BLOG: A year in News and Notes

End of the Year Blowout! Congratulations, Twin Cities theater world! You've just about made it through another year. Since we last met, Dominic Papatola at the Pioneer Press released his "best of 2014" list since last we met, as did Sheila Regan at City Pages, and MPR's Euan Kerr listed the top arts stories of the year, many of which happen to be performing arts stories. I'm sure there will be a few more "best of" lists to come before 2015 comes storming in, but by the time we see each other again, 2014 will be a foggy memory, and I will not be able to bring you up to speed on them. We're playing by American rules here, which means that once a year is done, we can only revisit it again when its fashions are old enough to be recycled as "retro". Since lumberjack plaids are now in fashion again, it means that we're only now revisiting 1994, which means we've got at least 5 presidential elections to get through before we can look back on 2014 again. December is therefore, our last time to frantically look back at the past 12 months and try to scrape together some sense of meaning in the otherwise random onslaught of incidents that shaped our existence as the earth made another transit around the sun. Because of this, there's precious little in the way of "news" that I can report to you this week. Most of my normal sources of theater-related news are either taking the holidays off or are putting out their own reviews of the year. So, in the interest of reflection (and filling column space), I decided to re-read every article that I threw out to the interwebs via Minnesota Playlist this year, because solipsism is its own reward. It's actually my second year of writing for Playlist, and I've been surprised that it's gone on this long without someone putting a stop to it. For those of you playing along at home, that's 51 blog posts that I just finished wading through. That's a lot of words, and even I am sick of hearing me by now. I've been struck by a few trends that have turned up in this re-reading: (1) I think I may drink too much; (2) apparently, I am required to mention Neil Patrick Harris in 1 out of 4 posts; (3) ever since my editor mentioned that he liked a joke that I put into an article ("Over at HowlRound, where revolutions happen every day…"), I have been putting ever more ludicrous things in my writing; and (4) hardly anyone in my reading audience ever posts a comment on any of these posts. Since it's the end of the year I'm more or less obligated to write some list of things summing up the year. At the end of 2013, I listed my most important news stories of the year and then followed that up by blithely making predictions about the year to come. Those articles both represent serious lapses in judgement that will not be repeated. Instead, I have rounded up the ten things that I wrote this year that elicited the most response from people. I am counting "responses" loosely, since, as I said, hardly anyone ever posts comments. Instead, these are the ten articles I wrote that led to the most number of interesting conversations in the real world. You remember the real world, don't you? It's that thing that you use your body to interact with. No, not like that! It's the one where you see real people and use your mouth to make sounds that replicate what the thinky parts in your head are saying while simultaneously using your ears to figure out what those other people's thinky parts are sending to their mouths. Since my editor finds me occasionally amusing, I am also going to include my favorite joke from each article. You may not find them so amusing. As I said, solipsism is its own reward. So, here we go, in reverse chronological order: December 9: "A Critic's Passing" I didn't know Peter Vaughan while he was still writing here in the Twin Cities, but after looking up his past work, I was duly impressed. This post gave me a chance to trade in the age-old tactic of creating a dubious golden era to grumpily compare to the modern day; more importantly, I got to have some nice conversations about the changing meaning and purpose of arts criticism. "Another year, another lackluster live broadcast musical from NBC… I guess this is now a tradition that we’ll all have to put up with, since America tuned in by the millions once again to see another unimpressive production of an old show. It’s hovering somewhere between the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and being felt up by a TSA employee at the airport in enjoyability levels, but, like both of those things, Americans now feel at least a little obligated to play along." November 4: "Vote, Damn You!" This year has had more than its fair share of political turmoil, rallies, protests and general consternation, yet Americans showed up at the polls in 2014 with the lowest turnout since World War II. In one day, this article led me to at least a half-dozen conversations about the power and utility of voting with 20-somethings who were clearly sheepish about the fact that they had not voted. I hope I shamed them into showing up at the polls. "For example, the city of Minneapolis has a ballot measure this year that would let us get rid of the mandatory wine/beer-to-food ratios that many fine establishments are currently forced to live by.