Akron is home to many theatre companies as well as being home to the beautiful Akron Civic Theatre pictured here. You'd never know that if you were a reader of the Akron Beacon Journal -- in print or online.
Today in a comment to an earlier
post, Neil Thackaberry of
Actor's Summit tells us that the ABJ is not reviewing their work:
I am very sorry to hear this. I've been having a heck of a time finding any theatre reviews at all at ohio.com, the ABJ's online presence. Elaine Guregian is still listed as Classical Music and Dance critic with no mention of theatre. Her theatre reviews are not posted under her listing as a columnist. I finally located them under a small heading on the Entertainment page: Peforming Arts. There are two reviews by Elaine -- one for the latest
Bang and Clatter production and one for a
musical at Playhouse Square in Cleveland. There is also a review by George Thomas's 12 year old son of the concert version of
High School Musical. (George Thomas no longer writes movie reviews for the Beacon but rather has been assigned to the sports department.)
If one were to take the Akron Beacon Journal as an accurate reflection of our community, we could only say that Akron is a cultural wasteland. Furthermore, we would wonder why so many theatre companies are shown in the listings but are no longer reviewed. Certainly Actors' Summit was always on the agenda, and ditto
Coach House and
Weathervane. Theatre work of interest by Akron's own
New World Performance Laboratory would be covered as well as note-worthy productions at the
University of Akron, Kent State,
Wooster and beyond.
Carousel just opened a new show last week but not a peep from the Beacon yet. What about
Magical Theatre? As for all those surrounding community theatres in Hudson, Stow, Medina and so on -- forget it! If the Beacon isn't going to cover Akron theatres, there is no hope for you.
The weekly Theatre Notes column has vanished, so we are cut off from news such as -- has Weathervane hired a new executive director yet. We never got a column on the untimely demise of Ingenue Theatre Company. If anyone of any importance was doing something in theatre locally, we once had a place to read about it. I can't fault Elaine -- how do you fit in covering all the local theatre when you are also trying to cover classical music and dance events as well?
So what is a local theatre-goer to do? Everybody who is in the know, subscribes to the NorthEast Ohio Performing Arts (NEOPAL)
list put together by Fred Sternfeld, but that is more of a bulletin board. Some people do post reviews, but it is not the same as having a trusted and consistant voice from a reviewer you respect. The NEOPAL list does not necessarily target the potential audiences that our local theatres must have in order to keep existing.
You might check out Kerry Clawson's new blog
From Page to Stage. She is writing about the local theatre scene. Post a comment and let her know you care too. Because obviously the ABJ doesn't give a damn. Don't let that stop you from joining Neil Thackaberry and write a letter to the editor. The editors won't do anything until they feel the pressure.
