Support your local Tolkien theater

I have taken it upon myself to spread the word to Tolkien fans everywhere: Let's get together and support local theatrical productions of "The Hobbit".

In this weeks Hobbit News I mentioned several local theater productions for "The Hobbit" had been announced on their local news Web sites too late to really do much good. Today is the second of two days in which cast auditions for "The Hobbit" are being held in El Paso (that is a local stage production, NOT the Guillermo del Toro movies being produced in New Zealand).

Jacksonville, FL and Savannah, GA both staged performances of "The Hobbit" in their local community or children's theater this weekend. If you live in any of these areas, did you know about these opportunities in advance?

I'm calling upon fans of J.R.R. Tolkien (and C.S. Lewis and L. Frank Baum) to put their considerable resources together to help promote community theater when it stages science fiction and fantasy plays. These productions may not be as newsworthy as the world-wide release of a new fantasy movie, but there is no reason why fans cannot come together in their local communities and help celebrate Tolkien's fiction, Lewis' fiction, or Baum's fiction with local theater groups.

If you have a Web site you can use it to share information about your local theater season. In larger U.S. cities there may be several local theater groups. You can link to their Web sites, share their press releases, interview their cast and crews, and review their productions and offer pictures of the events.

Local fan groups can set up their own activities (like fan dinners, pre-show festivities such as costume contests, etc.). Local fan groups can also volunteer to help with these productions, or schedule events to complement (rather than compete with) the productions. Local fan groups can also contact their library systems and help organize children's (or adults) programming that focuses on the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, L. Frank Baum, J.K. Rowling, Madeline L'Engle, et. al.

I think the online fan community has become insular. We'll pull together to support our own events (like line parties, after-awards events, etc.) but we virtually ignore mainstream community celebrations of the authors we love. Why? I think it's important that people reach out and connect with each other without drawing lines between "fans" and "mundanes".

There is growing widespread interest in fantasy authors because of the wild success of the "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter Movies", and even the Sci Fi mini-series "Tin Man" helped revive interest in "The Wizard of Oz".

The iron is hot, and now is the time to strike, before enthusiasm for the topic cools off. Give it some thought and see what you can do to help promote your favorite authors' works in your local area.

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