Because Community Theater Matters
--Welcome to Orlando Theater Reviews!
The purpose of this website is to acknowledge and highlight the tremendous amount and quality of the work done by the actors, directors, producers, costumers, set designers, construction crews, and all the other backstage people working in the Greater Orlando area. Most Community theaters don't widely publicize their productions and rely on word-of-mouth from their workers and social media updates; this site aims to be a one-stop shop for most of the theater offerings in the area as well as reviews for those shows.
Constructive criticism on Community theater is sadly lacking locally - usually news articles are about the show, but not a review of how it's being done, spotlighting the best parts and pointing out negatives where they appear.
Here you'll also find a calendar of the shows ongoing for the theaters being reviewed, something else not available online without going to each theater individually. Eventually, the page will show even the theaters not being reviewed and aims to be the center of local theater information.
Theaters I'm not reviewing fall into three categories: those professional and semi-professional (i.e. paid acting) that ARE being reviewed routinely by the Orlando Sentinel's Matt Palm and the Orlando Weekly; the few approaching professional levels that aren't always reviewed elsewhere but don't really require additional help such as Icehouse Theater in Mt. Dora, CFCarts in Winter Park, and Osceola Arts in Kissimmee (These venues frequently sell out and offer top-of-scale productions - any of these are worth a visit on any given show), and theaters predominately featuring children (reviewing children acting seems rude at best).
I hope you enjoy the page, and especially the rich local Community Theater experience!
- Cypher Incognito, reviewer
Update for 2-20-2021:
For the first time, I've struck out. Little Radical Theatrics opened 'Into the Woods' this weekend for a 4 night, one week run - and I couldn't get tickets. I *ALSO* was unable to line up a 'guest reviewer' since I wasn't aware of anyone going to see the production.
So - I'll need to rely on the inimitable Matt Palm's review of the show: www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/os-prem-et-into-the-woods-little-radical-review-20210219-l2lgz2w5pve7nhpnksy3sr26g4-story.html
****************
Update from Dec 2020:
(I'll probably leave this up for a bit, because it's important - CI)
Much as theaters need people in seats, actors need applause, crew need "attaboys/attagirls/atta-pick-your-non-gender-specific-nomenclature-of-choice"...critics need to know they're heard. And with COVID attendance down, just like everywhere else, traffic to review the few shows running has been down.
The good news is the site is all self-financed, so I'm not suddenly losing ad revenue because no one is visiting. But as I said when I started the site (still shown at the bottom of this page): "...We need our visitors to link to the reviews and help drive people to the site. By getting word out about the site, the Theaters themselves get promoted and do better - we all win." And if no one is visiting, theaters have word-of-mouth and social media only, and I'm wasting my time doing this.
So with few visitors and little to no interaction with theater goers/crew/cast about the reviews, I was giving serious thought to closing this enterprise down.
Then, I had a contact from...someone in the community, let's say...who had mysteriously peeked behind the 'nom de plume', sought me out in my secret identity, and spilled the beans.
We had a fairly long chat, and to sum up the relevant parts: People ARE interested, they ARE reading the site, but a great many aren't that fond of any criticism, even when it's constructive. I understand that some might be upset - and to quote Greener's Law (which was discussing newspaper but seems like an obvious choice for this sort of blog) they "Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel."
Friends, I've had a number of great discussions here on my reviews, about reviews with parts the writer didn't like or appreciate - Mimi's Community theater in particular had a steadfast group of people who had no problems whatsoever in letting me know they disagreed with something, and Melon Patch's team have similarly challenged me on occasion.
AND I THINK THAT'S GREAT.
There SHOULD be that level of passion in theater that makes you stand up for what you think is right. And if I can't handle pushback at all - especially pushback that's gently applied and (darn it) CORRECT - I shouldn't be here. I certainly don't hold the writers in contempt, or slam a show out of spite; I think that used to be called 'integrity'. If I'm wrong, I accept the knuckle-rap, fix it online, acknowledge the point, and move on.
It seems that some people I've reviewed can't do that, and worse for us all, can't discuss it civilly and leave their upset to fester. That's not good for them, and certainly doesn't help the community. I don't expect to make everyone happy (who can?!), but I have tremendous respect for almost everyone I've been in contact with here in Community Theater, and I won't give a negative review because a theater argued about my last review any more than I'd give a glowing one to a theater that praised my previous review of one of their shows. I'd hoped that would go without saying.
The talk with the contact I mentioned reinforced and strengthened my resolve to keep this going. Sometimes, all it takes is the right word at the right time to change the world. And this talk certainly changed mine.
Thank you ALL for continuing to check in, don't be afraid to leave a comment, and let's all go to the theater! (But wear a mask, ok?)
- CI
**************************************************************************
Friends, it's working. All of these theaters, casts and crews deserve a little love, and the more word gets out, the more they'll get. THANK YOU for all your help, and keep it up!
Also - you can follow me on Twitter @CypherIncognito .
Now - a favor. The only way this project will be successful is by word-of-mouth. We need our visitors to link to the reviews and help drive people to the site. By getting word out about the site, the Theaters themselves get promoted and do better - we all win. But messages from an anonymous person asking for a little social media mention simply isn't working - we need your help!
