Hi Cormac,

I think there was some confusion about my response to John’s article a couple of weeks ago. It was not directed at you in the slightest, but rather at some of the larger media who have cut down significantly on local content. I have been reading your theatre section lately, and I have been impressed by the amount of coverage. I was actually really happy that you had decided to include a critical article about why people aren’t seeing theatre. I agree — ticket prices are too high sometimes, and people just aren’t interested. But there are other reasons as well.

That comment about meshing personal interest stories and arts stories was actually directed at the Ottawa Citizen. Recently they combined their “Arts” section and “Life” section, which means fewer stories for both sections. And there’s still this focus on Hollywood gossip — shouldn’t that be the responsibility of teen magazines?

I actually wrote that brief diatribe for my website, and prefaced it by congratulating your publication on taking a critical stance on Ottawa’s arts community. Perhaps I should have done that when I submitted the piece for the online XPress: anyway, you can read it here — http://jessicaruano.wordpress.com/2008/11/13/open-letter-to-arts-editors/

I wanted to write a similar response to your comment online, but the website only allows for one comment per contributor. But feel free to include publicly anything I’ve written here, if you can find a way.

No hard feelings, I hope.

Jessica

I went to the Junca show closing the Toronto flamenco festival yesterday, wearing jeans and shirt and a fuzzy kind of overshirt. I was quite under-dressed. It’s odd to me that flamenco of all things has been turned into a high-brow thing… it’s a gypsy thing! Then again, the tickets were $80! Still, next time I would dress a bit better :)

But the thing is, I think a lot of students have major preconceptions about going to the theatre. They feel intimidated. I was marking papers for this theatre course of students, some of whom had never seen a play before, and they feel like they have to act a certain way or dress a certain way – as if they’re going to a wedding or a funeral for someone they don’t know. It can be stressful! That’s why I think the Fringe Festival is such a good thing: the tickets are cheap; it’s a really chill atmosphere; and they can drink beer between shows.

I also feel so much pressure bringing a non-theatre friend to a show with me. I think, gawd, if they don’t like it, then that’s ruined their idea of theatre for life! It’s like sushi. Strange huh? I mean, just because you see a rotten movie, doesn’t mean that you’re going to despise the art form for all eternity. What’s going on here?

But, also, what about the desirability of their programs? Even something like Shaw will have a bad year if their plays aren’t attractive to theatre-goers. In the local “little theatre”, there’s one play that interests me this year. Some years, there are three or more. Obviously, I’m just one person… but there must be a general concept of a desirable/undesirable play?

And, what about the concept of young people attending the theatre at all? The article refers to it, but maybe theatre isn’t popular with younger people regardless of the program. It’s not at all popular with younger people in my area, but I live in a regularly old-aged town.

I think there must be a problem getting young people out to even professional theatre, because both the Shaw and Stratford have deep-discount programs for under-30s.

You keep cutting back on local arts coverage in favour of productions from out-of-town, or celebrity gossip, or Hollywood movies. Some of you even decided that personal interest stories are pretty much the same as arts stories and ……