Wither the Arts...Coverage?

Filling the vacuum of regional arts criticism

By Jack V. Booch

Arts Equity at The Main Street Theatre—Vancouver’s sole company with a complete season of theatrical offerings—was recently passed over almost entirely by the regional press. According to Llew Rhoe, producing director at Arts Equity, all the usual suspects were guilty of this astonishing sin of omission; The Oregonian, The Mercury, Willamette Week, and yes, even The Columbian failed to review Rhoe’s 6-week run of Seascape by the great Edward Albee.

The two shining exceptions to this faux pas were The VanCougar (kudos to WSU Vancouver!) and The Vancouver Voice (blush).

Given this egregious oversight by local media, it was, to say the least, somewhat startling for me to discover a slew of Vancouver-specific supplements in the pages of the aforementioned offending publications. How dare these impostors profess to serve a Vancouver readership when they can’t be bothered to cover those artistic institutions that are the backbone of our cultural identity! Such special sections and supplements are nothing more than a transparent attempt to capture a share of a burgeoning Vancouver market without expending the slightest amount of intellectual capital in the process.

Sadly, the local daily, The Columbian, is so ensconced in provincial ignorance regarding the theatre that they regularly omit the names of playwrights when they deign to cover local theatrical productions at all. It would seem as though The Columbian’s theatre critics believe that American giants like Eugene O’Neill, Edward Albee, and Paula Vogel—Nobel and Pulitzer prize-winners, respectively—do not even deserve passing mention.

Prior to June 18, 2007, Arts Equity produced 431 performances at the Main Street Theatre. Nevertheless, it has proven to be a Herculean task for them to attract the attention of the area press. Occasional mention notwithstanding, it seems Arts Equity cannot even depend on regularly appearing in theatrical listings.

Despite the effrontery afoot, Rhoe recently assured me that he’s “still happy to be here.” While I applaud his enthusiasm, I cannot conceal my personal contempt for the failure of regional critics to faithfully respond to his show of artistic good faith.

As a professional company, Arts Equity is honor-bound to roll with punches when it comes to receiving favorable and unfavorable notices alike, but it goes without saying that they deserve to be covered one way or the other. It is the obligation of the news media to advise the public of the cultural opportunities available to them. To ignore this obligation is to diminish and inhibit the cultural potential of our community; the theatrical arts simply cannot flourish in an environment where they are barely or minimally acknowledged by the media. If the public doesn’t know, the public doesn’t go.

In my own professional life directing plays from Portland to Manhattan, Calgary to Buenos Aries, I only rarely encountered locations so devoid of critical faculties that reviews failed to appear in the press.

Of course, the newspaper business is an art, not a science, and even the best publications are bound to slip up from time to time. However, the fact that an entire region of media organs recently turned a blind eye to Vancouver theatre is either a sign of total indifference or utter incompetence.

Here’s an idea: The Columbian loves to fall back on syndicated content for its movie and television reviews, so why not ask Steven Walling at The Vancouver Voice to cover their theatre beat? I’m sure he’d let them reprint his work. I know a guy who knows a guy...