Folding Up The Tent or MAC & the NYT Cabaret Guide Debaucle

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 12:26am

Many of the people who used to be MAC members did not rejoin because of the behaviour displayed by Scott Barbarino, a MAC Board of Director and Penny Landau press agent & "a Founding Charter Member of MAC, and it's first Recording Secretary" on Stu Hamstra's cabarethotline board under the thread titled: "No Cabaret Guide In Newly Restored NYT Arts Listing."

When I posted that I am no longer a member of MAC, I was told by Mr. Barbarino that I should reconsider & that "[i]sn't it time you started pissing out of the tent instead of into it" and that if I'm not a member of MAC, I'm not part of the solution, but part of the problem. Please feel free to click on the link to read the thread which I began by raising the point of the loss of the Cabaret Guide in the NYT.

So far, Mr. Hamstra is monitoring the board & my response is not up. For the sake of continuity with the original posting on this board, below is my response.

I don’t have to be a member of MAC to be a concerned member of the cabaret community. A MAC Board of Director says that if you’re not a member of MAC you’re part of the problem, not the solution. Is this MAC Director speaking for the MAC Board of Directors or is that simplistic thinking purely his own? In any case, his reasoning is faulty. MAC doesn’t have a clue what the problems of the cabaret community are, much less the solutions.

Doing the same thing over & over again & expecting a different result is not the answer. Year after year, thousands upon thousands of dollars are being spent on awards shows that mean nothing outside of the insular community (& not too much w/i the insular community as evidenced by all the familiar names in the cabaret community who did not participate in the awards contest or the awards show). Instead money should be spent on finding solutions. i.e. health care for performers, solving marketing problems like the NYT debaucle, to mention only a few of the very important issues.

Stu Hamstra says we should stop whining about the past. Anyone can say forget about the past. I say those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it.

Unlike many who agree with me but are afraid to speak up, I am not afraid of not getting a MAC award or alienating people who are perceived as powerful in MAC. No amount of bullying will keep me from saying what I believe is in the best interest of this community.

I understand that those people who are either involved in the MAC show or on the BOD are all pulling together to defend MAC. In my opinion, it would be more productive to start a new org than to continue to put valuable volunteer time into an org headed by Barry Levitt and the people who support the way MAC has behaved under the supposedly "new" organization. I’ve been watching patiently since last September, contemplating whether or not to rejoin. I find the so-called "new" admin‘s mantra is the same defensive 1 of the former.

As 1 who keeps her mind open, I’m ever hopeful that MAC will go in a new & healthy direction, but so far I have seen no evidence of that.

Whether the MAC awards show is bad or good show is immaterial. It’s all well & good for cabaret to celebrate itself, but 1st lets have something to really celebrate which would be a trade association that generates fresh ideas & a genuine attempt to at least attack some of the problems that beset our community.

Milla

cabarethotline Updated On: 4/29/05 at 12:26 AM

[do_re_milla]

Posted: 4/29/05 at 4:01pm

bump