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 7-6-2021:
The review for The Sunshine Boys by Tavares Community Theater at Melon Patch, has been posted, and is the final one for this site. The sound of crickets has been louder than the interactions with the community, and there's no point in delaying the inevitable. The Theater community here doesn't really want, or apparently need, reviews of the actors and productions. I have to assume the echo chamber of 'Great show!' and 'You're awesome!' from backstage is all they need - regardless of those few individuals who've professed that independent critique is useful and necessary.
The site will remain online for the rest of July.
I have enjoyed my time reviewing, and I hope those notes have helped the directors and actors willing to use them.
I remain,
Cypher Incognito
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 7-6-2021:
The review for The Sunshine Boys by Tavares Community Theater at Melon Patch, has been posted, and is the final one for this site. The sound of crickets has been louder than the interactions with the community, and there's no point in delaying the inevitable. The Theater community here doesn't really want, or apparently need, reviews of the actors and productions. I have to assume the echo chamber of 'Great show!' and 'You're awesome!' from backstage is all they need - regardless of those few individuals who've professed that independent critique is useful and necessary.
The site will remain online for the rest of July.
I have enjoyed my time reviewing, and I hope those notes have helped the directors and actors willing to use them.
I remain,
Cypher Incognito
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