Why Are We Here?

Why are we here? Why is it that we are paricipating in the so called "community theatre"? Many say that it is for the love of it, the love of stepping out onto the stage and using amazing words to lift an audience beyond the mundanity of their normal every day life. I see very little of this in the community theatre, what I see is a community devided and a community devided is not a community. Every year the Finley awards cause the same ruckus and every year it's the same bitchy comments which spring to life again. Now, many of you will be putting one foot in the stirrup of your high horse by this point to explain to me that many of the views expressed on this website are those of a minority and that for the most part people are happy and supportive of the Finleys; I disagree. It's the old TV adage, if you get one phone call complaint its representative of a larger number of people and it's the same here. I have met many people within the theatre community who have expressed to me on many occasions their opinions that the Finleys are everything from a self-glorifying wank fest to a popularity contest. Indeed, one of my dear friends and colleagues is so disgusted by the petulance surrounding the Finelys that he simply refuses to have anything to do with them. My question to you then is: do the Finleys celebrate moments of theatrical excellence throughout the year or do they damage our community, creating unnecessary internal conflict and rivalry? Now, I know as well as you do that the answer to that question simply isn't as black and white as that but surely if these awards that are meant to celebrate the community are damaging it in any way they should be stopped. It's at this point we come back to my first question: Why are we here? To celebrate our love and passion for all things theatre or to whinge and bitch at eachother like a pack of unruly teenagers because we have a desire to be called "The Best" by a panel of judges. Surely, we can get together and celebrate a year of theatrical excellence as a community without the need to elevate a few by pinning them with the definitive article of "The Best"? Or can we? Do we really feel that we have to qualify our works of passion and love by having a selected few call them "The Best"? I think if you look deep into yourself and ask the question "Why am I here?" you will find the answer to this. I'm not against awards but I am against things that damage us as a community, I think that the Finleys, though they began with the best of intentions, have begun to damage this community and I would call upon the ITA of W.A. to make a serious re-assesment of the awards before including them into next year's calendar of events.