I would love to have a dialog in this forum about the phenomenon of Playback Theatre. I want people to GO SEE IT so we can talk about it. The conversation cannot go very far with people who have not experienced it.

Since I first saw Playback I have been enthralled with it. I am excited about the power that it has to build community, to honor people’s stories, and to make compelling theatre from the stuff of real life. I want many more people to take the opportunity to experience that magic – and talk about it in this forum!

Asheville Playback Theatre is a nonprofit and the players are not getting paid a salary or wages for their time (just a miniscule year-end cut of any surplus beyond expenses). It does not have a big budget to pay for advertising. It is truly a labor of love. I want to support and spread that love.

And since APT cannot afford advertising, when they approached Mountain Express A & E editor Rebecca Sulock, who encouraged APT or its supporters to start a discussion on the Forums, she said:

“That’s one of the reasons we created the forums on our Web site. One of the things we’re trying to do there is create a community online where people can share their happenings. We hope this will become a wonderful community resource.”

So I would like to use THIS community resource to get people experiencing and talking about another wonderful community resources:  Asheville Playback Theatre, so to enrich the life of the community in Asheville.

It would be helpful if the moderator did not make statements that are more likely to squash rather than encourage discussion, and stayed consistent with the intent of the forums that Rebecca Sulock expressed.

I appreciate the opportunity that the Mountain Express forums provide to make a great nonprofit resource like Asheville Playback Theatre known to more people! So I invite you to come see for yourself the next shows, Jan. 2 at 8pm and Jan. 3 at 2pm (kid’s show) and 9pm (adult show) at NC Stage. Then let us all know what you think!

Dr. JAM

That’s fine, but my concern here is enforcing the forum rules, which are posted clearly at the very top of each section of the forums.

Here’s why the thread in question was closed, from the forum rules in “Theater & Dance”:

2. ... It’s fine to discuss a business or service, but if the conversation veers into self-promotion, we’ll close down the thread.

It couldn’t have been more clear. You aren’t following the rules in the clearly marked “Intro and rules: Read before posting” thread, and the promotional thread you posted was closed because of it. This isn’t limited to your posts—I close and delete similar threads all the time—and I actually left the thread in question up for a long period of time to give you the benefit of the doubt. But as you kept adding promotional events to that thread, and as there was no other discussion happening in it, the thread was closed.

I understand having a small advertising budget, and to a certain extent it’s fine to talk about things you are involved with, provided that it’s in some larger context for discussion. But we do not allow the forum to be used as advertising space. It is contrary to the very point of a user forum.

Here’s a thought: Go into your user account and create a signature with (brief) information about Playback in it. Participate in other user discussions, and each time you post, you will be effectively running a small, non-obtrusive ad. Other users do this, and as long as it’s not distracting, we have no problem with it.

I tried looking for a video clip of Asheville Playback Theater, but without success. Maybe there are publicly available videos?

People go to theatre?

Really?

I see that it’s okay to self-promote if you do it in your signature.

I’m not comfortable with self-promotion, though.

Could I sell my signature space to other advertisers for extra income?

No. In fact your conduct on the forums can cost you money, and leave you in poor favor to the community. We expect more out of our poster’s brebro. These are the MOUNTAIN XPRESS Forums. The official home of SERIOUS INTERNET BUSINESS.

The (PFKaP) - 06 January 2009 08:01 PM

People go to theatre?

Really?

i didnt think so.