I just wanted to say that even though I totally dropped the ball on your article, I still enjoy your blog very much! I hope things are well with you and that your genius visual resume is helping.., Jane

I’ve never been a scenester. It’s not my thing. I’ve been in plenty of “scenes” and have never really gone there. That kind of groupthink myopia does little to nothing for me. As a result I tend to sit on the sidelines. Not paying undue attention to the vicissitudes of the “theater scene” has certainly had an impact on my career and not necessarily positively. But it is a choice I have made.

Part of why that thinking doesn’t interest me is that there is such a short cultural memory for that sort of thing it will practically be over before you click “post.” I would rather spend my energy looking at large conceptual ideas that will still be relevant years and decades from now.

Yes, this is useful, because in many ways it’s a reflection of my own sensibilities towards my blog. Being an academic I also have the tendency to write in that style, and in my attempts to understand myself as an actor and teacher of acting I do try to have a reflective and philosophical undertone to my posts.

For a while I can remember feeling as if I needed to compete with the NYC-oriented blogs, but I think in the past year I’ve gotten over that, so much so that I do no more than glance at them from time to time. My experience now with blogging is that I need to be true to my own experience and find the value in that for myself and for the art form in general. If there is one thing I so admire about your writing, it’s that you’ve stayed true to yourself and have never had much really to say about the NYC scene in general. So now I concentrate on my own experiences and situation, and let it go at that.

Which brings me to #6 on the list – “Write about the latest trends in the field.” Be on top of all the latest rumors, gossip and information. That way you’ll get pinged everywhere and more people will read your little spin on the matter. I’ll never be widely read because I can’t keep up with the flow of information and rumors about NYC theatre, and of course I don’t even live there. So why try? So many others deal with that so well, so I’ll stick with what I’ve got. Thanks for asking. -twl

I do not blog — cannot do it at all — and find the blogs I am drawn to, whether serious or not, are personal in the way that this entry is. You often talk about how you design. I am interested in that. I like your entries where you discuss your thinking about lighting more than the opinion pieces which, like most of us who are still willing to learn, will change.

While watching someone’s opinions change may be an interesting arc for some (maybe you?), it is, how do I say this?, a long-term view and my memory is such that I probably won’t remember what you thought five years ago. I do know some of your views have changed, but the specifics are usually lost to me. As life happens, we adapt. You have lived longer than when you started blogging so your views are different today (I hope.) But I assume that’s not what the stated intent of your blog is, is it? Yet, I think your writing cannot all be a face to the world, meaning even if you tried to present a facade of who you are, who you are still would come through.

I think there is something brave about the blog you write. Was this post useful to me? Probably not, in the sense that I think you intend. I don’t blog. I think that’s why this is brave. I think you are explaining to us and yourself why you have made the choices you have about your blog.

So if your question does not mean to me what you intend and if you do not edit out comments with which you disagree, then a lively and useful discussion might have room to come to life here and I think that is very courageous. Do you censor comments or do you allow all voices (for me it would probably include the lunatics as well) room to speak? Does the discussion just go where it goes — a place for people to freely speak? and more.

Sorry to take up so much space. As I tried to write this, it turned out that your questions triggered a bunch of questions for me. Thanks again.