What we lose when we lose theatre people
I’ve been talking here about my friends losing their newspaper jobs, and all of us losing newspapers. It now occurs to me that I should also note the theatres we’re losing and, more importantly, the theatre people: the people who really are the theatre (not, to paraphrase Mike Daisey, the buildings in which they work). Because we just lost one of the best. Having been laid off by his theatre, he’s now leaving “the theatre.” When we had him here in L.A., the impact was immeasurable. This isn’t just Portland Center Stage’s loss, this is a loss for everyone who cares about new plays.
March 31st, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Yes, and the whole newspaper, LA City Beat is gone too! And Don Shirley along with it.
From Zach Behrens at LAist
“It’s always sad to hear when a paper totally goes away. “It is with great
regret that as of the March 26, 2009 issue, Southland Publishing, Inc. has
decided to discontinue publishing the Los Angeles CityBeat alternative weekly
publication,” company President Bruce Bolkin wrote in a memo to staff and others
about the closure. Citybeat started in 2003 and was a blast this summer when
Alan Mittelstaedt got on the transportation and water efficiency beat. “Sources
inside the paper expressed surprise at the decision. Under CityBeat publisher
Will Swaim’s direction the paper had recently gone from operating at a loss to
breaking even,” finds Tina Dupuy at FishbowlLA
By Zach Behrens in News on March 27, 2009 10:15 AM