Theater journalism is dying, and there’s few who are willing to save it.
A conversation with Raven Snook, a theater journalist who writes for the Theater Development Fund.
From the moment she saw her idol Penny Arcade, in her original production of, “Bitch! Dyke! Faghag! Whore!” Raven Snook fell in love with non contemporary theater. Arcade always artistically expressed herself through rebellion and Snook wanted to do the same. She never let herself believe in boundaries when it came to her love for theater. She experienced theater as a spectacle, which she later chose to encapsulate through her words.
Aside from the fact that she is Jewish and Caucasian, Snook claims she never really fit into the mold of a traditional theater kid. “I was and am goth. I used to walk into a writer’s room and people never thought I had much to offer. I had to prove them wrong with my words.”
Snook grew up on the Upper West Side of New York in the 1980’s, a time when, she claims, middle class individuals could afford to go see Broadway shows frequently. Her father took her to see Broadway shows once a month, which helped refine her interests in musical theater. She attended Sarah Lawrence college in the 1990s during which she began her journalism career as an editorial intern at the Village Voice.
“I was in charge of opening press releases by order. It was a very different time when press releases came by mail,’ Snook said as she fondly recollected the beginning of her writing career.
During the early 2000’s Snook noticed a large shift in theater journalism because the advent of social media had replaced the need for a show review. She then shifted her focus from writing about theater to parenting as she became a mother for the first time.
“ Motherhood consumed me. Instead of writing about why Wicked was thriving on a new stage, I chose to write about how-to’s for other first time mothers at Mommy Poppins, a blog focused website.”
However, Snook officially began her foray back into theater journalism in 2014 at the service oriented nonprofit publication, Theater Development Fund (TDF). At TDF, Snook previously wrote editorials and conducted interviews with actors, directors, and playwrights until the pandemic began.
“A lot of people look at what I do and they don’t think it’s journalism, it might be marketing, but there’s a reason people want to see it.” said Snook, defending her position as a show critic.
In response to the pandemic however, Raven chose to shift her focus to theater accessibility and streaming while traditional theater journalism was more focused on understanding how Broadway was adjusting to the pandemic. Snook later explained her decision saying, “I wanted to connect people to the culture of musical theater at a time where there was no culture. I wanted to revive it.”
The onset of the Omicron variant greatly impacted Broadway because shows which had just reopened in the fall of 2021, were shutting down in response to the rising number of cases, especially among the crew of several productions. While Snook certainly understood the necessity for Broadway to make changes, she confessed that she admired shows which did not close.
“It was this media frenzy which completely overlooked productions, particularly off Broadway, which were still putting on a show. Most people on Broadway always believe that the show must go on,”said Snook, critiquing how the industry overlooked shows which never closed.
Snook also admits that while the pandemic was certainly difficult to navigate for Broadway, she believes that it came at the right time in order to make necessary changes to the industry. She believes that people are now more willing to have conversations about what had been missing from the theater landscape.
“There has really been a lack of women voices, nonwhite voices, and trans women voices. I love writing about theater but I also would be happy to not write about it if it gives opportunities to other people,” Raven confessed as she also admitted she has a position of privilege in society. “I am a White Jewish journalist from New York City who loves theater. There’s more than enough of me out there.”
Today, Snook has branched out to focus on reporting not only theater and parenting but pop culture as well. She claims that she never had the time to consider what made her happy and passionate before quarantine during which she reassessed her decision to continue writing about theater.
“I always want to give people what they need instead of what they want. By writing about shows which are worth watching, I felt like I was following the crowd. But I will always take the opportunity to be different.”
As we end our conversation, Snook asks me whether I want to focus on theater journalism in the future. But before I can even answer she says, “ Don’t answer that. I already know your answer. Theater journalism is dead.”
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Source: Raven Snook
email: raven_snook@yahoo.com
