This Thursday, the Kenan Theatre Company will start a five-day run of The Kritik, a play set in a 19th century Russian bar about artists’ ceaseless quest for approval.
At its base, the play is about “a small town theater critic who attempts to write his first honest review and how the people respond to that," writer Brenda Withers said.
As a co-founder of Harbor Stage Company in Cape Cod, Massachusetts, Withers said she noticed that only giving positive reviews of productions negates the purpose of reviews.
“We looked into it a little, and we learned that reviewers in some communities are encouraged to support the local economy by just being positive about everything," she said. “That’s where the idea came from, just sort of looking at the roots of a strange phenomenon like that and trying to understand."
Withers said she believes the themes of the play are universal.
“What I’ve learned is that as much as it is a play about theater in the practical way, it actually is about community and what we prioritize in our community," she said. "It’s a story that can be applied to any industry or any field."
Jennifer Latimer, the director of the play, said that community theater actors, just like professionals, care about what critics say.
“We often view community theater as this place where people are doing art for the love, but we often don’t realize that they still crave the same validations that we expect professional actors to take in faith,” Latimer said.
Latimer said this uncertainty is present in every member of a theatrical arts group.