naive. Likewise, as someone who actively auditions and would very much like to be cast by a bunch of different companies, I have a pretty good reason to not piss off most companies who are putting on these plays.
Indeed I have a good friend who runs a theater company who is one of the fifty who are putting on plays this year. I was talking to her about this very subject and she told me outright that she would be personally angry with me if I gave her play a negative review. And she's a good friend!
So the solution: I'm not going to write any negative reviews. UNLESS: if you are one of the playwrights whose work is being performed and you would like feedback of either a private or public nature, please comment somewhere on this blog and I will put you in the queue.
The truth is I find the process of playwrighting endlessly fascinating and I'm always astounded at how much can be accomplished and explored in a ten-minute time frame. If I wasn't such an active participant in the Boston Theater scene I'd love to review myself, because there is nothing on this planet I love more than the theater itself, in all its forms. I'm not sure I'd gain many friends that way. Everyone loves positive press. And the inverse is also true. So I'm taking the old saw "if you can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all" to heart.
But in the meantime, if you are vaguely interested or intrigued by the concept of the Boston Theater Marathon (50 new ten minute plays written by local playwrights performed by various companies) I cannot encourage you enough to buy tickets. Buy them online as they're significantly more expensive at the door. You don't have to be like me and watch the whole thing. Most people pop in and out, watch an hour or two and do something else. It's super fun and super engaging and there's tremendous talent on display.
However, if you are curious about testing your endurance I would like to advocate for mainlining the entire thing. It's an experience like no other. It's the reason I love the festival so much. That amount of unending concentrated narrative is absolutely wild and wonderful to behold. It makes me so glad I live in Boston and it makes me so grateful for the Boston Playwright's Theatre and their ability to organize such an ambitious event year after year after year. It can't continue if people don't continue to buy tickets and I can assure you you'll see nothing like it throughout the rest of the year.
Post - Script
I WILL be reviewing once more the full-length play readings that are being produced the previous Saturday. I will, however, try to keep any criticism I have constructive. By the by, those readings are 100% free and they are generally AWESOME and at least always interesting. I couldn't think of a better way of spending a Saturday afternoon.
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