Gothamist: Pencil This In

Moxie

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 17:19:58 -0500

Hey John, Point well taken. I think I surrendered to a bit of hasty-comment-fury disease with my above post :-) I neglected to realize that you recommend 7 plays per week (duh - I should have known that!). Obviously you can't see nearly all of them, and I wouldn't wish 7 nights of theater each week on my worst enemy! I do think that sometimes Gothamist, in general, tends to err on the side of the waaay underground/downtown hip. Personally, I read gothamist every day as one of my top resources for what's happening in the city. It feels weird for the only theatrical coverage to be these much smaller shows, when most other cultural goings-on seem to take in a wider spectrum. For example, the music coverage includes bands like The Strokes, The Arcade Fire, and the biggest events of CMG, but the theatrical equivalent in terms of popularity (off-broadway?) rarely gets mentioned. I'm sure 50 Cent is getting plenty of coverage for his signing, but it's a fun thing that readers might want to check out, so it's worth posting. I'm all for celebrating the great work happening off-off-broadway, and wish more publications would give it it's due. However, not covering some of the best things happening out there just because they already have plenty of ink seems to deny the gothamist readership what might be valuable information. On the other hand, maybe the gothamist readers are so savvy that they already know about those shows, I don't know. When it comes down to it, I should be thankful that something from the theater world gets a mention every day. It's a very cool thing. Keep it up. Moxie (the maven) P.S. Who the heck am I to criticize someone who has so graciously linked to me? Thanks, and I added you on mine. :-)

John Del Signore

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 15:29:55 -0500

Moxie (the Maven?): Maybe this is a good opportunity to explain a little bit how this works. Like most wretched souls who churn out listings for other publications, the press release, word of mouth and my own personal taste are pretty much the only tools at my disposal when recommending 7 plays per week. Often I am posting info about a show that is about to open; today's choice begins previews tonight. As such, I think 'caveat emptor' goes without saying. I would prefer to see everything I recommend, but since this is logistically impossible I go with my knowledge about the company that's producing the show and/or the appeal of the material. When writing the blurbs for "Pencil This In", sometimes the press release is the sole source of information for a production that sounds interesting. In this case, I use quotation marks to indicate when I am directly lifting the text from the promotional materials. For today's choice, I searched for a website to shed more light on this show but there does not seem to be anything of substance. (The EST website is currently light on info.) I selected the show primarily because I sometimes appreciate "personal" theater pieces, thought it had the ingedients for a moving story, and like that the production is geared toward the hearing impaired. I also enjoy drawing attention to productions that might otherwise go unnoticed and are off the beaten path. I'd heard nothing about this show, so that made it attractive. No choices are based on an attempt to be trendy or "downtown", but you probably won't find many Broadway shows listed under my name, as they seem to get enough ink.

Moxie

Thu, 04 Jan 2007 13:19:22 -0500

Does John Del Signore actually see the shows he reccomends? This write-up is taken pretty much verbatim from the PR about the show, as evidenced by the theatermania site linked to for tickets. Some of the recommended shows are great, but a lot are half-baked hogwash, seemingly posted by Gothamist because of their downtown hipness rather than their viability as contributions to the theater and culture of NYC.