JOEL KOPISCHKE

given how unlikely it is that i would ever win an award, i am very much against it.

seriously, i believe most individuals would find the concept laughable but mostly harmless on a personal level. my guess is that the most damaging effect, especially long term, would be to somehow grant official status to the sense of "haves" and "have-nots" that already is felt. and if that kind of codification puts a damper on the next born-of-passion seedling theatre company (however large or small), then the future of milwaukee theatre suffers a tremendous blow.

for skylight was once just clair richardson's half-baked idea to put on operettas in a rooftop garden, chamber theatre was a crazy notion monty & ruth cooked up to share their love of shaw, and next act's ancestry traces its roots to a dingy storefront in the 5th ward where clavis theatre performed even if props and costumes had to be taken home each nite so that rats would not get at them. what would have happened to in tandem or bunny gumbo or any number of other small theatres here or already gone if they had to fight an additional hurdle of not being "nominated".

throw a party, celebrate milestones (skylight's or sunset's 50 years, somebody's Xth anniversary in the rep company, the first season for a new company, josh schmidt's off-broadway success), and maybe hand out some spoof awards to show we don't take ourselves too seriously. invite everyone from the rep to the small community theatres to the local college theatre departments (and maybe even cabaret singers) and really let everyone see what a theatre COMMUNITY looks like and feels like.