Closing Notice

As some of you may have noticed, this blog has been on hiatus for about six weeks, during which time a lot of introspection has occurred. Initially, I suspended operations because the nationwide economic downturn was taking its toll on me (i.e. a need to focus solely on finding steady income after several months without). But, in the weeks since then, other reasons have arisen, leading me to finally announce the official closing of this blog.

One reason is simple: I need money. Plain and simple. Like many of you, I blog for free. But, as you know, blogging can be very time-consuming, and there’s only so much pro bono work I can do nowadays. I have to start transitioning all aspects of my professional life into paid working-hood. So, in that regard, closing the blog is a no-brainer.

Another reason is simply that there are plenty of theater blogs out there that are better and more regular than mine. I don’t really feel like I’m contributing much to the blogosphere that you can’t find elsewhere. Why be redundant, right?

On a more personal note, I originally started the blog about a month after an unexpectedly painful romantic breakup. I needed something to keep me busy so I wouldn’t sit in my room sucking my thumb with the shades drawn, so I accepted my then-employer Martin Denton‘s invitation to start an nytheatre.com blog that would be a companion to his.

What’s happened since then? Well, among other things, I am no longer in the employ of NYTE; my broken heart was healed by the arrival of The Companion into my life; and the-lady-in-question-whom-I-broke-up-with and I have long since resolved our differences, become friends again, and worked on a few shows and readings together. All of which is just the long way of saying that the initial impetus for the blog’s creation ran its course a while ago.

Also, a very wise arts journalist friend of mine once asked me what I wanted to be: an actor or a journalist – the implication being that trying to do both for money full-time would be damn near impossible. So, a choice needed to be made. I didn’t think then, nor do I think now, that I had choose between the two. On the contrary, having spent the past few years as both an actor and an arts journalist has convinced me that most of the best reviews and arts coverage comes from the artists and practitioners themselves. For the most part, I think arts journalism would be better off if it were taken away from the academics and petty, short-sighted gossip hounds and starfuckers who practice it now, and handed over to the folks who actually do something artistic as their vocation.

But, as I continue to transition slowly into full-time actorhood, I’m learning how much focus and attention it takes to build a career (i.e. one that will pay you enough to make the rent), and I need to dedicate as much time as possible to making that happen. Now that I’m starting to make some money at this racket – but am still unable to pay my bills on a regular monthly basis – it’s becoming real easy to identify and trim the extra fat in my life. And, unfortunately, this blog falls into that category.

However, I still think it’s possible to be both a practitioner and a journalist. To that end, I’ve started cultivating some leads that may eventually lead to some paid writing work. So, while this blog will cease to operate, I may eventually turn up in the pages of your favorite arts/theater rag. Or maybe I won’t. Who knows?

Needless to say, I am enormously grateful to everyone who has read this thing regularly and kept up with it. I’m also grateful to everyone who agreed to be interviewed on here – there would be no blog with you all, so thanks a million.

Special thanks to Martin Denton for suggesting I try this in the first place. I didn’t end up accomplishing everything I intended for the blog, but blogging opened up whole new worlds of opportunity for me – and that wouldn’t have happened without the encouragement of The Grand Poobah.

All of the content posted here will remain online indefinitely. I’m sure it’ll eventually come down, but I couldn’t tell you when. So if there’s something on here you want to keep for posterity, start copying and pasting now.

And, once again, thanks for your readership. It’s been fun, and I wish you all the best. No doubt we’ll run into each other at the theater, on the road, or elsewhere.