Encyclopedia News; February 19, 2002

[Gaetan Charlebois]

Hello all

It's a new year and things just bounce along over here with help coming in
from several quarters (particularly profilees who help me keep their own
profiles up to date). The word is out and more and more teachers are telling
me that it is their students who have turned them on to the site. The
comments I get are mostly glowing and I have to restate that this has a lot
to do with the hundreds of people who take the time to offer advice, changes
or nominations (and then who gather the information towards creating a
usable profile!).

The figures have kept steady with upwards of 20,000 visitors per week (Feb
3-9: 21,163). These numbers spike during exam periods and the end of the
school year.

Part of the reason for the continued growth - besides teachers - is that the
press - slowly and reluctantly - is beginning to talk about the project. You
may be aware that Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre on the WWW is leased, for
the time being, by Canoe which is a division of Netgraphe which is a
division of Quebecor, a gigantic media empire with newspapers across the
country. Because of this, the project is sometimes seen as a competitor with
papers in the Southam chain, for instance. And because of that, when the
encyclopedia was clearly used as a source for articles (particularly
obituaries) it was not cited. But things change. When John Herbert, the
writer of "Fortune and Men's Eyes", died last year, several "competing"
papers cited and listed as source the magnificent profile Anton Wagner wrote
for the Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre on the WWW (The Globe and Mail and
the Toronto Star among them). This month, the Montreal Gazette (a Southam
paper) featured an article about the production of "For The Pleasure of
Seeing Her Again" in Ireland and quoted extensively and cited the project
(even including the web address). It took four years to get to this point,
but now that we are there it is terribly gratifying and it will help the
traffic on the site immeasurably. In French there is a noun that applies
here for the site: "incontournable." It's a word that suggest that the
object is unavoidable - a must-see/must-use. It's nice that, finally, we're
becoming a must-cite.

New profiles:
Theatre Junction (company)
http://www.canadiantheatre.com/t/theatrejunction.html
Touchstone Theatre (company)
http://www.canadiantheatre.com/t/touchstonetheatre.html
Headlines Theatre (company)
http://www.canadiantheatre.com/h/headlinestheatre.html

Updates (P=Photo added):
Reviews (27 Added); Masthead; Links; Kareda, Urjo (death of); Shuster, Frank
(death of); Ottawa Little Theatre; Ferguson, J.; Deyglun, H.; Hirsch, J.;
Stevens, E.; Haentjens, B.; Chan, M.; Woolf, H.; Ondaatje, M.; Rainbow
Stage; Hunter, M.; Garnhum, D.; Miller, M.; Quebec Drama Federation; Wing,
P.; Slade, B.; Pollock, S.; Barron, C.; "The Dragonfly of Chicoutimi";
Tremblay, L.; "La Repetition"; Champagne, D.; Maheu, G.; Asselin, J.;
Plamondon, L.; Chaurette, N.; Girard, R.; Gass, K.; Surette, R.; Sherman,
J.; Bouchard, M.; British Columbia; "Hosanna"; Spychalski, T.; Saskatchewan;
25th Street Theatre; Feminist Theatre; Dorval, A.; Picard, L.; McClemens,
J.; Espace Go; Bernard, P.; Denoncourt, S.; Fergusson, D.; "Jacob's Wake";
Dale, C.; Johnson, G.; Benskin, T.; Theatre du Nouveau Monde; Ducharme, R.;
Theatre de la Bordee; Dunsmore, R.; Soiree des Masques; Vincent, J.; Sears,
D.; McCormack, E.; Thomson, K.; Thomson, R.; Wasserman, B.

If you would like a copy of the entire list of profiles, I can send it to
you by e-mail (there is no charge for this service).

Register your link too (at no charge)!
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/links/linksguidelines.html)

Gaetan L. Charlebois (Editor, The Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre on the
WWW) http://www.canadiantheatre.com
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