LISA MARIE GATEWOOD

Hey Fletch,

I've had several conversations about this with people in the theatre community, but didn't really feel compelled to get in the ring as I'm not an actor, director, designer, etc. However, I do feel I can add some insight as part of a community with an award system already in place.

Bo drew a parallel between these theatre awards and the WAMI awards in our music community. And I wanted to put my two cents in because I (so very respectfully) disagree with the portrait that was painted of the WAMI's and it's also my fear that the Theatre Awards in Milwaukee WOULD turn out to be like the WAMI's.

The WAMI's divide our community, which is something people who are members don't seem to see. It's a group of people who pay to be a member of this club just to get a little recognition for what they SHOULD be recognized for anyway. It sets a precedent that in order to be publicly recognized for your art in Milwaukee, you have to pay up and join a club. I'm not saying that undeserving people win WAMI's. Quite the contrary, I respect the hell out of all those musicians. But the rest of us who have chosen not to be a member of the WAMI's always seem suspiciously left out. Is this intentional? Probably not--- but that's where I think the nomination process breaks down (and where I think it would inevitably break down with the awards in question). First of all, I don't think anyone on the WAMI board, even having booked me for shows, ever heard my first album. How can we fairly nominate "Best Album" unless they heard every album? Likewise, how could we fairly nominate best performance unless we could ensure that our nominating committee saw every performance? And even then, it's a matter of taste, which is unreliable, at best.

The WAMI's are the one time of the year where a few people get awards which reaffirms that their work matters, and the rest of us roll our eyes and get a beer somewhere else.

Basically, I don't want to see the theatre community turn out like the music community. The WAMI's drew a line in the sand and divided us into "us and them". We are all working hard, we are all pouring our guts out in front of audiences, but so few end up being recognized. I'm not saying I should win an award, I'm just saying that I know people who have recorded some of the most amazing albums I've ever heard (local or otherwise) and have never been nominated.

As a theatre community, I have always felt that we are so wonderfully bonded. I started at Next Act Theatre when I was 17 years old. This community is my family and I don't feel that there is any one person who should be recognized more than anyone else. When I was backstage doing your laundry, you never treated me like I was less a part of the success of the production than the people out on stage or the person who designed the set. We are all cogs in this amazing machine. I guess what it comes down to is that we all work hard, we all make this happen, none of us want to just "phone it in". So, don't we all deserve an award?

If this is only for the purposes of marketing, let's put our heads together and work toward the goal of raising us all up equally.

I have such great respect for all of you... all of us.

Love,
Lisa Marie