Just like that, I quit my job as a theatre critic. And I couldn't be happier.
I've reviewed theatre on and off for five years now. I was the theatre critic for the Colorado Springs Gazette from 2008 to 2010 and the Colorado Springs Independent from 2012 until now.
It was a great learning experience, and I don't regret a moment of it. Thinking deeply about a play and then putting those thoughts into words is one of the best ways to improve your understanding of theatre as an art form.
The free tickets were too not shabby either.
But it just got too time-consuming. I'm a slow writer, and a 500-word review could take me 10 hours. With my playwriting career taking off, I just can't afford that time sink anymore.
What's more, the pay is terrible. Ten cents a word isn't much to begin with, and it doesn't take a math whiz to realize that at the snail-like speed I write, I was making well under minimum wage.
But the worst part was the havoc it wreaked on my relationships with theatre folk. Critics in New York can stay isolated from the artists they write about, but in a theatre community as small as Colorado Springs', it's impossible. You run into each other constantly: at plays, at parties, at fundraisers.
Most of the actors and directors I wrote about were real professionals, maintaining a cordial front whenever we ran into each other.
But I don't want to be cordial. I want to be an integral part of the theatre community, and I want to develop a close, creative relationship with the gifted artists who make their home here.
I realize the vital role that theatre critics play. Despite the decline of the newspaper industry, people still rely on print reviews to help them decide what to see. And for a playwright, getting your play professionally reviewed is a requirement before you can even submit your play to many of the big publishing houses.
But someone else is going to have to take that job. I'm just a playwright now.
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