MOTHER'S DAY MAYHEM >>>

It's become almost routine for Capital Playhouse and Harlequin Productions to open their shows the same weekend. It's OK for them and their patron base, which doesn't overlap to a prohibitive degree. I don't think it costs those companies business at all. Does it limit their casting options? Probably not. There are more than enough good actors in town to go around, though auditions for Prodigal Sun Productions have been sparsely attended. (Why act for 30 people a night when you can act for 300?) The only person it really hurts is me.

Consider this Mother's Day weekend, commencing Thursday, May 5. Capital Playhouse is opening Fame (the show formerly slotted as Kiss of the Spider Woman--good choice, CP). Harlequin Productions debuts Unexpected Tenderness, from play writing legend Israel Horovitz. I'm obliged to see both of those shows; they're "big tickets." Prodigal Sun Productions opens Amy's View, an ambitious three-act drama about an actress of a certain age. The director is a friend of mine, and I'm interested to see what he's done with the material. Riot to Follow had some production delays, so its take on Eurydice opens and closes that same weekend. I probably shouldn't review that production at all (when shows wrap before a review can see print, my role as consumer advocate becomes pointless), but I want to see the show. Despite the date of April 29 listed on Olympia Little Theatre's promotional posters, A Few Good Men opens May 5. (Of course, OLT's banner says Theatre with an R-E but its URL is olympialittletheater.org with an E-R, so perhaps that's par for the course.)

So that makes five shows opening in Olympia in four days. Great for Olympia!--bad for me.

The point is, I can only see so many shows in a weekend before burnout sets in. It's even worse when I'm in a show myself. And while that isn't the case this spring, we're talking about Mother's Day weekend, when I have two mothers to honor: mine and my fiancée's. That makes a Sunday matinee tricky in the extreme. Then my deadline for the print edition is Monday at 5 p.m., and I have a 30-hour-a-week day job.

There's also the editorial perspective to consider. I'm passionate about theater; perhaps you are, too. Or maybe you're in one of these shows, so it's vitally important to you that it get reviewed so your fabulousness can be commemorated. But I think the last time my editor went to a play was to get out of high school English class, and he's not the only guy in town who loves concert and movie reviews more than our narcissistic extravaganzas. It's unrealistic and unreasonable to expect the Volcano to stuff its pages or even its website with five theater reviews in a single week.

I guess what I'm saying is, would it be too much to ask for you guys to peek at each other's season calendars before you plan your own? My two moms and I would be ever so grateful.