#250701 ~ Introducing My Theatregoing Log : May-June 2025
Brian Eugenio Herrera's #TheatreClique Newsletter for July 1, 2025.
WELCOME to #TheatreClique — my emphatically intermittent newsletter dedicated to encouraging you to click out to some of the most interesting, intriguing & noteworthy writing about drama, theatre & performance (at least, so says me)…
Today’s #TheatreCliquery:
This installment of #TheatreClique offers the first post in what might become an occasional series in which I share out a bit about my evolving experiment in attempting to document my theatre-going practice.
As attentive #TheatreClique readers (and as listeners to my erstwhile podcast) know all too well, I’ve been sincerely trying (and persistently failing) to find a simple, satisfying, and sustainable method for “catching my thoughts” about the many shows I see. It has long felt somehow wasteful — irresponsible, even — to see all the shows I see and not document at least some of what I think about what I see. And because I’m tragically spreadsheet-impaired, I’ve turned antically to a variety of other digital/web-based approaches (google forms, worksheets of my own design, etcetera) but, no matter what I tried, the blank forms piled up as incriminating, bathetic undone homework.
Then, sometime late this Spring, an incidental purchase of a bundle of pocket-sized notebooks combined with my predisposition to handwork to activate what might just be the simple, sustainable, and satisfying solution I’ve long sought…
My (Emerging) Doodle-Documentation Method
Each time I go to a show, I simply doodle-document the experience before, during, and soon after the show.
The size of the page limits how much I can write, while also limiting how much time I can dedicate to the task. This “quick write” approach forces me to briskly catch my first thoughts in a snap prose portrait, typically within hours of experiencing the performance. Doodling the “data” along the top of the page happens at a different pace. I dawdle a bit more — typically pre-show or at intermission — as I almost meditatively gather the relevant details: title; creators; venue/theatre; what was good or not-good about my seat; names of friends and famous folks I spied in the house; plus the day, date, and ticket source. After only seven weeks or so, I’ve found this mode of doodle-documentation to be not only simple, sustainable, and satisfying but also that it serves a similar mnemonic function as my longstanding acadoodling practice. But handiest of all, in the front cover of each notebook, I can list the shows I see as I see them. This makes for a ready reference summary of that month’s theatregoing. (Which comes in handy everytime I inevitably draw a blank when someone asks “see anything interesting lately?”) Then, when the notebook fills, I stack it on a shelf in my home office, alongside my many other doodle-filled notebooks, but not before scanning the whole thing so that I can readily access a pdf version of the notebook if/as/whenever I might need or want to.
All of which makes this doodle-documentation practice feel like both a major “whew” and a big “yay”… And so, without further ado, here is my quick & easy snapshot overview for…
This Month (or So) in Theatregoing ~ May/June 2025
Wherein I offer a snapshot overview of my theatregoing for the previous month or so…
So, in summary, we have:
TOTAL: 25 shows in 61 days at average ratio of 12.5 shows per month, or 3.125 shows per week;
CITIES: 3 — 21 shows seen in greater NYC; 3 in Philadelphia; 1 in Princeton;
TICKETING: 9 as part of season subscriptions; 8 at retail; 5 press/industry comps; 3 at discount (TodayTix, TDF, AudienceRewards); 0 free/no-charge;
SKIPPED: 8 tickets booked/purchased but returned, released, gifted, or otherwise unused due to scheduling, transit, or stamina challenges;
REPEATS: 4 return visits to a given production; 2 new-to-me productions of a show I’ve seen before;
FAVORITES: Dead Outlaw • Rheology • A Summer Day • Cold War Choir Practice • Last Bimbo of the Apocalypse • frikiNation;
YEAR TO DATE: 89 shows seen (in 4 cities) at an average ratio of 14.5 shows per month, or 3.425 shows per week.
and that, dear reader, is an early glimpse into my evolving practice of doodle-documenting my theatregoing…
We’ll see how the scribbling goes. In the meantime, if you happen to spy me with a little notebook in my front jacket pocket, or if you see me doodling during intermission sometime, you’ll know exactly what I’m up to. Thanks, as always, for reading.