TAGGED WITH BLI
The Bitter Lemons Imperative (BLI): An Alternative to the Crisis in Theater Coverage
Enough with the initiatives and the proposals and the supplemental whatevers, this is an emergency, a crisis, an imperative, hence: The Bitter Lemons Imperative (BLI).What is it?Simply put, if a producer or a theater company wants their show reviewed, they can get it reviewed, guaranteed, but it will cost them $150 per review and that review will be originally published at Bitter Lemons.Now before your heads explode, let me continue to lay it out as simply as I can and then attempt...
The Bitter Lemons Review Brigade
Going forward, the BLI reviews will be posted in this section, for now, we once again wanted to introduce you to our talented pool of critics. If interested in getting a BLI review, either go here and purchase a "Bitter Lemons Reviews, or just send us a line at [email protected], put BLI in the header as well as the title of your show and we’ll get the party started for you. THE BITTER LEMONS REVIEW BRIGADE (BLRB) Listed below are the 8 fearless m...
New Lineup Announced for Bitter Lemons' Critics Panel at the Fringe
Either out of protest to this recent editorial, where Jason Rohrer had the audacity to apply the same standard of criticism to Steven Leigh Morris that Steven Leigh Morris applied to our Bitter Lemons Imperative, or simply out of a desire to not want to get caught in the middle of the controversy and perhaps get their hands dirty, several of the announced LA critics have decided to pull out of the event at Theatre Asylum this Saturday, June 20th at 11:30am.Those critics would be Bob Verini, Bill Raden...
Blues for One
There’s a fair amount of booze, only two balls, and very little bluegrass in Booze, Balls and Bluegrass: A Daughter’s Journey. But there’s a lot of Laura Carson.Carson’s autobiographical one-woman show wedges into the crowded territory of single, middle-aged actors whose stalled careers coincide with their parents’ mortality. Carson leaves her temp job in Los Angeles to live with her widowed, alcoholic father in Atlanta, to regroup and to help him out in a limited capacity. He gives her...
The Bitter Lemons Imperative Remains Open for Business
In business 3 months. 40 reviews published so far. A couple more in the chute. All paid for by the companies making the theater. All the critics doing the work being paid a reasonable wage for the work. Steven Stanley being hailed as the bastion of Los Angeles Theater Criticism by the Torch and Pitchfork Crowd (if that just raised some hackles on the back of your neck then yes that’s you). International controversy. Armageddon.So far so good.As you may have heard, there’s been a lot of tal...
"In Love and Warcraft" Provides Much Appeal for Millennials
The historical record is admittedly sketchy on the matter, but people in “the theater” have probably been worrying about getting younger butts in their seats since Athenian teenagers first discovered the joys of passing notes on papyrus. But here’s one novel idea of how to lure young ‘uns in the 21st Century: write plays that address issues they care about.And we’re not talking about the evergreen stuff—young love, disaffected youth, coming-to-age tales. It’s 2015, peo...
LA Times Revisits the Bitter Lemons Imperative
Bit of a harsh assessment from Mike Boehm that the BLI has “fallen flat” and “failed to take hold” considering that we’ve averaged one review a week since the end of the Hollywood Fringe Festival, but I guess that’s what happens with early success; 38 reviews out of the chute and everybody expects you to be turning them away at the door I guess. Actually, the slow and steady pace of the BLI right now is what I expected at the beginning, so no alarm bells over here. ...
The Saturday Saying
“On the same day the LA Times declared Bitter Lemons’ theater review initiative had “fallen flat,” we got another client. A practice that didn’t exist in April is now a going concern, despite the power structure’s active trolling, denunciation, sabotage, and pretense that we don’t exist. A half-dozen critics have gotten paying work, and almost fifty productions that otherwise wouldn’t have got any coverage at all have been reviewed by the best-read theater web sit...
Breaking News: Bitter Lemons Mentioned at Staged Raw Supposed Symposium (In Other News: Hell Partners with Alaska Airlines)
I wasn’t there, and won’t be at the next one either – actually I was at the NoHo Fringe Awards ceremony last night which though a bit of a slapdash affair (not unlike the “festival” itself) was a really fun time – but apparently, according to the Staged Raw Facebook page, the ungodly words that were forbidden at their last Supposed Symposium have been spoken: Bitter Lemons. I’m sure people fell writhing to the ground and started speaking in tongues as soon as ...