Thanks all! Break legs! -CI
The purpose of this website is to acknowledge and highlight the tremendous amount and quality of the work done by the actors, directors, producers, costumers, set designers, construction crews, and all the other backstage people working in the Greater Orlando area. Most Community theaters don't widely publicize their productions and rely on word-of-mouth from their workers and social media updates; this site aims to be a one-stop shop for most of the theater offerings in the area as well as reviews for those shows.
Constructive criticism on Community theater is sadly lacking locally - usually news articles are about the show, but not a review of how it's being done, spotlighting the best parts and pointing out negatives where they appear.
Here you'll also find a calendar of the shows ongoing for the theaters being reviewed, something else not available online without going to each theater individually. Eventually, the page will show even the theaters not being reviewed and aims to be the center of local theater information.
Theaters I'm not reviewing fall into three categories: those professional and semi-professional (i.e. paid acting) that ARE being reviewed routinely by the Orlando Sentinel's Matt Palm and the Orlando Weekly; the few approaching professional levels that aren't always reviewed elsewhere but don't really require additional help such as Icehouse Theater in Mt. Dora, CFCarts in Winter Park, and Osceola Arts in Kissimmee (These venues frequently sell out and offer top-of-scale productions - any of these are worth a visit on any given show), and theaters predominately featuring children (reviewing children acting seems rude at best).
I hope you enjoy the page, and especially the rich local Community Theater experience!
- Cypher Incognito, reviewer
Update for 2-20-2021:
For the first time, I've struck out. Little Radical Theatrics opened 'Into the Woods' this weekend for a 4 night, one week run - and I couldn't get tickets. I *ALSO* was unable to line up a 'guest reviewer' since I wasn't aware of anyone going to see the production.
So - I'll need to rely on the inimitable Matt Palm's review of the show: www.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment/arts-and-theater/os-prem-et-into-the-woods-little-radical-review-20210219-l2lgz2w5pve7nhpnksy3sr26g4-story.html
****************
Update from Dec 2020:
(I'll probably leave this up for a bit, because it's important - CI)
Much as theaters need people in seats, actors need applause, crew need "attaboys/attagirls/atta-pick-your-non-gender-specific-nomenclature-of-choice"...critics need to know they're heard. And with COVID attendance down, just like everywhere else, traffic to review the few shows running has been down.
The good news is the site is all self-financed, so I'm not suddenly losing ad revenue because no one is visiting. But as I said when I started the site (still shown at the bottom of this page): "...We need our visitors to link to the reviews and help drive people to the site. By getting word out about the site, the Theaters themselves get promoted and do better - we all win." And if no one is visiting, theaters have word-of-mouth and social media only, and I'm wasting my time doing this.
So with few visitors and little to no interaction with theater goers/crew/cast about the reviews, I was giving serious thought to closing this enterprise down.
Then, I had a contact from...someone in the community, let's say...who had mysteriously peeked behind the 'nom de plume', sought me out in my secret identity, and spilled the beans.
We had a fairly long chat, and to sum up the relevant parts: People ARE interested, they ARE reading the site, but a great many aren't that fond of any criticism, even when it's constructive. I understand that some might be upset - and to quote Greener's Law (which was discussing newspaper but seems like an obvious choice for this sort of blog) they "Never argue with a man who buys ink by the barrel."
Friends, I've had a number of great discussions here on my reviews, about reviews with parts the writer didn't like or appreciate - Mimi's Community theater in particular had a steadfast group of people who had no problems whatsoever in letting me know they disagreed with something, and Melon Patch's team have similarly challenged me on occasion.
AND I THINK THAT'S GREAT.
There SHOULD be that level of passion in theater that makes you stand up for what you think is right. And if I can't handle pushback at all - especially pushback that's gently applied and (darn it) CORRECT - I shouldn't be here. I certainly don't hold the writers in contempt, or slam a show out of spite; I think that used to be called 'integrity'. If I'm wrong, I accept the knuckle-rap, fix it online, acknowledge the point, and move on.
It seems that some people I've reviewed can't do that, and worse for us all, can't discuss it civilly and leave their upset to fester. That's not good for them, and certainly doesn't help the community. I don't expect to make everyone happy (who can?!), but I have tremendous respect for almost everyone I've been in contact with here in Community Theater, and I won't give a negative review because a theater argued about my last review any more than I'd give a glowing one to a theater that praised my previous review of one of their shows. I'd hoped that would go without saying.
The talk with the contact I mentioned reinforced and strengthened my resolve to keep this going. Sometimes, all it takes is the right word at the right time to change the world. And this talk certainly changed mine.
Thank you ALL for continuing to check in, don't be afraid to leave a comment, and let's all go to the theater! (But wear a mask, ok?)
- CI
**************************************************************************
Friends, it's working. All of these theaters, casts and crews deserve a little love, and the more word gets out, the more they'll get. THANK YOU for all your help, and keep it up!
Also - you can follow me on Twitter @CypherIncognito .
Now - a favor. The only way this project will be successful is by word-of-mouth. We need our visitors to link to the reviews and help drive people to the site. By getting word out about the site, the Theaters themselves get promoted and do better - we all win. But messages from an anonymous person asking for a little social media mention simply isn't working - we need your help!
Thanks all! Break legs! -CI
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