Wikipedia:Peer review/Westport Country Playhouse/archive1

Westport Country Playhouse
I'd like some feedback about the organization of the article, as well as the History section. The article is already Good, I'd like to see it featured some day. As such, any feedback would be appreciated. --Cryptic C62 · Talk 02:18, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * On first glance, it seems very list heavy. Like a bunch of random facts thrown on the article. Perhaps some of it can be put into prose? I'll look deeper and see what else I can see. --198.185.18.207 13:09, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * That's true, it is list heavy. The problem is that much of the information is best presented in list format, namely the notable artists and some of the technical information. I'll try prose-izing some of the lists and we'll see what looks good. Rmrfstar has also suggested moving the list of notable artists into a separate article. Do you agree with this? --Cryptic C62 · Talk 22:12, 27 September 2006 (UTC)
 * The only problem I really see with that is that we lose a lot of information that way. Without the lists, the article becomes much more encyclopedic. Without the information from the lists, the article becomes much less informative. Perhaps someone with more experience can come up with ways that make the information easy to digest, but less list-like. --198.185.18.207 13:35, 28 September 2006 (UTC)

From SG
I did what I could to clean up the article, but as yet, there is little actual content about the Playhouse to work with: the main article about the actual Playhouse has not yet been written, while the article focuses heavily on minor details and content of lesser importance. I also removed the external jumps: please don't link to outside websites for basic definitions - if a definition is needed, the term should be wikified. I also dealt with the hanging footnotes: please review WP:FN. I removed the 2006 season (unencylopedic, Wiki is not for advertising and is not a website, and that info was old anyway). There is SO much that can be said about the Playhouse, that info isn't needed. Focus on telling the story of the Playhouse, using the Somerset-Ward book, and augmenting it with local press.

The significance and importance of the Playhouse in American theatre is not yet covered. To elevate an article to FA status requires a committed and passionate involvement with the topic: Cryptic, I'm wondering if you have read the Somerset-Ward book cover to cover, or if you are summarizing from lesser sources? There is a rich and thorough story of the Playhouse in that book; the article needs to cover that material, rather than including a lot of lists about technical specs, the season, non-notables on staff, etc. Several months of involvement with the material in the Somerset-Ward book should yield a high-quality FA, as there is excellent material to work with, but the content work needs to be done still.

It troubles me that GA status is conferred to articles without a serious review of the criteria: the article is very listy, although the criteria for GA specifically refer to listiness, the article headings did not conform to WP:MOS (I changed some of them), and it appears to me, more seriously, that the article is a copyvio. This needs to be addressed ASAP, or I'll tag and speedy delete some portions. The lead also needs work: once the article is thoroughly written (and the prose will need polishing), the lead should be an enticing and compelling two or three sentence summary of the article. It should not cover details of minor importance (for example, the mention of Annie Keefe, who has resigned anyway).

In terms of sources, some questions: did Rabinovitz *really* write a book about the Apprenticeship program? It is cited as a book, which I've never seen. Is that a pamphlet or a book? If it's a book, a publisher should be listed. Similar for the Smith technical information.
 * I see from the Playhouse website that the apprentice and intern info comes from their brochures - perhaps it would be better not to cite it as a book, and to source it to the information download on their website, again, taking care that you don't violate copyright by using too much of their exact text. Sandy 05:43, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Copyvio here is a serious problem: please address it immediately. I have reworked/reworded several sections to eliminate possible copyvio, but the list of notable performers is a big problem. In its current form, it appears as an egregious copyvio (and, besides, it has some errors in relation to the Somerset-Ward book). I have separated that info to a daughter article (where it belongs), but I believe that entire article is a copyvio. If it isn't fixed soon, I'll speedy delete it. I suggest fixing it by summarizing important performances and performers, rather than verbatim copying the entire history of performances at the Playhouse.
 * Reviewing more closely the Playhouse website, this appears to come from their site: "In order to more easily transfer Playhouse productions to Broadway, the stage was built to match the specifications of Broadway’s Times Square Theatre on 42nd Street. The idea proved immediately useful when the playhouse's first production, The Streets of New York (starring Dorothy Gish), transferred to Broadway. Dozens of new works followed suit over the years." Text from the brief history on the Playhouse website  should be rewritten to avoid copyvio problems:  a number of other sources are available, including local press and the Somerset-Ward book.

The content of the article needs to be expanded to begin to tell the story of the Playhouse. It can certainly be FA some day. If you ping me in a month or so, I'll have another look. For now, please deal with the copyvio ASAP. Great start on an article which has great potential !! Sandy 14:43, 29 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Also, I did not replace the phrase "back of the house", but try to avoid theatre lingo that might confuse the non-theatre, average reader. Sandy 03:07, 30 September 2006 (UTC)


 * Also, the offspring and relatives of notable performers who have interned at the Playhouse isn't really encyclopedic content: the Somerset-Ward book has plenty to say about the various educational programs, and I left more on the article talk page, so that you should be able to easily fill up those sections with relevant material.  Sandy 03:09, 30 September 2006 (UTC)


 * I should also mention that the images should be upgraded in order to make FA quality: two of them are superb, but several of them are very dark, and of equipment only, not adding anything anything meaningful, and yet, there is no picture of the old Playhouse or the construction, and a strange picture of the new rehearsal room.  A current FA is Abbey Theatre; it provides an example in terms of content, although it's a bad example of referencing, since it was passed FA before the current inline citation requirements. If you look at Abbey, you'll see that a lot of the current content can be replaced with the kind of information you can find in Somerset-Ward and other local sources.  I hope I've given you enough to get your arms around for a few months! Sandy 03:24, 30 September 2006 (UTC)

Image Fair Use?
I'm wondering if you ever got permission to use these two images: Image:WPC 02 cropped.jpg and Image:WPC interior.jpg   Perhaps a phone call to the Playhouse to make sure they approve the use is in order? Sandy 05:31, 30 September 2006 (UTC)