A Published Rant About Critics

A couple of weeks ago the LA Times ran an article about the state of cultural criticism, called Critical Condition, which was basically about how critics are bemoaning (whinning about) the fact that their power for making or breaking a piece of work is on the wane, mostly because of the internet and blogs like this where any person can print their response to a film, a play etc. I wrote back a letter and they actually published. An artist got to critique the critic(and get published) how cool is that?!
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LOS ANGELES TIMES - LETTER: PART II
Sunday June 5, 2005

Critic's Credentials

I have often asked myself, "What is the skill of a critic?" "What is her discipline?" "What does he practice everyday?" "What do they do?

When I performed my solo play, "Throw Pitchfork", off-Broadway, it was the result of a daily regimen of writing which turned into weeks, which turned into months. Then a couple of years of flying back and forth to New York for workshops with groups of seasoned professional writers, directors, actors and dramaturges who gave feedback and insights based on their years of activity and experience, forcing me to rewrite and restructure the piece that I had already worked so diligently on.

Then came the rehearsal process, since I perform my work as well. A grueling three weeks of rehearsal at New York Theatre Workshop: seven hours a day, six days a week on my feet going over every moment, every movement.

Don't get me wrong. I'm not an artist who got bad reviews and wants to whine about it. In fact, I had many excellent reviews from impressive New York sources, and only one bad one.

But still I asked myself those questions I posed earlier: "Who is this person that comes, sits on their butt for the length of my show, does not talk to me or any other artist connected to the production, does not talk to an audience member (in short, does no work), goes home and writes a not very skillfully written critique of my work?"

"What do they do? What are their skills and discipline?"