teenage sports parade vs. the reader

[Megan]

In response to Jack -

I appreciate you posting here, as I appreciated your review in the Daily Herald. I realize that it doesn't matter which paper you write for, it's still your opinion of the show and not the doctrine of the paper.

And you're right - you're a saint if you help us out with praise and attention, you're a demon if you sink the show which we've invested our money, time and creative effort. I don't think that will ever change. Theater folks are biased that way.

I agree with Dan - while I understand that there is only so much space, time and staff to cover the hundreds of plays, improv & sketch shows, etc. that come out each month - it's hard to get the papers in Chicago to consistantly pay attention. I can assume that many ensembles don't have a clue when it comes to putting together press releases, reviewer invites and the like, and therefore can't get a reviewer or press attention, which is why the big fish like IO or Second City get the review. The choice of shows to be reviewed does seem very random, however.

How does the process for choosing shows to review work?

Megan Pedersen
Productions & Outreach
The Playground Theater

 

[Jigglin Bones]

Is the Jack Helbig post authentic? Or could it, again, be a hoax?
How can we ever know for sure?

While we're on the subject, how well do we really know Dan Izzo? This man could be an agent of the government, sent here to infiltrate the improv community to gather information about the process of creating object work of sophisticated weaponry for use in the military.

Oh, and TSP could also stand for The Socialist Party, couldn't it?

Come one people, wake up! This entire thread is lousy with deceit!

 

[kleonard]

How Shows Get Reviewed

Since I was the one speaking with Jack about this thread
I thought I might let you know what I have learned in my
years about getting reviewed in Chicago.

First, the reviewers don't get to pick their shows to review -
their editors do. Also, you will be hard-pressed to find a paper
anywhere in the world that does more theatre reviews than
the Reader in Chicago. Similarly, although people don't like to
admit it, print coverage of theatre in Chicago is quite good in
comparison to almost anywhere else. Yes, the Sun-Times has
cut back its reviews of theatre - I don't like it (as a person who
enjoys reading those reviews), but they have increased their
feature coverage which is way more likely to sell tickets than
a review (my opinion).

Improv and sketch shows are tough to get reviewed - mostly
because they have so few perfomances. A standard theatre
run (even non-equity) is a six performance week for six weeks.
Most improv and sketch shows play at the most two times a week
for six weeks. Do the math: hard for the paper to justify paying
a reviewer to report on a show that their readers have such
a slim chance of seeing.

The League of Chicago Theatres has 142 members - that means
there's probably another 50 theatres that are also producing
shows on a regular basis. No way that the print media will even
begin to make a serious dent into all those productions (i'm not
even including dance, performance art, opera, classical music - think how those artists feel about their coverage).

Be creative about how you market your show - yell the loudest -
don't give up - be professional (proper press release form, send
quality pictures that are not too artsy) - know the right person to
send your info to - all this should help you establish yourself enough to get reviewed. And - at the end of the day - if your'e good enough, they'll find you.

Kelly

 

[DanIzzo]

Kelly Leonard and Jack Helbig both chiming in on the TSP thread? TSP is bigger than even I realized.

If one obviously false post can hook two big fish like that, imagine what the TSP boyz can do when they have scripts, costumes and a stage.

Come and find out: Friday 7/27 and 8/3 at Live Bait at 10:30 and Saturdays starting 8/11 at 10:00 at Donny's Skybox Studio in Piper's Alley.

TSP -- a bigger media hoax than Joey Skaggs and the Moon Landing combined.

 

[JackHelbig]

Damn, Kelly Leonard "stole" everything I was going to say.

Seriously, Kelly is right, individual critics at the Reader have little leeway in what we review. Bill Williams, the chief critic at the Reader, makes the assignments.

Mr. Leonard is right, it is very hard to get a one night a week show reviewed. At the Reader this is, I believe, a space and budget issue. Sometimes a one night a week show -- like The House is On Fiddler -- will get reviewed. But that show had pretty strong credentials behind it -- and it opened at a time when there were not a lot of other shows running.

One night only shows have a better chance of being reviewed if they 1) run a long time, 2) build up a lot of buzz, or 3) if they attract an interesting feature story. But no promises.

I have more somewhat more freedom at the Daily Herald, though I only have two spots a week to fill, and those spots go first to 1) suburban shows, then to 2) big shows downtown or in the off-Loop scene my suburban readers would be interested in, and then 3) whatever else is going on that looks interesting to me. Sometimes a good improv show -- like Dinner for Six -- will fit into this last category. But much of the time I don't have the space.

When I have time I try to catch other shows, but probably everyone I know in improv -- and lots I don't -- has had the experience of inviting me to a show and me not being able to come. For that I apologize.

When the theater scene gets crazy it gets real crazy.

Jack

Oh, one other thing. When you do succeed in getting a critic don't be like the theater company I was supposed to review last week: don't cancel the show at the very last minute because the air conditioning went out and then forget to tell the critic about the cancellation until he shows up at your door ten minutes before show time. Very awkward, those moments.

 

[MarkH]

Two Clear Lessons

I've read all these posts, and I've come away learning two great things.

1) If you want to get your show reviewed, do it at a time when not a lot of other theater is up. Jack, what times of year would that be? I'm just guessing, but I think Fall and Spring are the busiest.

2) Kelly Leonard is a narc. Narc! Narc!

