Community Theatre in The West

When did you last see a review of a community theatre production in The West Australian newspaper? The chances are that it's not since the departure of the well-liked Peter Kemeny. Mr Kemeny's passing was a great loss for community theatre as he had a great warmth and enthusiasm for the efforts of Perth's amateur thespians. While we may not always have felt we got the credit we deserved, we knew we could count on his passion and support for community theatre as a whole. A pity the same cannot be said for the current crop of journalists at The West.I can only speak from second and third hand knowledge of the issue, but my understanding from others is that the paper has an editorial policy of only reviewing professional theatre. Over the last couple of years the scope of this policy has been broadened to allow reviews of productions at such venues as the Blue Room in North Perth, but still excluding amateur or community theatre.It has always struck me as odd that Blue Room productions are treated as special cases. The West will review productions in the Blue Room that feature artists working on the shoe string $500 budget that Arts Council funded Blue Room provides. These exact same artists working in a community theatre, with more financial backing, better facilities and technical support can't be reviewed by The West. Surely an odd state of affairs?Well, the tale gets even odder...Last Friday's West featured a review of a high school production. It was a glowing review of a musical theatre production at John XXIII.So, i wonder what the situation is now? Does The West only review professional theatre? Or is it that they will review anything _except_ community and amateur theatre?***Anyway, a new poll is up! This time voice your opinion on whether or not The West Australian newspaper should review community theatre productions.CheersGrant