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Our members are out in the world. We go to theater. On this page we will publish reviews of our productions as well as our own reviews of other productions around Seattle.
When Harold Clurman was asked what is required to be a theater critic his answer took several paragraphs to delineate. He wrote about reading thousands of plays by both American and European authors, seeing hundreds plays and films in both the United States and in Europe, and reading reviews by all the reviewers of stature for the previous fifty years. When Siskel and Ebert were asked what it takes to be a critic they said, "you need an opinion." So, standards have changed over the years.
In our reviews we will measure what we see against the standard by which we judge our own work. The absolute bedrock of our standard is the principle, "Art expresses human experience." If our members see work that is faked, forced, indicated, predetermined or in any way vulgar we are as likely to point that out as we are if the work is truthful, alive and reflective of the depth of the human experience and the art of theater.
We are hopeful that other reviewers will hold themselves to those kinds of standards.
Case in point, one of our members was in a production of Woody Allen's "Play it Again, Sam." A reviewer panned the whole production because the lead in the play didn't look like Woody Allen. Another member asked the chief reviewer for Variety Magazine why there was no good theater in Los Angeles and the response was, "Because there are no good restaurants." Reviewers will be held to a higher standard on this page.
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Reviews of "The Baby Dance"
"Inspiring"
"Effortless to watch"
"I forgot I was watching a play"
"I was there with them. At one point I heard the woman in front of me say, 'It's I'm like watching through someone's window.'"
Reviews of "Small Change"
"Small Change, performed by the more than capable members of the Seattle Actors Theater
is a powerful hour spent in the theater. Who knew, a play about a wake on Christmas Eve,
would engender such holiday cheer. Every character is memorable. The range and depth
displayed by the cast was touching and inspiring. I was moved." - Tom Brophy
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