Comments on: Gag Order on Chicago Theatre Bloggers

By: Nick Keenan

Nick Keenan — Mon, 19 May 2008 22:46:06 +0000

Yeah, be careful there. Rat Sass (different Nick) can get um… eloquent. In a kind of Les Mis as produced by Artaud and the inmates of Charenton Asylum kind of way. He’s called me a PR clique, which is pretty funny if you know me – he doesn’t.

There’s an interesting group of folks – Rat Sass has been at it for years – who use blogging about theater as theater. Which I think is pretty hot, if you know that it’s happening. And it’s pretty alarming, if you don’t.

By: dennisbaker

dennisbaker — Mon, 19 May 2008 21:00:36 +0000

Thanks Don for the heads up. I feel sheepish. I thought the idea was extreme, but in this day and age people pretty much sue for anything (or at least try to). True, I did not think the review was all that bad. I am glad to hear it was a gag and that there is some good discussions going down in Chicago. Sounds like you guys have a tight theater community there.

By: Don Hall

Don Hall — Mon, 19 May 2008 20:44:56 +0000

The gag order is a gag. Nick at Rat Sass created the “fake” domain name and was just trying to stir up some shit.

Rebecca has a bit of a history of going off on critics that have less than glowing things about her work, a trait I actually find admirable – if art isn’t worth getting into a row over, it ain’t worth much, I figure.. Her veiled threats to sue me are just silly posturing, though. I think she thought she might have a libel case until she actually looked up what libel is.

And, having read the review in question, do you really think it’s that bad? I intended it to be a mixed review – I certainly didn’t hate the thing, I just had some problems with the acting choices (which, in my opinion, were pretty awful).