How do you manage bias and personal preferences in your writing?
Regina: As an artist, there are styles of storytelling I prefer, and some modes of storytelling I do not care for—whether that be due to limited exposure, a difference in taste, or lack of cultural or scholarly preparation and appreciation. This is true for every critic. In practice, Rescripted prioritizes the subjective review over the objective review, meaning that we are trying to communicate an individual’s opinion rather than express an authoritative view over a piece of art. We have artist profiles for our writers, under “Meet the Artists,” so readers can get to know their background, the lenses they bring to the show, their artistic practices, and their preferences. This way, readers are able to evaluate their opinions on a subjective basis, much like those of a friend that you gauge based on their personal taste.
Our critics are also involved in the artistic community, so we disclose any prior collaborations via our Bias Alerts. They are anything the artist thinks we should know that may affect their opinion—like a colleague being in the show they are reviewing or the fact that they have limited exposure to a certain style of play, which may influence their opinion.
Kitty: I work towards being fair, giving credit where it is due, while also acknowledging the areas that require tweaking. In terms of biases, they don’t have to be bad. For example, the New England Theatre Geek is biased towards equity and inclusion. A company that goes out of its way to be inclusive will receive notice. But we won’t give credit where credit isn’t due: a theatre company that treats women, people of color, immigrants/refugees, or the disabled community as tokens doesn’t get a pass on the blog.
Being a performer, I have friends within the performing community, and I have critiqued friends before. Having a healthy understanding of what it is to be an artist and to receive feedback has helped me retain these friendships. Some actors can’t handle negative feedback. Some can’t handle positive feedback that isn’t overtly effusive. I can’t control how a reader responds to my writing, I can only control me. At the end of the day, as long as my writing is respectfully constructive, I am unafraid to post an honest reaction.
Artists are not sensitive to bad reviews, they are sensitive to careless ones that refuse to notice the highs as well as the lows, or that miss the point altogether.
Regina: It is my belief that the artist-critic’s relationship with and accountability to the artistic community will preserve arts criticism for years to come. When Chicago had a well-known critic publish a racially charged statement, the theatre community called for her to stop having free access to review their shows. This was not solely because of her statement, but because she refused to engage in a conversation with the community or apologize for her comments. In contrast, Justin Hayford, who printed the n-word in a review is still working, and that may well be related to the fact that he responded to the outrage.
As an artist-critic, I have no choice but to be accountable to my community, as I am evaluating my once and future collaborators’ work. Effective and gracious criticism, I would argue, is at the root of collaboration. I have seen bad coverage result in layoffs and the shuttering of companies, so I do not write lightly—unjust criticism or personal attacks will result in a lot of angry artists and disrupted lives, and most of these folks have my number and know where I live. It is very important to me that we don’t sink into negativity but address the truth of an issue without decoration. Artists are not sensitive to bad reviews, they are sensitive to careless ones that refuse to notice the highs as well as the lows, or that miss the point altogether.
What is the training landscape for new critics, and how does that influence your work and how you expand your staff?
Regina: When I started as a critic, I had a “just do it” mentality because I knew if I didn’t start then I never would. I had gained skills and knowledge as a dramaturg and scholar, and in my training to be an artistic director I would read the theatre section of five publications, every day for years, but I had no formal training beyond this. I still believe this was a gift—I knew a lot of the “rules” of criticism from consistently reading a diversity of writers and understood what “rules” I would be breaking, but I lacked fear and I had an abundance of imagination about “what could be.” Folks told me I should go to the National Critics Institute, a reputable program run in conjunction with the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center moderated by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune. However, this program happens in the summer, at the height of new play development season, and I was unable to afford to go.
Oliver Sava, a multidisciplinary critic, and I co-founded The Key: Young Critics Mentorship Program in 2017, a free, six-week training program for students aged eighteen to twenty-four, as an offshoot of Rescripted. We had realized we needed to start training our own voices if we wanted any differentiation from what had come before. Our students see five shows and write six reviews (one is a multimedia piece), and workshop them in six sessions. There are also guest speakers, who build empathy for and understanding of different artistic disciplines in the theatre, and Oliver and I discuss the principles of criticism both at Rescripted and in the larger field with the class. I want to figure out how to make this program national. We already have several critics writing professionally—not just for us but outlets across the city—and local coverage needs an influx of new perspectives immediately or our field is in imminent trouble.
Kitty: I hire writers based on the premise that the traditional way of critiquing performance (the white, male, cis, abled viewpoint) is outdated. It is inappropriate for the New England area to be inundated with these opinions when the voices of the minority represented in a new wave of representation are clamoring to be heard. No one can speak to the experiences of marginalized people like the people in that community.
Comments
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Because the "amount of work" should not be what's critiqued; the end result is what's important. I have spent hours creating a meal that ended up being quite ghastly. The amount of work I put in has nothing to do with how the food tastes.
Correct. But why do you assume that artists are impervious to basing their opinions on personal preferences? Frankly, I've worked in theater for almost 50 years and I've met very few artists who can detach to the level you claim. In fact, I have met a surprising number of artists whose world view is quite narrow.
The two takeaways I get from this piece seem to be: only members of our club should be allowed to discuss our work and we need to be given ribbons for effort. I don't find this challenging enough for me. I want to get the opinions of people who don't think as I do. I want to impress the people who know nothing of what I do and I really want to impress the people who may think what I do is a waste of time. Now THAT'S a challenge I can sink my teeth into!