BLOG: 2nd Place Ain't Bad

We're Number Two! Sometimes, you have to eat your words. A while back, while talking about the fact-free "fact" that the Twin Cities has more seats per capita than any city besides New York, I made the comment that "in real life, no one chants 'We're number two!'" Well, allow me to get out a knife and fork and a bottle of Sriracha, because I'm about to chow down: "WE'RE NUMBER TWO!" According to Travel and Leisure's annual "America's Favorite Cities" article, Minneapolis/St. Paul has the number two theater scene in America (behind New York, of course). Don't feel bad about still being listed behind the big apple, my Minnesota friends, because we're also apparently the cleanest, friendliest, fittest and most intelligent metropolitan area in the country (though we don't like to brag). We're also the number one spot for gay vacations. I can't pretend to know what a gay vacation is, but whatever it is, it's probably a lot more enjoyable here than in Utah. Anyway, good job Twin Cities! Even though we'll never haveAl Pacino performing David Mamet's work apparently until the end of time, we've got plenty to be proud of, goshdarnit. But not too proud. That wouldn't be friendly of us. Let's Dance The News and Notes blog came out just a day too early last week to talk about the Sage Awards for dance. Those of you into the dance scene probably already know the winners, so consider me just absolutely late to this party. However, our benevolent overlord and editor Alan Berks attended the ceremony and had some thoughtful comments comparing and contrasting them to the theater world's Ivey awards. Instead of listening to me pretend that I have some background or context to discuss them, you should read that instead. You should also know that Minnesota Playlist is making a concerted effort to cover more of the dance world. We have a staff of passionate, talented, intelligent writers, but they have absolutely no sense of rhythm or physical grace (though I suspect that Dominic Orlando could be a decent ballroom dancer if he put his mind to it), so we haven't been able to talk much about the dance scene. Thankfully, Adia Morris has come to our rescue. Hopefully, her recent 20 questions for Linda Z. Andrews will be the first of many profiles on the people who keep the dance scene moving. Daisey, Daisy It's that time of year, friends. The air is slightly cooling. The leaves are changing colors. The first whispers of winter are in the air. And, so, it is inevitable that Mike Daisey's article "Empty Spaces, or How Theater Failed America" is being passed around the internets again. It's getting to be a yearly event that I now expect just as regularly as Halloween, Thanksgiving and that long string of funny commercials between which people play football every once in a while (it's some kind of bowl, apparently): at the end of every theater season, theater people will be sharing this article on Facebook, Twitter and whatever other social media site the kids are using today (I'm guessing Elftown). Even though Daisey's public shaming at the hands of Ira Glass tarnished his reputation for factual reporting, the feelings evoked by Daisey's writing (which was turned into one of his famous monologue performances) are shared by many in the theater world at large. As we discussed last week the long-standing cracks in the regional theater system are starting to show in some high-profile, very-difficult-to-ignore sort of ways. Which leads me to the best non-review of a show I have seen in a long time. Jeff Meyers at the Detroit Metro Times turned what could have been one more tired review of one more tired production of Driving Miss Daisy (no relation to Mike Daisey) into a scathing review of the entire system that continually throws out tired productions of Driving Miss Daisy and wonders why its audience keeps shrinking. Engage This is not to say that new audience engagement is as easy as doing different plays. It's not. (Though, that would be nice). There are entire theoretical fields of study around audience engagement, and research is constantly turning up new things. For instance, when it comes to evaluating art, Sinbad was right: "Women be different than men." Though you could shell out for a highly-paid consultant for such advice, James McQuaid (a "visitor experience consultant") is just giving it away over at the Guardian UK. In a recent pair of articles, McQuaid writes about the the traps that arts organizations fall into when thinking about audience engagement, and some suggested solutions for our self-inflicted wounds. Congratulations Are In Order Before we go this week, I'd like to congratulate Park Square Theater on the opening of their new stage. In a time when larger theaters are fearful of change and growth, the company is consciously putting effort and infrastructure toward expanding the size and scope of its offerings. I'd also like to congratulate local dramaturg Kit Gordon for explaining to the world what a dramaturg does and for giving the most dramaturg-appropriate answer ever when asked how to pronounce the word: "I pronounce it with the hard 'g' but other people do use the soft 'g.' And some people put an 'e' on the end (dramaturge), but some don't. I think all the options are correct." So, take that, auto-correct! I don't have to spell it with an 'e' at the end if I don't want to!