Boy, did I hit a nerve with last Sunday's column on audiences. Calls and e-mails have been pouring in, about 20-to-1 agreeing that Cincinnati audiences could bring a lot more to the live arts experience.

        Here's some of what you had to say:

        “I had an a-ha!,” Mary Peterson wrote. “It was another piece of the puzzle of our profile. Who we are. ... We are a placid audience. Not unappreciative, but not responsive, interactive. We are quiet, polite, well-mannered as a population, but robust is a foreign concept.

        “There is a plus side. Last week I sat in traffic on Spring Grove for a full five minutes while a 16-wheeler blocked both traffic lanes, cars backing up at two traffic lights. Not one horn was blown! Amazing.

        “As I mull this over I wonder if it's one reason why we break out into riots now and then.”

        Kathy Hanas wonders if some theaters have “such a loyal and longtime subscriber base that going to the theater once, twice or more a month has become ho-hum.”

        Several people echoed the thoughts of Sandy Schneider. “I feel like I'm a fish out of water if I'm the only one shouting and applauding. Sometimes it's a matter of not wanting to stand out in a crowd.”

        So many people said that, I'm convinced one bold person could make a huge difference.

        Tom Reed is a Cincinnati actor who moved to south Florida. He writes that people onstage “feed from the energy and response of the audience to a remarkable degree....I try to get back each year for the May Festival, and I've noticed over the years that audiences sometimes don't give back the energy that a great performance deserves.

        “Some of the passion for the Reds should be given to Cincinnati's potentially vibrant theater scene.”

       A lot of people took an opportunity to vent about a pet peeve — the obligatory standing ovation. “If the audience doesn't respond all during the show and then rises to its feet at the end, the performers know the audience is standing because they think they have to.

        “If the audience is giving and responding (through laughter or other audible signals) the whole show, it's a remarkable feeling for a performer,” writes Andy McClary, who adds a caveat about big theaters that require binoculars to see performers' features. “How do you interact from 100 yards away?”

        Several readers agree that Cincinnati audiences are restrained but point the finger at less-than-thrilling performances.

        “Sorry, JD, but many shows just don't inspire people to be alert, involved or responsive,” one reader writes.

        “We here in Cincinnati are not New Yorkers,” Gloria Bockstiegel scolds. “We do not swallow the hype, we make up our own minds.... I believe that our Cincinnati audiences appreciate good music, good stories and good performances. Your mention of "connecting' — isn't that what the performers are supposed to do? Make the audiences connect.”

        Ken Goldhoff finds Broadway in Cincinnati fare bland and suggests that if it and Playhouse “would go out on a limb a little more, they might get more of those hollers they're looking for.”

        Marilyn Hoffman writes, “...sad to say, what we are fed with a spoon in this area is "old chestnut musicals' with has-been performers who should have left the circuit a long time ago...

        “I am 66 years old and I don't mind seeing something new and innovative. What Cincinnati must do is decide who they want for an audience, people who just want to relax and not think or people who want to have their boundaries of experience pushed, who want to learn something about life when they come to live theater, who want to experience how other people think and live.

        “Producers and directors, it's your decision. I hope financially you can choose "alive' theater. Then maybe you will see lively audiences.”

        John Mitchell points the finger of blame at me. “Perhaps if your reviews focused more on the positive aspects of productions rather than dwelling on your negative opinions, this town would be more excited and participate at shows.”

        Elaine Billmire says for an explanation of Cincinnati audiences we need look no further than what we wear. “The majority of the patrons at the Playhouse, Aronoff and Music Hall dress as if they're going to a funeral! No wonder they're often comatose! Only the ballet crowd seems to "get' it and dress festively (not formally or expensively) as if they're expecting to have a good time.”

        Shawn Maus, new drama director at Finneytown High School, writes of a recent sad audience experience at the school's fall production of The Man Who Came to Dinner.

        “"...I stood outside in the lobby and heard comments on how the set was the best they'd seen in years, the perfect casting, the lines were "funny, I couldn't stop laughing.' Where were they laughing? It was the most subdued laughter I'd ever heard.

        “The kids noticed it, too. I went backstage at intermission and cheered them up. My words were, "It happens in the big theaters, too. Just take your moment and give it your all. ...'

        “Give the performers all the elements required for their life on the stage (laughter, tears, applause), and you will completely change their life — and yours. Theater is a bonding experience. Cast and crew come together. Audience and performers come together. It is a unique bond. It should be unbreakable.”

        Gretchen Roose notes that “as an actor in community theater, the only pay we receive is in audience response. Lately the pay has been slim and none.

        “Imagine my delight when I attended the opening of Inspecting Carol at Miami University. The crowd was almost wild in the second act, many times laughing so loud that the actors couldn't be heard.

        “It was a joy to laugh, but even more fun to experience the show with an alive group! It was an evening at the theater my companions and I won't soon forget.”

        Town meeting: Arts advocates, mark 7 p.m. Dec. 10 on your calendars and plan to be at Xavier University (Victory Parkway at Dana, exact location TBA soon) for the first town meeting on the arts. Find information as it comes in at 745-3205, where you can also RSVP. For more information, call Cathy Springfield at 745-3578.

        "Vagina' controversy: The hate mail for Vagina Monologues, opening Jan. 1 for a three-week run at the Aronoff's Jarson-Kaplan Theater, has started arriving on the desks of local presenters Broadway in Cincinnati and Playhouse in the Park.

        Funny how words are still dangerous to some people, and how it's easier to react than to get the facts.

        The show is selling well. In case you've been wondering why you haven't heard who is headlining Vagina, here's the dish:

        It turns out the idea is to have a “name” that changes every week. The first week, hopefully, there will be an actress in the role. The next two weeks will be Cincinnati “celebrities.”

        The casting coup, which has a lot to do with keeping it cheap for the producers, apparently has worked well in other (larger) markets.

        I've been trying to decide which amateurs/celebs I would willingly pay $45 to see reading Vagina Monologues (and none of the ticket sales is going to charity). For me it's Bobbie Sterne, Marge Schott and maybe Pete Rose.

        Send your suggestions along.
       Contact Jackie Demaline by phone: 768-8530; fax: 768-8330; e-mail: jdemaline@enquirer.com.
       

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