* This is very important to me! How dare they make me eat a sandwich when I'm trying to pound down a bottle of merlot! What is this, Soviet Russia?!" *side note: this ballot initiative passed, and our livers have never been sadder. September 23: "I Went to the Iveys and It Was OK" Oh, the Ivey Awards… There is such a strong love/hate relationship between Twin Cities theater people and our local awards ceremony that almost every private discussion of it I have been privy to has ended up sounding like high school kids complaining about who was awarded prom queen and king. However, after an article in which I surprised myself by not have much trash to talk about the Iveys, I got to have a few talks with people about what an award ceremony is good for, and how the Iveys might change to be more reflective of the theater scene. (As it happens, the Iveys have been having the same conversation. We'll see what's in store for next year.) "I still get crap from people about being in a play that won an award for "Emotional Impact"; if you ask me what "Emotional Impact" means in this circumstance, allow me to explain it by punching you in the face. If you cry, then consider yourself emotionally impacted." August 25: "Seriously, What's With All the Creative Placemaking All of a Sudden?!" I have never been more befuddled by a granting buzzword than I am by "creative placemaking", and after I tried to explain the history of said buzzword in this article, the people I talked to were just as befuddled. "From what everyone's saying, Creative Placemaking is the answer to all of your woes. It cooks, cleans, educates your children with strong midwestern values, takes out the trash, gets rid of embarrassing odors and greets you at the door dressed in saran wrap and high heels." August 5: Merry Fringe, Everyone! Of course, I take every chance I get to talk about the Fringe Festival; but what ended up as a conversation starter here was another writer joining me in my quixotic quest to finally end the factually unsubstantiated "more seats per capita" talking point that is constantly thrown around about Minneapolis. "Fringe is my World Cup, my Super Bowl, my whatever the final playoffs for hockey are called; except I actually get to be a part of it. And like that one obnoxious friend who loves soccer and zealously tries to recruit people to join him at a pub to watch beautiful Europeans running around feigning injuries, I zealously try to recruit people to spend 11 days running back and forth between theaters." June 24: The Job Interview of a Lifetime More people talked to me about this entry than anything else I've written for Minnesota Playlist. I think at least one of them actually thought this was a real transcript of a real interview. The world would be a lot cooler if it had been real. Instead, the Guthrie just keeps hanging up on me. "Now, we all know that we tend to fudge resumes a little, and, as it turns out, there may have been a small typo on mine that may or may not have listed my name as 'Diane Paulus'" June 10: "It's Time to Hate the Tonys" I have never poured out virulent, flippant, unsympathetic vitriol on anything more than I have on the Tony Awards. In fact, I did it for two or three weeks in a row. I don't take it back. I will never back down. I will never surrender. And now I know I have compatriots. "My problem with Broadway isn't the shameless flash, the uninspired recycling of the past or the triumph of form over substance. That's just America. My problem with Broadway is that we have allowed it to limit the rest of the country's ability to come up with its own shameless flash." May 6: Hey, Buddy! Wanna Buy a Theater?" Not only did I get to hear a lot of people's dream locations for new theater spaces, I was actually contacted by someone who read the article that was not even in the theater community! "Speaking of the Tony Awards, the nominations for the rest of the them came out. The Tonys proved this year that they do not like two things: (a) movie and TV stars trying to cut it on Broadway (except for Neil Patrick Harris, because everyone loves Neil Patrick Harris); and (b) female playwrights." April 15: "Straight Talk for Straight Guys" As a representative of the meat-eating, truck-driving, whiskey-drinking, power tool-owning, penis-having class, I am firmly in the minority in the theater world. I have long come to accept this, but thank you all for your support. "I want to take a minute to talk to all the straight men in my audience. All ten of you. I know you're busy with your football and your beer and and your big trucks and your getting paid more money than women for the same work, but please put down your bratwurst and your lug wrench and let's just talk." March 16: "An Actor's Paycheck in the Twin Cities" This was not a News and Notes article. It was an honest-to-god attempt at original reporting. There was a lot of math. There were no jokes. It's probably the most important thing I wrote this year, and it was the most-shared article I wrote for Playlist. Sometimes I think about this article, and I think about becoming an actual arts journalist. Then I realize that arts journalists aren't doing any better than the artists they cover these days, so I go back to making fun of something the Guthrie is doing. Cowardly? Sure. Still, I had a lot of interesting talks with people about what constitutes being a "professional" actor when the pay is like this. "Remember, when I said there were no jokes?" February 11: "Feeling a Little Silly Today" Wow. I don't know what was going on the day before my 34th birthday, but this News and Notes blog certainly turned into the most hallucinatory little trip of the year. Some people talked to me about this one, but I think it was more out of concern for my well-being. It's nice to know that people care. "It's called a Nyquilada, and it's my friend!" So, There You Have It, Folks There's another year. We'll meet again in the new year. I, the Header Title, and my very patient and understanding editor all wish you the best in the year to come.