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PSJ launching new performing arts peer-review squad

budgets and celebrity casts of Broadway. Some folks do not realize how much fantastic (and truly awful) theatre is being done in New York City every night of the week. A plethora of our most well-loved and respected theatre artists worked in those small, run down, 25-seat theaters in the East Village. These are the people with no budget, who had to learn to fundraise, design the technical aspects and rehearse for hours. This was typically after their 8-hour work day as a server, bartender, or temp has ended. These were passionate folks who dreamt of something big for their artistic careers.

I was one of those dreamers, and Denton happened to see my work quite a bit in a single week in the fall of 2007. He came to see a production of “Much Ado About Nothing” that I had directed, and then soon after attended a performance of an original one-act play I had also directed and performed in at the same time. I was invited to be a part of the reviewers squad shortly after. His vision was to see all the positives in people’s work. He gathered theatre-makers who he believed to be active participants in the community and taught them how to review what their peers were producing at no cost to them. I’ve seen literally hundreds of plays in my life, which I attribute to having had the opportunity to be a reviewer on Denton’s reviewer squad.

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When the pandemic brought me back to my hometown of Pueblo I was elated to see how much theatre was being done here! Pueblo offers many opportunities to participate in, and see, theatre: with three major groups that are active, the high school clubs from District 60 and 70, the summer musical, and the touring shows that the Broadway League brings to Memorial Hall. In the fall of 2022 I was invited to participate with one group as a director which was a genuine thrill.

The longer I was back, the more I noticed that while there was lots of work being done, but it was almost impossible to find out about it. I asked myself: Where were the listings? Where were the reviews? Why could I not pick up a paper and see what was playing that week or month? The distance between each of the theatre groups became apparent to me, which was a concerning observation. Why weren’t they all helping one another?

Almost instantly I realized that what the Pueblo performing arts community needed is a reviewers squad to help us come together and support one another, and The Pueblo Star Journal wants to do just that.

In short, the Pueblo Star Journal is putting together a performing arts reviewing squad. This group will represent each theatre company based in Pueblo, as well as each of the high schools and the wider community.

The idea is to be constructive, supportive and honest, while boosting awareness for potential audience members. Additionally, this is an effort to create an archive of journalistic publications for every local production with a goal of supporting aspiring artists in their pursuit of higher education, grant applications and creating a historical record of these productions.

There are so many wonderfully creative folks in Pueblo and we want to do our part to support them. The idea is to give endeavoring professional actors, directors and designers something to point to in their applications for further education or grant money. A published article they can cite from the paper and share digitally to get the word out can provide concrete evidence of work and lend credence to the im- portance of art.

My hope is that the squad will grow, and gain interest from people who want to be a part of the local theatre community.

Eventually, I’d love it to expand the review team to include reviews of live music performances from local musicians, fine arts openings around the many wonderful galleries in town and other art communities who could benefit from this effort.

Theatre is, by nature, a collaborative art form. So let’s collaborate!

DID YOU KNOW?

*Ever wonder why sometimes we spell it “theatre” and sometimes we spell it “theater?”

Here’s how you tell the difference:

Theatre = The art form. An actor, director, playwright, or designer might say, “I’m a theatre artist.” which means, they work in the field of theatre.

Theater = The place where you see that work performed. An audience mem-

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