Today marks Greenroom’s second birthday. It’s been quite a year for the fledgling theatre blog and bloggers!
In our second year of operation we reviewed and interviewed and commented and spruiked on behalf of Queensland subsidised and independent theatre, and the stories just keep coming, and so do the invitations. Thank you for them. We wish we could get to everything but that proved to be impossible. You do what you can!
Greenroom introduced the Groundling Awards – peoples’ awards for excellence in theatre in the state. The response was fantastic, so good that we are going to do it all again. Watch for news in December. The elves are already girding their tiny loins – we’ve heard a few sighs – for the adventure.
In the past year we have published 140 posts which included a ‘dark period’ when the Editor headed off on a busman’s holiday in September-October. My thanks to guest bloggers Nick Backstrom (our man in exile in Melbourne), playwright Dave Burton, the multi-talented Amelia Dowd, Zane Trow and Paul Osuch for their smart, incisive and invaluable contributions during the year.
We also capitulated to the inevitable and created a Greenroom Facebook page a few months ago. It has proved an invaluable way of reaching a wider audience and also of providing another platform for discussion and dissemination of Queensland – and wider – theatre happenings and ideas. As I write our Facebook page has 203 ‘Likes.’ The more the merrier. Click that big, blue button on the home page if you haven’t already! We’re also on Twitter – you know it!
Wider observations: there has been a development in online writing and conversation about Queensland theatre in this time. The fearless and knowledgable Xanthe Coward became the revived Briztix site’s resident reviewer, whilst other blogs like Critical Mass, supported by Arts Queensland, emerged into the blogosphere. Briztix introduced their own award for excellence joining the Matildas and Groundlings, and the wider growth of social media has seen it become almost the de facto way of getting information out especially within the indie sector. Visibility is good out there! The downside has been the loss of the excellent reviews from Katherine Lyall-Watson with the demise of OurBrisbane.com. A short-sighted move this by the Brisbane City Council.
And so, dear reader, we start our third year of activities. What was to be a small retirement project for me has proven to be something more. It remains a labour of love.
Thank you for your support. I wish I could share the chocolate mudcake baked especially for the occasion with you! I can share the memory of the thrill I felt when I saw my name on a ‘Reserved Media’ seat for the first time at La Boite Theatre earlier this year. What’s that about little things meaning a lot?
Yours,
Kate