QUICK TAKES - Jan. 17, 2009

The recent reports of the elimination of theater critic, writer and editor positions at the Los Angeles Daily News, LA Weekly and the Daily Breeze came as a blow to the local stage community.

Now the artistic directors of three major Los Angeles theaters -- Gilbert Cates of the Geffen Playhouse, Sheldon Epps of the Pasadena Playhouse and Michael Ritchie of Center Theatre Group -- are speaking out about it, decrying the decline in voices and calling on the arts community to keep the conversation going.

“This will have a damaging effect on the theater community but it will also be detrimental to the soul and the cultural life of Los Angeles,” they said in a joint statement to The Times, posted in full at latimes.com/culturemonster. “In the most difficult of times or in the happiest of times, the live arts provide a human connection that is incomparable and irreplaceable. Theater helps sustain a meaningful dialogue that bonds citizens together. To understate the importance of theater in Los Angeles by marginalizing the voices of those who bring these discussions to the public arena is shortsighted and irresponsible.”

-- Lisa Fung