CMU School of Drama


Monday, February 23, 2009

Death of criticism? Careful what you wish for

The Denver Post: "The featured discussion at the Colorado New Play Summit took a strange turn Feb. 14 when a panel of national industry leaders was asked about what role critics should play in the development of new plays. That turned into a grave-stomping.
'Newspapers are fading away, and the critics don't know where they are headed next,' said Polly Carl of the Playwrights Center in Minneapolis. In fact, she added, 'There really can't even be a conversation about criticism right now, period, until there are no more newspapers.'"

2 comments:

AllisonWeston said...

Fewer and fewer people are reading newspapers these days, but more and more are reading the internet. I read critic's reviews of plays online instead of newspapers. Blogs and the online article section of newspapers are where I get my reviews. I think that people are panicking for no reason as critics become digital. I cannot imagine criticism dying out in the least.

Isabella said...

While it may be true that newspapers are becoming increasingly less influential, I don't believe this in any way means that there will be death of criticism. Like everything else in the world criticism will simply undergo changes in order to accommodate to the online resources where people now get their information. Critics themselves will also undergo change, and find a way to adjust to a system which allows almost anyone to be a critic. criticism may never b the same but it will definitely not cease to exist.