Thingabouditt

Sat Aug 14 00:09:20 EDT 1999

Hello all

The following was sent out to about 100 theatre companies across the
country.

Cheers.

Gaetan Charlebois

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Thingabouditt

You're about to take a trip within Canada and you want to see some theatre.
Are you going to PAY for a magazine or newspaper to consult on what's
playing, or are you going to go to your trusty computer, hop on the 'net and
take a (free) visit to The National Theatre Calendar and Registry
(NATHCARE)?

Fact is, canadiantheatre.com (which includes The Encyclopedia of Canadian
Theatre on the WWW, the Calendar, Reviews, a bulletin board and much, much,
more) is harnessing national and international interest in Canadian theatre
and putting it in one place: a gigantic, 1500-page omnibus site that, after
less than a year, is getting thousands of visitors per month from Canada and
abroad.

So are you ...

Necessary Angel (ON), Ship's Company (NS), Moriah Productions (QC), Theatre
New Brunswick, Mulgrave Road Theatre (NS), Theatre Passe Muraille (ON),
Shakespeare by the Sea (NS), Shakespeare by the Sea (NF), Teesri Duniya
(QC), Shakespeare in the Rough (ON), Williams Lake Studio Theatre (BC),
Piggery Theatre (QC), Neptune Theatre (NS), Theatre Junction (AL), Ensemble
Sauvage Public (QC), Georgian Theatre Festival (ON), Black Theatre Workshop
(QC), Manitoba Fringe, Theatre One (BC), Saidye Bronfman Centre Theatre
(QC), Bluewater Musical Productions (ON), Walterdale Playhouse (AL), Yiddish
Theatre (QC), Mermaid Theatre (NS), I Spy A Theatre Company (QC), Cercle
Moliere (MA), Showboat Festival Theatre (ON)

... companies, which in the Calendar's first three weeks, used The National
Theatre Calendar to register dozens of productions and hundreds of
performances and which now receive direct-from-the-customer e-mail asking
about their show?

And it's free. It takes about three minutes, per production, to register a
show (see the guidelines below). And you can register tours too (as TNB and
Mulgrave Road did).

If you're already one of the company's who've registered productions,
congratulations!, and don't forget you can register your fund-raising galas
or Equity Nights as well.

If you want to know more about The Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre on the
WWW, see below the guidelines.

If you want to know more about us, click "reply" in your tool-bar and ask
away. If you want to know what the catch is there is none: we just happen to
think that the more people know about Canadian theatre, the more they'll go
and the more they'll go the more they'll want to know - from us to you and
back to us.

So register, fagadssakes!

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Guidelines:

To have your theatre production/event listed in The National Theatre
Calendar is free but you must follow the guidelines and you must have an
e-mail address to receive direct-from-The-Calendar queries about your
production from potential customers. All correspondence for inclusion in, or
about, The Calendar must be by e-mail. No ballet, opera, readings, or
non-theatre events will be included in The Calendar.

In an e-mail with the subject heading "Calendar" give the following
information, with each piece of information on a separate line (give no
other information):
- Province or Territory
- Municipality
- Company/Venue (Both if not the same; ie: TNB/Capitol Theatre)
- Production title
- Last names of playwright/s/composer/s (ie: Greenberg/Betts)
- Language of production
- Status of company (professional, amateur)
- Dates of run (not including previews; indicate year)
- Dark days/dates
- Contact's e-mail address
You must send a separate e-mail for each production (ie: of your season)

If information changes, please advise us and we will make changes whenever
possible. Use your six-letter code (described below) and submission
information in follow-up correspondence.

After you have submitted your production's information it will be included
in the calendar usually within two days. Your production will be assigned a
six-letter code which, as much as possible, corresponds directly to your
production (ie: the code TOTABI might indicate a production in TOronto, at
TArragon, of BIlly Bishop). Your premiere and the information you have
provided will be highlighted in red on the date of your premiere (the trick
is to try and schedule your premiere on a night when there are no others and
to submit the date to The Calendar as quickly as possible). Your six-letter
code will follow through to your closing date.

That's it! If you are feeling kindly about this service and wish to thank
us, simply put us in your production's program's thank-you list as
"www.canadiantheatre.com" - the more people who know about this service, the
better it will be for everyone. And if you're feeling especially thankful,
send us a copy of the program.

If you would like another place where you might publicize your production
within canadiantheatre.com, visit Heavenly Voices (and please follow the
guidelines there as well).

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THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADIAN THEATRE ON THE WWW
www.canadiantheatre.com

Officially Launched, January 12, 1999

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADIAN THEATRE ON THE WWW is a 1100+ article web site
created to celebrate Canadian theatre, its artists, institutions and
creations. It was launched, in test format, on September 26, 1998, and since
has been visited (and corrected) by over 200 academics, students and
theatrephiles from Canada and abroad. It is already being used by students
at 30 universities and colleges in Canada and being visited from over 20
other countries. This massive site, already hailed as a major resource for
students and teachers, was five years in the research and creation and will
appeal to any person who cares about theatre in this country. Unlike printed
encyclopedias, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADIAN THEATRE ON THE WWW can
accomodate changes to profiles literally within minutes.

What's more, THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADIAN THEATRE ON THE WWW is a democratic
site, inviting visitors to provide updates and to nominate people, works or
institutions for inclusion (already, some 150 profiles have been created
from such suggestions). THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADIAN THEATRE ON THE WWW also
features a section, "Heavenly Voices", where visitors from across the
country can submit news about theatre in their regions. Among other sections
are: Documents of Interest in the History of Canadian Theatre; Thea-Tricks
(a weekly brain teaser); Reviews (archived at the site by professional
critics); Teachers' Guide.

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA has been profiled in the Ottawa Citizen (Janice Kennedy,
January 23, 1999), Hour Magazine (SkidMore, February 11, 1999), Netlife
Magazine (March-April, 1999), Canadian Theatre Review (Spring, 1999, Matthew
Hayes), Intervue (July 28, 1999) and was chosen weekly selection at
Suite101.com (March 9-15, 1999 -
http://www.suite101.com/article.cfm/240/16714).

To visit THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF CANADIAN THEATRE ON THE WWW is to understand
all the excitement.

COMMENTS FROM IMPORTANT VISITORS:

"Many congratulations on establishing The Encyclopedia. It is an important
initiative that will be appreciated by many artists, teachers, scholars, and
students." LW Conolly, Teacher/Author/Editor (The Oxford Companion to
Canadian Theatre - with Eugene Benson, Canadian Drama and The Critics,
English-Canadian Theatre - with Benson )

"This is very important stuff...I'm going to use it for work." Patricia
Rodriguez, Arts Reviewer, CBC-TV, Montreal

"...your site is very informative and getting more comprehensive each time I
visit." Norm Foster, Playwright

"Congratulations on your superb site and arduous undertaking! I'll be sure
to recommend it to all my on-line theatre friends." Vivienne Laxdal,
Playwright

"Congratulations on this mammoth effort. I intend to browse and cruise the
site, recommend it to students and colleagues for their comments, too." Joel
Greenberg, Director, Chair of the Drama Department - University of Waterloo

"C'est un travail titanesque...je pense que je vais l'utiliser souvent dans
mes divers travaux de rédaction...Il y a quelque chose de très émouvant dans
ton entreprise: j'y trouve la mémoire de notre art." (It's a titanic
work...I think I will use it often in my various editing jobs...There is
something very moving in your enterprise: I find the memory of our art.)
Paul Lefebvre, Director/Translator/Critic