National Coverage

[Stuart Scadron-Wattles]

Try getting coverage in Kitchener. We're too close _and_ too far away for
the G&M. But mostly, we're too not Toronto. And-call me a cynic- the day
ol' Conrad promotes the theatre will be the day somebody paid him to do it.
        This problem seems to me to be more about the aesthetic of live
performance than the need for attention-getting from various regions.
Editors of national publications play it safest by going with what the
entire country can experience, preferably simultaneously (books, movies,
television, recorded music...). We won't fare well if we begin to demand
equal coverage with art media claiming larger coverage. If we'll really be
honest about it, we'll see that we fare better in the nationals than the
visual arts, with whom we share the same "ya gotta be there" aesthetic.
        The local nature of live performance is its strength, it seems to
me. Motives for being "noticed" by the national pubs can be quite suspect.
(They're not great audience builders...) We'd be better off looking to the
specialty pubs to develop excellent local reporting so _we_ can hear about
one another's work. And this list would qualify as a specialty pub. We
could start by posting our own reviews of the work of colleagues in our
regions.

**** Please note new office address below ****
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Stuart Scadron-Wattles
Theatre & Company
P.O.Box 876
27 King Street West
Kitchener, ONT  N2G 4C5
(519) 571-7080
(519) 571-9051 (fax)

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