KATIE CUMMINGS

Hey Fletch!

This has been a very interesting week in the land of theatre here in Milwaukee. If you want to post my comments, please do so.

As a person who has always been on the fringe of theatre in Milwaukee I didn't feel that my opinion of the awards was valid...so I asked some lay people the other night.

We were out with friends. Both women have seen shows in the Milwaukee area and love it. They are not avid theatre goers, but see shows on occasion when something strikes their fancy. They are not married to one theatre company or another.

I gave them a brief intro on the debate and then posed the following questions.

What would you think of an awards ceremony in Milwaukee that mirrors the Tony's?
"What would be the point?" asked one
The other responded with "Why would we need them?"

I further asked - If you were planning on seeing a show next year, 2010, and the theatre had won the award for Best Show of 09, would it encourage you to see it?

"If there were three shows that I was debating on seeing, I might pick the one that had won an award the year before."

"No, it wouldn't matter, what would matter to me is which show I could afford to see."

The last question I asked: If an actor won Best Female in a Leading Role and she was in a show you knew that you wouldn't want to go see, would you?"

"That's just dumb Katie" and my other friend nodded in agreement.

We promptly got into a discussion about whether or not to have awards in Milwaukee which prompted a question from them: "Who would be making these decisions?" A committee, I responded, or maybe audience members. This last bit prompted the following question: If you saw my name in the Shepard down as one of the best directors in town, knowing that you hadn't seen any of my work, but you knew that it was my name, would you vote for me?

"Of course!! That's how I vote for everything in the Shepard!" And we all shared a good laugh.

I just thought I would share a few comments from the lay person's point of view.

kc