Encyclopedia News; January 23

[Gaetan Charlebois]

Hello All

Things are moving along quite well and I am getting more and more e-mail
from people in the professions of teaching and journalism thanking me for
the help the encyclopedia has been. The growth has been phenomenal, in this
first year since the official launch. From several hundred visitors a week
we have grown to several thousand. This is unheard of for a site with such
specialized information. Moreover, many of the major theatre companies in
the land are now exploiting the site to publicize their work in the Calendar
and to keep the information in their own profiles current.

However, and this saddens me deeply, the national press (Globe and Mail,
National Post, Macleans, CBC, etc. - who could do immeasurable good in
getting the message out) are keeping all the good news to themselves. I have
a theory about this and it has to do with the great worry that some
journalists must have that sites like canadiantheatre.com are creating a
population that is more informed and therefore, a kind of army of
fact-checkers. At least three journalists in the country (all in Toronto)
have been called on mistaken information they have printed in their columns,
mistakes they wouldn't have made if they familiarized themselves with the
information at canadiantheatre.com - information that comes from people all
over the country who follow theatre in their own regions and who share the
news. Imagine if a lazy journalist told his/her readership such a site
existed! Such journalists could no longer coast along, in their articles,
sharing only the information they know (or, rather, THINK they know). Also,
they could no longer pretend that the theatre of the nation was contained
within a ten-block radius of their office. I know my own writing has
improved thanks to the dozens of collaborators across the country who have
drawn my attention to this or that playwright, play, or performer and
signaled the importance of events I would not otherwise have known about.

One of these collaborators is Anton Wagner. I am very pleased to have this
noted writer on board providing profiles on important critics, critics'
organizations and awards in the history of the nation's theatre. His latest
book, by the way, "Establishing Our Boundaries; English-Canadian Theatre
Criticism" is must reading for anyone who cares about the state of things
theatrical in this country. You can read two of Anton's profiles this week
(see below).

One more thing I have to say: I do a lot of on online research to keep the
Encyclopedia as up to date as possible and it's damn near impossible to find
one-stop shopping (so to speak) for current information. But Canoe (the
organization that leases and houses the Encyclopedia) is, more and more,
giving a complete picture of theatre news from across the nation. If you
haven't visited their theatre site, you should give it a look. I'm saying
this in all honesty and not just because we're partners. The Canoe theatre
site puts Globe and Mail and National Post, our so-called national dailies,
to shame.
http://www.canoe.ca/Theatre/

New Profiles:
Mason, Lawrence (Critic)
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/m/masonl.html)
Sandwell, Bernard Keeble (Critic)
(http://www.canadiantheatre.com/s/sandwellb.html)

Updates:
Hebert, Anne (Death of); Heavenly Voices; Thea-Tricks; Sources; Reviews/4
reviews added; Links;  Calendar/2 productions added; Sources; Masthead;
Criticism; Dominion Drama Festival; Little Theatre; "Hill-Land"; Fox, MJ;
Soiree des Masques; La Poudriere; Beaubien, J.; McCall, G.; Miller, J.;
Noyes, J.; Dinning, J.; Prairie, L.; Pomrenski, J.; Hidalgo, C.; Campbell,
D.; Glassco, B.; Eastern Front Theatre; "Salt-Water Moon"; Thompson, J.;
Smits, S.; Gault, C.; Nelson, G.; Stickland, E.; Bouchard, MM; DeFelice, J.;
Plamondon, L.; Theatre Il Va Sans Dire; Roy, S.; Lebeau, P.; Martin, A.;
Champagne, D.

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)

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
"Mailing list"; if you wish to be removed from this mailing list, simply
reply to this e-mail with the subject heading: "Remove"