I never thought I'd see the day when Kelly Leonard would feel the need to rat out a post that was obviously intentional. Jack, I'm sorry you read this and were hurt by it. But Kelly, dude... get a life.

Mark Henderson:angel:

 

[Steev]

Teenage Sports Parade

Speaking of Jack Helbig, Entertainment Budgets, and Teenage Sports Parade...

I caught TSP at the Live Bait last night, and it was super. I laughed myself silly. Robots dancing, pimps pimpin', and fresh Philly sounds. It played like a short bus spin-out on the '94 - nooooooo class.

Plus, one lucky fan walked away with a pair of TSP tighty whiteys.

Bravo, TSP! Braaaaaaaavo.

 

[risaroo]

Warning: Blather Ahead

A few years back, director Vicky Bussert (you may not know who that is, but what the hell) gave me an excellent piece of advice:

As an actor, don't read ANY reviews until the show has closed - even the good ones.

It's hard to resist taking a peek, but it's good advice.

See, if you believe the good ones, you've gotta believe the bad ones. And it's mighty hard to keep even the most trivial slight out of your head when you still have six weeks (or six months) of a run ahead of you. Especially troubling are those reviews in which "two cast members are fabulous and the others are weak", or when everyone is mentioned favorably but one lone cast member. No matter how hard you try, soaking up an observer's opinions -- especially an observer with a byline -- can affect your performance, and that is not only an affront to your director but to your fellow cast members and future audiences.

I'm not saying there is nothing to be learned from the criticism, but getting bummed by a bad review can often create a scenario in which your bruised ego is swimming upstream to please someone who will likely never be back, and everyone else is carrying on as normal. And it makes you a drag to be around and sucks the fun out of the experience for everybody. Besides, you can't unring the bell . . . like I said, critics rarely come back to see if you've taken their notes!

For trivia buffs, the reason Vicky confronted me personally about this: She had directed me as Charlotte in a rather terrific (if I do say so myself) production of "A Little Night Music". Every single review was an unqualified rave, packed houses, long run, happiness, joy, etc. Given the caustic, comic nature of the role, I was usually singled out for individual praise (also a nice feeling) -- but in one of the eight or more reviews, a woman from the (I'm not kidding) Cleveland Jewish News gave me a backhanded compliment of sorts. Something to the effect of, "She's a brilliant comedienne and lovely dramatic actress, too, but her singing voice is not up to par with the rest of the company."

It destroyed me. Why? Who knows. I'm an idiot.

Never mind that everyone - and I mean everyone - else in the company had B'way or opera quality voices and never mind that the role is rarely cast with a coloratura soprano. And it's frikkin' SONDHEIM. And I'm also not that bad a singer by musical theatre standards, either. I was just in some seriously weighty company, vocally.

Whatever. (See? It STILL pisses me off!) ;-)

Those words sunk into my brain and every night thereafter I became filled with anxiety before my big number. I stopped really acting the song and became consumed with sounding "pretty". Vicky had stopped in to see the show one night and pegged it in a second.

She took me aside and said, "You get a hundred glowing reviews, and one little knock completely throws your performance?! You are no longer allowed to read reviews until a show closes, young lady!"

And I have tried to hold to that ever since. It can be hard (especially, I'd imagine, if one is not only acting in the show and producing and paying rental on a space), but it's a good idea. One guy I know even requests that no reviews be posted on call boards, etc.

So . . . no offense meant to you, Jack, but I think a lot of us would do well to just "do well" and stop fretting about the reviews. Be grateful they've come out at all . . . and sometimes grateful they haven't.

:up:

Lisa Lewis
At Large

PS: For highlights from my collection of "feint praise" and "left-handed tributes", surf to: www.IllNeverForgetYouBastards.com



(Yes, that's a joke. But, hey! Maybe I SHOULD put something like that together. Contributors?)

 

[PhilC]

I give Lisa Lewis' reply to this thread an enthusiastic thumbs up! Both entertaining and refreshingly honest, it brought to the table a charming side-dish of personal experience, with a palatable apertif of wit and style.
________
LovelyWendie99

 

[risaroo]

Clip N Save

That's going right in my scrapbook, Phil!

Lewis

:love:

 

[JackHelbig]

This may surprise some but I agree with Lisa.

I don't write for performers and I don't write to try to "adjust" a performance to fit my idea of how the show should have gone. I have met critics over the years who think of their reviews as "notes for the performers." That's just stupid -- and egotistical.

I write for my newspaper's readers, period.

I agree, it is very destructive when a performer lets reviews influence their performance. If you want tips on how to improve your work talk to your director, your acting teacher, your fellow performers, your parents.

Not even the smartest critic gets to know a performers work well enough to give advice based on a single performance. (It is a different matter if the critic is involved in the production -- as writer, director, or fellow performer -- but then the critic is no longer a critic is he/she?)

Jack

P.S., By the way, Kelly Leonard didn't narc on you guys. I have been lurking on this site since the Del posts of several years ago.

 

[Shitbag Ballcowski]

yawn.

are we done now?

and whats the deal with the reviews for tsp? are any of them real?

because shitbag saw all of their shows and enjoyed them thouroughly which leads him to believe no one else would like it, due to the adult themes of the show and the inability of most people to handle such mature humor.


please smash your computer after reading this, or failing that go punch mullaney (be careful you don't get your fist caught in his enourmously magnetic butt crack).