In the Know. (Letters to the Editor).

Many of the pieces in your "Understanding Critics" issue (Sept. '01) were provocative, to say the least. Some of the contributors focused on the issue of whether a critic should or should not be a part of the theatre community--to the neglect of what seems to me a far more important point. It has always been my view that being a critic requires a fundamental knowledge of the art being critiqued. When I was working as a daily theatre and film critic, I was constantly astonished by colleagues who stated candidly that if they knew acting, directing and playwriting, it ...