Regarding the recent economic survey of Off Off Broadway conducted by the New York Innovative Theater Foundation, the Times published an article with a quote that really tickles the ol' funny bone.

"We've been dying for numbers," said Paul Bargetto, the artistic director of East River Commedia, based in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, and one of the founders of an Off Off Broadway lobbying group called the League of Independent Theater. "It's been really hard for us to say 'Look what we do' beyond the artistic arguments."

All the number-crunching is a sign that Off Off Broadway is trying to move past its "Hey, let's put on a show" reputation and fight for concrete gains, Mr. Bargetto said. But that, in turn, indicates how tough conditions are becoming.

"You start to show people the numbers involved here," he said. "What city wouldn't want to have 350 to 400 not-for-profit theater companies?"

Is he kidding? All that me-tooism concentrated in one city would tear the urban fabric apart. Even if there's no such thing as too much theatre, might there be such a thing as too many theater companies?

Read the full Times article right here.

The Appalachian Regional Theatre Society presents The Apple Tree this weekend. Seattle's On the Boards, which brings in performance art from around the country, announces it's 07/08 plans. George Hunka points at some current NYC events. Hand 2 Mouth in Portland have extended Repeat After Me (One part karaoke sing-a-long gone wrong, one part dance theatre, one part nightmare) another weekend. The Los Angeles Theatre Ensemble has a trailer up for The War Cycle Part One. A Malaysian ensemble production explores the sayings and teachings of the Prophet Muhammad. Some photos and coverage from the 13P benefit. Ensemble Theatre of Cincinnati presents a musicial about Florence Foster Jenkins, who famously could not sing.

I know for a fact that a lot of us who started theatre companies did so in part because we really wanted to be in a great band. So we're to be forgiven if shows like Hedwig and Cynthia Hopkin's Must Don't Whip 'Um make us weak in the knees.

We're also to be forgiven if we curse a little bit at the realization that Banana Bag & Bodice may have beaten us to the logical conclusion of this way of thinking.

From George Hunka:

The eight-year-old troupe this time around identifies itself as an ersatz punk-rock group, The Rising Fallen, hired to perform on an oil-drilling rig off the coast of the Faroe Islands, where they end up trapped for six months ...