Toronto theatre blogs – the search continues
Last week, we asked for help to create a definitive list of Toronto theatre blogs. Here’s what we’ve got so far:
BlogTO – Theatre
Case Study: The House at Twenty-Seven Edgedale Road
Chris Dupis
Notes from the 3Cs
Off the Fence
Spinning/and/spinning
Theatre is territory
This is a great start, but we can’t help feeling like we’re missing some. Anyone know of any other Toronto-based theatre blogs? They could be actor blogs, production blogs, company blogs, or any other kind of blog, as long as they primarily relate back to theatre.
And while we’re at it, why don’t we broaden our search to include Canadian theatre blogs: We’re now looking for all Canadian theatre blogs.
As always, please pass along any relevant links by dropping a link in the comments section below, or by sending us an email. We’ll post the revised list next week. Thank you!
There are a fair number of blogs by toronto people in the comedy/musical theatre world. I don’t know if you consider them “one of us” or not; RSVP.
The further along we get with this Toronto theatre blog search, the murkier our reasons for doing it seem to become.
What are we trying to accomplish with this list? Is there any value in making the list exclusive to theatre? Why just Toronto? Why just Canada? Why not musical theatre and comedy?
I don’t know. This is a theatre blog. That much seems clear to me. I don’t expect other blogs to define themselves that way. And to be honest, this whole list-building exercise is starting to feel a little contrived.
It’s not that I don’t want to find more theatre blogs. It’s just that I don’t want to perpetuate “us and them” dichotomies in the process.
What do you think? What is the value of the theatre blog list project?
whoa! somebody’s very uptight. okay, let’s just forget it.
Hi Anon,
Uptight? OK. I don’t think that’s a newsflash for anybody who knows me. But it also seems a little beside the point.
I thought one of the great things about blogging is that you can think out loud. Ask questions. Test ideas.
I’m having doubts about the best way to proceed with this Toronto theatre blog search idea and I am asking for direction.
Besides, there are a lot of good reasons to question the mechanics of classification systems. Not everything is designed to fit into neat little boxes, and some things suffer when you try to define them that way.
(An extreme example, though I imagine you’re going to think this is a wild overstatement, is India’s caste system – which as I understand it was only a very loose social construct until the British came in and took their first census. The census-taking process itself forced India’s people to solidify nuanced social hierarchies into concrete classes, a process that created incentives for people to position themselves as being in a higher class then their neighbours.)
Maybe none of this is relevant to the task of trying to find Toronto theatre blogs. But I tend to do better work when I’ve answered a few more of the why questions.
Um, you’re awfully fond of paralyzingly unanswerable questions, aren’t you?
Okay, let me un-paralyze you.
Is the blog based in Canada?
Is the blog about Theatre, or written by an active Theatre person or observer?
Is it interesting?
And to answer your paralyzing question about “value”, let me say human/professional interest is sufficient purpose, yes?
Or change the topic if you want, it’s your blog.
hey folks,
i think the exercise (listing T dot based blogs) is valuable, as it it comes directly out of other conversations we’ve had on the topic. i’m also curious about who else is up to this. do we need more reasons?
if the person lives in Toronto, devotes themselves on someway to theatre, and writes about it on the internet, it would seem to qualify to me.
oh, anon, you’re right. ian can totally change the topic to whatever he likes, but i doubt he needs to be reminded of that. the comments section has been getting a little chippy lately. i kinda like it.
Can I change the topic? Where’s Mike’s promised blog post?
Eagle eye Broverman is on the job.
Actually, Mike’s posts are due starting next Monday – posting the following morning – and continuing for the three weeks after that.
Though I rather liked the other topic, the one that involved my fondness for paralyzingly and unanswerable questions.
😉
yikes. better get on this.
“Paralyzingly unanswerable questions”, hm?
A wise woman once sat me down and informed me that adjectives are not my friends. The paralysis is implicit in the unanswerability. Pick an adjective and go with it.
Ok, ok, I have more to say than just nitpicking about syntax. Comedy and musical theatre blogs would certainly count on my list. As for why limit it to Toronto, you (and I) live and write and make theatre in Toronto, and I assume the idea of the list is to try and create a blogging community of writers/performers/theatre whatevers, right? Isn’t THAT the value, to have as many other people to engage with as possible?
Otherwise, what IS the point of such a list?
I like people who aren’t in Toronto, too. Just FYI.
I also like changing the topic: go see Minotaur. It’s scary.
No; “paralyzingly unanswerable” obviously was effective, because you’re all still talking about it. Had I used just the one adjective, my point would have passed unnoticed.
Anyway, I was just taking the piss, folks. I want to read Mike’s kick-ass job on Luminato, and I agree that people from outside of Toronto are people too, mostly.
alison is right. minotaur is awesome. saw it last week and its even better than it was in the fringe 2 years ago. you’ll be sad if you miss it.
Alison wrote: “‘Paralyzingly unanswerable questions’, hm?
“A wise woman once sat me down and informed me that adjectives are not my friends. The paralysis is implicit in the unanswerability. Pick an adjective and go with it.”
‘Paralyzingly’ is an adverb, not an adjective. Ooh, the nitpicker gets picked!
moosegutslive.blogspot.com
Don’t you have some math to do, Kelly?
ever since our legendary split on the lopez issue, alison and i keep agreeing on stuff.
the quantification of the value of theatre is annoying. the NY Times is still the most weighty review you can receive on this continent precisely because they don’t assign a numerical value to their criticism.
you have to read the argument for a particular perspective on a production. no one ever says, “i don’t know, maybe i’ll see it. brantley gave it three stars.” they either know what he wrote and why he wrote it or not.
to completely contradict myself though, the way kelly’s set up his blog, it’s like the rottentomatoes of canadian theatre. you can access all the reviews of a show from one location and i like that a lot. 1 review is an opinion. 6 reviews is a trend.
I really respect the fact that J Kelly admits that his opinion isn’t the only one in the world, even when the other opinions come from (derogatory term deleted).
This is what happens when I get behind on my blog reading. How come I’m not on the list?
if the person lives in Toronto, devotes themselves on someway to theatre, and writes about it on the internet, it would seem to qualify to me.
I fit the criteria. 🙂
Hey MK –
Totally. You should have been on the list. I’m working on an revised and updated list. And yours was already on it. Will post in the next couple of days.
Cheers!