the nashville theatre lost and found

the unbiased trudy

explaining the "no comp policy"

(originally posted 1 August, 2007)

When I started this venture on 4 July, 2007, I suggested that Nashville make a transition from "Music City" to "Theatre Town." How very naïve I was! Your overwhelming response proves that Nashville is a theatre town just waiting to be recognized.

In the first two months, The Nashville Theatre: Lost & Found has gained more than 400 readers and subscribers combined. I am honoured and humbled. More, I am delighted by the numerous hits, comments, and e-mail messages I receive daily. Often, those messages include invitations to shows and venues of which I was not even aware. Staged readings, festivals, and full-scale productions have called coffee houses, community centers, and parks into service. Theatre is truly all around us.

And yet, despite its ubiquitousness, the issue of quality remains. What is holding Nashville theatre back? How could Nashville theatre be better? How can those moments of truth be better and more frequently found? As I said then (and it's worth repeating now), Theatre isn't shoving any number of people onto the stage merely to call them our own; theatre is the visceral experience of truth that binds us intimately, if briefly, to the strangers with whom we sit in the audience, human all.

I invite you to help me explore these issues here at The Nashville Theatre: Lost and Found. Keep those comments and messages coming! Your thoughts are most welcome.

As always, I will make every effort to see as many shows as I possibly can, but in the interest of keeping these topics above-board and unbiased, I have decided against accepting comp tickets. Yes, yes, I know: I asked for them. Little did I know how generously you'd respond! Ultimately, I realized that the shows I might miss while attending those that offered a free seat might be the very shows I most need to see – and which we most need to discuss here together at Lost & Found.

Thank you so much for your support. Here's to the future of Nashville Theatre. Cheers!

"in the interest of keeping these topics/reviews above-board and unbiased, i have decided against accepting comp tickets"