The death of theatre criticism
LA Weekly Theatre Editor Steven Leigh Morris has been removed from his position after 20 years. That’s because, now, there is no such position. The LA Weekly, which serves a town with 2000 stage premieres a year, now has no theatre editor.
This should not come as a shock, because the paper is owned by the same syndicate that owns the Village Voice, where it also recently limited the position of Theatre Editor. The Village Voice, it should be noted, is in that little theatre town known as New York City.
The loss of this position is a tragedy for everyone in LA who cares about the theatre. I haven’t always agreed with Steven’s tastes, but I have enormous regard for him as an intellect and a fiercely articulate champion of the notion that theatre is an essential endeavor that restores us to the root of the human experience.
There are theatre critics galore — we now call them bloggers — but almost all lack his wit and, importantly, the cachet of an important editorial perch. Once almost 15 years ago, I called Steven to politely say that I thought we had a great show at Moving Arts, and that his reviewer honestly had missed the point. I asked Steven if he would please come see for himself — and he did. Immediately after the performance he pulled me aside and said that his reviewer had indeed missed the point, and he followed this up by running a feature the following week about the play. A respected, well-informed theatre editor is capable of representing theatre in this way, and making judgment calls. Now, without an editor, whom would one turn to?
In my 20 years of theatre experience in this town, Steven has been our foremost ombudsman. Over time every time I made a request — to sit on a panel, or to please write a piece for LA Stage magazine, or to serve as a judge for the USC one-act festival I was producing — the answer was yes. That was just from me; imagine all the other invitations and solicitations he agreed to. He has been tireless in supporting the artform and helping to succor a community that desperately needed it. This is a devastating loss for all of us.
Now what?