The Worst Seat in the House

I am eager to kick off this new blog project, writing about theatre and the arts in Honolulu. As a sometimes performer friendly with a number of people in the arts community, I know it will be both gratifying and difficult to write about shows in an honest, insightful way. I certainly don't want to offend anyone or lose friends, but I also don't want to go around patting people on the back with fluffy commentary all smiles and glitter. My mission with this blog is to write with integrity, respecting what the artists and performers have aspired to create while commenting on the effect of the production from my point of view: one audience member.

A certain director I've worked with a few times had the habit during pre-opening runs of sitting in the worst seat in the house to watch the show from that penalized vantage point. “Be your own worst critic”—a useful position to take when honing and refining just about anything: a play you've directed, a short story, a chocolate cake recipe, a theatre review... And so instead of going to see shows and taking the worst seat—or the half-full, rose-colored looking glass—I'll watch and write from my own critical-artistic perspective, hoping to capture something essential about an experience that can be so different from one person and one performance to the next.

To any and all that may join me on this journey, thanks for the company, I look forward to your comments, and may we all be inspired to create!