About Me

My photo
Matthew Freeman is a Brooklyn based playwright with a BFA from Emerson College. His plays include THE DEATH OF KING ARTHUR, REASONS FOR MOVING, THE GREAT ESCAPE, THE AMERICANS, THE WHITE SWALLOW, AN INTERVIEW WITH THE AUTHOR, THE MOST WONDERFUL LOVE, WHEN IS A CLOCK, GLEE CLUB, THAT OLD SOFT SHOE and BRANDYWINE DISTILLERY FIRE. He served as Assistant Producer and Senior Writer for the live webcast from Times Square on New Year's Eve 2010-2012. As a freelance writer, he has contributed to Gamespy, Premiere, Complex Magazine, Maxim Online, and MTV Magazine. His plays have been published by Playscripts, Inc., New York Theatre Experience, and Samuel French.

Wednesday, January 05, 2005

Speaking of Off-Off Broadway, A Recommendation

Really the best place to find out what's happening in the New York Theatre scene is NYTHEATRE.COM. It's an interesting balance of fan-site and information nexus. And its the only place you'll see Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway listed in the same font and size. Some of the commentary is a bit pointed, occasionally, in the direction of encouragement, so if you're looking for someone to tear down a well-meaning failure, you might enjoy Time Out more. But the house style, if parental, is thoughtful and misses nothing that's going on in NYC.

Love to know where else people find is a great source of reviews and information. There are a few others out there that I'm lukewarm on. Occasionally another Off-Off Review site goes up, has pretty formatting and good intentions and then stops being updated regularly (OffOffOnline.com is an example). Then there's the Off Off Broadway Review. Which not only offers terrible writing, useless reviews and unmanageable listings, but has been doing so for years and making artist (gasp) PAY for that service. Shame, you bastards. I will shame you until you quit.

Theatermania (based in NY) looked to be a welcome addition, but has since gone the way of icky commercialism and has cut back considerably on their reviews and coverage. A ticketing site with content, more or less. They have pretty thorough listings though.

Otherwise it's print and things like Backstage or industry trades... mostly either overlooking things that are less than $50 a pop, or not timely, or really light on coverage of theatre.

Judge for yourself, of course.

No comments: