Encyclopedia News; October 31

[Gaetan Charlebois]

Hello All

This week I got an offer from a person in Saskatchewan to cull information
from the newspapers so that companies in the province might have a presence
in The National Theatre Calendar and Registry (NATHCARE). Here's what I
answered. "Thanks much for the offer. But the reason the calendar exists is
to provide another PR tool, free of charge, to the companies with a minimum
of work necessary on their part. Because the The Encyclopedia of Canadian
Theatre on the WWW has had phenomenal growth, very strict systems have to be
in place. I get literally hundreds of press kits a month and if I (or you)
had to cull the information for a calendar entry for each show it would take
minutes per production; with the system we have it takes seconds. 57
companies have registered over 150 shows with the calendar and the companies
range from the high-profile regional houses to the the small amateur houses.
They figured out how this works. The fact is, if the Saskatchewan houses are
not technically able to meet the requirements for entry into the calendar,
they are not able, either, to answer e-mail generated by their entry. So
it's probably best that they don't respond."

Also on the subject of the Calendar, if you happen, in your theatre outings,
to come across a mention of canadiantheatre.com in a program (we've asked
Calendar listees to plant us in their Thank-You section) please let us know
or, better still, send us the program. This is one of the many ways we are
using to get the word out on the project (as we have noooooooo advertising
budget...).

Meanwhile, I'd like to hear from people who enjoy/visit/participate/play in
the Thea-Tricks part of the site. (We've got another fun one this week...)
We haven't had a winner in a dog's age at Thea-Tricks and I'm wondering if
the section is worth the hour or so each week that I give it. All you have
to do is send a reply to this message saying "yes." If you have additional
comments, terrific, but this is pretty much just a survey.

Hey, I've been looking over the reviews section (which, as of now has 80
reviews for 99 alone). I'm pretty proud of the picture the various critics
have given us of our national theatre. Reviewed this year, for instance, are
Soulpepper's season, Marti Maraden's season at NAC, bunch of mega-musicals,
the Suburban Motel plays (in French) at Quat'Sous, emerging Western
playwrights and offerings from several companies in Halifax. And you want
alternative theatre! From the critics who Fringed, this year - in Ottawa,
Montreal and Edmonton - you get a good picture of grass roots theatre in the
nation. Visit, you'll find something that you'll like (or that will enrage
you!). (http://www.canadiantheatre.com/reviews.html)

Another thing: say you look something up in the Encyclopedia and note that
the information you have about the subject is newer than what you read (ie:
you saw such-and-such in a play last week), drop us a line with the precise
information and your name gets included on the profile as a contributor.
This is one of the ways the Encyclopedia grows and stays current.

If you would like a copy of the entire list of profiles, I can send it to
you by e-mail. Also if, for teaching etc., you'd like all the Thea-Tricks
questions and answers since the beginning, that's available too.  (Both at
no charge like all services provided by canadiantheatre.com.)

Don't forget Heavenly Voices for your regional news, job postings or
audition calls. (http://www.canadiantheatre.com/heavenlyvoices.html)

Announce your show!
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/calendar/calendarguidlines.html) If you want
to see what a typical region's and month's line-up can look like go to
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/calendar/atoc99.html)

Register your link too!
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/links/linksguidelines.html)

New Profiles:
Beliveau, Juliette (Actor) (http://www.canadiantheatre.com/b/beliveauj.html)
Poddubiuk, Christina (Designer)
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/p/poddubiukc.html)

Updates:
Heavenly Voices; Thea-Tricks; Links; Reviews (3 added); Calendar (4
productions added); Charlottetown Festival; Stickland, E.; Guimond, O.; Shaw
Festival; Stratford Festival; Designing; Sterling Awards; Beaulieu, VL;
Plamondon, L.; Marine, A.; "Celle-la"; Turgeon, M.; Levesque, D.;  Simard,
G.

Gaetan L. Charlebois (Editor, The Encyclopedia of Canadian Theatre on the
WWW) http://www.canadiantheatre.com or
http://cantheatre.canoe.ca
If you want to join the Encyclopedia's mailing list (and get information
before anyone else as well as the Monday Hint for the Thea-Tricks Doozey),
simply send an e-mail to blajeune at total.net with the subject heading
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