I'm a little insulted.

I almost don't want to write on this topic because I don't want to bring anymore attention (or website hits) to her article, but I feel I have something to say.

"A diamond in the buff" By Mary Carole McCauley (I have not been given official permission to link to the article yet)
Baltimore Sun, 8/24/08

A clever title for an article that really isn't smart enough to go beyond the superficial, 5th grade health class mentality of "oh my god, that a boy has a penis." I hate to break it to her, but that is basic anatomy that my boyfriend's 7-year old son has known for years.

26 direct references to nudity in an article that is smaller than the picture printed.

Is it just me or is this a little immature of the Sun's writer? As a director newer to Baltimore, is this the kind of press I can look forward to reading about the shows I direct? (if it gets any coverage at all)

Why is there such a focus on nudity? Is that really what's important to this story? It barely mentions the themes of homophobia and racial bigotry that are rife throughout. It is a critique of American Democracy and how our hatred runs through it. Or are those topics just too intense for Sun readers? (I don't think so, but hey, in theatre we believe that are audiences are smarter than that. We trust them.)

Are men changing in a locker room and baring all really more important than the purpose of theatre?

You may ask what I mean by that... I fully believe the purpose of theatre is to hold up a mirror to society and reflect the ugliness and hatred that runs so rampant in our world. We kill, we rape, we maim. The theatre gives us a chance to sit in a quiet place and reflect on what we do. How we harm others and ourselves. It gives us the chance to say I'm sorry. It gives us the chance for redemption.

Ms. McCauley's article does nothing but play against the puritanical roots that still infect the way people think today to grab the reader's attention and trivialize the commitment that actors, directors and designers make to the local Baltimore theatre scene. Let me remind her, that not all actors that pound the boards of theaters other than Centerstage and Everyman are "average joes with day jobs", some are working actors that choose to stay non-union and volunteer their time and their skill because of their pure love for the craft. Not to say that being an average joe with a day job isn't just as admirable, because it is. Baltimore theatre can't survive without the commitment that the entire community makes.

Working in the local theatres, I feel trivialized; like what I do doesn't matter because I don't do it on a Equity stage. But I shouldn't feel that way because the community/fringe world does things that equity would never do. We take risks, we take chances. You don't have to be established or a known quantity to work in B-more theatre. You just have to have a passion for what you do and the talent to back it up. In a town with 2 Equity stages and (at last I heard) about 75 local theatre companies, you'd think the Baltimore Sun and Ms. McCauley would respect the passion that our community has for what we do. We dedicate our lives to the art we make and we want to be respected for that. At a time when movies and TV are killing theatre audiences, the theatre community in Baltimore gives the masses at large an alternative to the mind-numbing b.s. we see everyday on TV and like I said before, it gives people the chance for redemption.

I'm severely disappointed that the Baltimore press treats the community that I have quickly come to embrace as my own in such a disgraceful way. Next time they finally decide to do an article on a "community" theatre in Baltimore, I hope the actually discuss the plays themes and don't get blinded by basic human anatomy.


P.S. Ms. McCauley should take a hint from some other reviewers around the country...

NY Times, a classy way to handle the subject of nudity on Broadway.
The Pittsburgh Tribune did it right as well.
The Seattle PI saw the nudity as normal to the story and therefore didn't even mention it.

And a big break a leg to the Eight Men Out cast! I applaud you for your courage to take on such vulnerable roles and do it with grace and maturity.