Since you're here wondering about Militant Language and the National Premiere idea, allow me to fill in some details.

First of all, the whole thing started in the comments of a post on Matthew Freeman's On Theatre and Politics blog. (You'll find that a lot of theatre bloggers like to combine the two on their sites.) I got inspired by the ideas there, and wrote a post called "Every City Should Have a Dead City". (Funny coincidence, Dead City is a play by Sheila Callaghan, who's on the cover of that very American Theatre magazine that directed you here.) So, I suggest you open new tab in your browser and go read that post. Then come back, we'll wait.

The audience hears some really annoying - yet amusing - Muzak. Maybe something from Grunge Lite.

(You see how we did that? Theatre bloggers often enjoy inserting obscure pop culture references and funny You Tube videos in the cracks around their artistic analyses and political diatribes.)

Ok, you're back? Did you read all the comments? Well, you have to read the comments. A lot of the good stuff is in there.

After you read the comments, you're going to want to read this post, in which I responded to a lot of the comments.

More Grunge LIte.

Done there? Okay, I'll tell you how we got from there to here. You're gonna see some blue words that say "Continue reading 'Welcome American Theatre Readers'". Click those to get the rest of the story, and so I can track how many of you are reading today. Thanks.

Theatre and Entertainment Law
Page 73
Signal Ensemble
David Johnston
Kavinoky Theatre
GreyZelda
Acting Schmacting
Theatre is Dead
Get the Guests
Time Out NY
Blog of Floyd
Portland Dramaturgy Cabal
James Urbaniak
Lamp Life
Midnight Honesty @ Noon
Youngblood NYC
Hot Review dot org
Hollywood Fringe
Portland Center Stage
Staten Island Stage Whispers
The Mission Paradox
Renaissance Man
Chicago Theater Blog
Impact Theatre

Hey folks. We had a few days of technical difficulties around here. You may have noticed some magical disappearing posts. Sorry about that.

Things should be back to normal now. Of course, you'll know they're not if this post isn't here tomorrow.

Here's a little project for you.

Visit the homepage for the estimable League of Resident Theatres and try to explain why their web design sucks so badly.

Do they really have to use Times New Roman throughout the whole thing? Really? And what's with the color scheme? I'm tempted to dig up some 3D glasses to see if there's some hidden subliminal message buried within the text. And when was it last modified? Oh. Oh, my. Yes, that would be eighteen months ago. Adam, if you're reading this, please get to work. Otherwise nobody's ever going to take LORT seriously.

Sorry about the blogus interruptus. Our hosting provider was migrating to new servers. Shoudln't happen again anytime soon.

Introducing Snap Shots from Snap.com

Sometimes Snap Shots bring you the information you need, without your having to leave the site, while other times it lets you "look ahead," before deciding if you want to follow a link or not.

Should you decide this is not for you, just click the Options icon in the upper right corner of the Snap Shot and opt-out.

Technology, Entertainment, and Design: an annual conference held since 1984 to bring together the leading minds in each of these (broadly defined) fields. The archive on their website has over 100 speeches and performances by some important artists and thinkers, including Julia Sweeney, Anna Deavere Smith, and the man known simply as Rives. Featured in the video above is modern dance group Pilobolus.

So, the feeds to the side have become links, at least for now. We finally got to the point of having so many feeds that the site wasn't working reliably. Rather than having usability problems, which would only get worse as we added more feeds, I've turned it into a big blogroll for now. We're working on some creative solutions and such. Key an eye out for things to come.

Welcome to Theatreforte, oh teeming hordes of readers from Theatre Conversation, Variations on a Theme, Freedom Spice, On Theatre and Politics, Venal Scene, Laura Axelrod's Gasp, Jason Grote, Working Group, Parabasis, Adam Szymkowicz, and anyone/where else who/that has been kind enough to spot us some linkage. We're glad to have you here. Please stop in regularly to check out some theatre news, and to get your click on up and down our feeds.

Does that sound kinky to anyone else?

Welcome to Theatreforte.

I just started working on this today. Really, you shouldn't look at this. It's definitely not done. So, bookmark it and check back in a week.

The idea here is that there is cool stuff happening in theatres all across the country. We all know that to be true, but there is far to little ink and digital space devoted to chronicling and spreading news of those efforts.

WE NEED MORE BLOGS.

Are you an avid theatre-goer or a devoted artist living outside of New York City? Then please start a blog! The internet is a conversation and there's not enough noise coming from 49 of our blessed states.

Anyway. we'll be here, linking, feeding, reading, and highlighting some of the best stuff we come across. If your work isn't highlighted here, please email us and make sure we know of your existence.

Thanks.