Antoinette who? How Does One Really Measure the Value of a Tony?

Recently, while flipping through a copy of ArtsJournal, I recently stumbled across an offering from the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. Penned by their theatre critic Dominic Papatola, the article questioned the relative value of the Antoinette Perry (Tony) Awards outside of the North half of the Eastern Time Zone.

In essence, while there is something to be lauded in the idea of awarding the top-level of theatrical excellence, one should keep in mind that, generally speaking, we are only discussing the plays that appear in one section of the market in a single geographic location. The Antoinette Perry Awards, often thought of as setting the gold standard for theatrical excellence in the United States, is only applicable to Broadway productions. Broadway productions are only available in, you guessed it, New York City. While there is, admittedly, a Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre (in order to allow the American Theatre Wing to acknowledge quality theatres outside NYC) why is it that entire theatres outside of America's "Cultural Capital" are equated to single productions. Why is the Alliance Theatre considered upon the same level as Billy Elliot?

The continued dominance of the Tony Awards is symptomatic of the continued NYC-centric attitudes taken by the American Theatre today. Something that we here at The Savannah Dramaturgy would very much like to break. Along with Scott Walters at Theatre Ideas, we hearilty endorse the idea of moving theatre out of "Rome" and into "The Provinces."

Quite simply, there is absolutely no reason that Savannah cannot sustain quality theatre and the community that goes along with it. So perhaps it is time for a Savannah-based theatrical award, to recognize the best among our community. Quite simply, to echo Papatola, something might win a Tony, but people will go and see it when it travels, regardless. So lets start bringing some things home.