critics and defenders of Rock Apocalypse

As someone who posted on the Rock Apocolypse thread, I received an email from Kate reqeusting my permission to use my quotes for her production. I've said no. At the risk of being seen to censor artistic expression, I'd encourage others involved in the thread to join me in saying no. Her concept is to turn the discussion thread into a piece of theatre to be performed at the Blue Room. I certainly think it has the makings of an interesting piece of theatre, and could say some important things about the nature and impact of criticism... However, the reason it might be interesting is that the discussion was pretty extreme. It highlights a production that does not appear to have been typical of the quality that we generally see in Perth, and some of the comments made in the thread are (to put it bluntly) immature. In my opinion the discussion was embarrassing. Embarrassing to JETS, embarrassing to a number of individuals, and embarrassing to the Perth community theatre scene in general. That it occurred in the first place is bad enough - the thought of it becoming a public spectacle horrifies me. There are a lot of theatre goers that avoid community theatre - partly because its not well advertised, and partly because it's considered to be synonymous with 'amateurish'. These same people tend to be genuinely surprised at the quality and level of professionalism when they do venture in. This Blue Room play would only foster our 'amateur' stereotype, and give the public a reason to avoid our productions. More importantly, if someone thinking of getting involved in community theatre were to see this play (or check out the thread in response to the publicity it might generate), then they're just as likely to walk away instead. I don't think this episode represents the typical community theatre experience, and it certainly doesn't highlight any of the positive benefits of being involved in theatre. The truth is that we are a fantastic and supportive community, and one that I love being part of. None of this comes through in the discussion thread - indeed, it indicates the exact opposite. The main problem I have is that this production would be marketed as a verbatim depiction of the discussion thread, and would by implication be viewed as an accurate portrayal of our community. I simply don't think it is. Garry