Welcome
The Craptacular is…
An independent web site bringing you irreverent, colorful commentary on Broadway and it’s attendant community of artists and fans.
We strive to capture what’s happening (or not happening) in theater, and what you love, love to hate, and just plain can’t stand about it.
The number of things we love about theater: Infinite. The number of prisoners we take: Zero.
Recently The Craptacular’s creators Lucky and The Mick:
- Wrote for Arts Beat, the New York Times’ theater blog
- Spoke at the Public Theater’s LAB Speaker Series
- Were named among the Top 100 Theater Tweeters to Follow on BroadwayWorld
- Were cited among the Best Theater Bloggers of 2011 by About.com
- Were named one of 10 Theater Tweeters To Know Right Now by The Huffington Post
We also have some policies and procedures you might want to know more about–you can check them out here.
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Who We Are
Lucky is…
Laura Motta, a writer/editor/content whiz who’s spent the last decade scribbling, strategizing, launching, refocusing, and voice-ifying for web sites big and small. Her New York City publishing life has included stints at Random House, EverydayHealth, iVillage/NBC Universal, Travelzoo, and ShermansTravel, where she is currently the Director of Publishing.
She is also a massive theater nerd who began her nonacting, nondirecting, noncareer in suburban Massachusetts while listening to lots of showtunes on compact disc, singing in the choruses of many a community theater musical, and generally hanging around stage doors. To this end, she has performed in Oliver!, Hello Dolly!, The Sound of Music, The King and I, The Crucible, and a very excellent mostly-Caucasian production of The Wiz.
As a writer, her work has appeared in The New York Times, Matador Network, airline magazines that no longer exist because the airlines themselves no longer exist, HowAboutWe, Backstage, and lots of other places, including the back flaps of bestselling cookbooks.
She graduated from Emerson College. For a little while, she lived in Paris where there are no musicals. When she’s not traveling, she can be seen drinking coffee in Greenwich Village. She’s curious to know what you’re seeing this weekend…
The Mick is…
Also known as Aileen McKenna — haha, get it?! — a Long Island born and bred Creative Director, writer, and enthusiastic loudmouth. She’s passionate about digital marketing, theater, beautiful shoes, Taylor Hanson and telling dirty jokes.
Her career in digital marketing began at the age of sixteen, when she started designing (and coding!) the website for a small software company near her hometown. It has continued with stints at several tech start-ups, an utterly massive corporate bank, and a brief detour through professional services marketing, which is much less dirty than it sounds. (She worked for architects.) Today she’s the head creative honcho for the digital solutions group of an insurance direct marketing company, which is very niche, and she’ll talk your ear off about it if you care to ask.
Her career as a writer, story-teller, and general filthy-joke maker probably began at birth, or maybe before, because she inherited all of those skills from a long line of loud, enthusiastic Irish people, just like she inherited a head full of really, really red hair. In addition to her work at The Craptauclar, she’s honed those skills in places like Backstage Magazine, Stage Rush TV and Broadway Radio.
In her spare time — haha — Aileen is a rabid fangirl of very many things, including boys with tattoos, Irish Literature, and more recently, Harry Edward Styles. She’s thrilled to talk about any and all of that to the extent that she probably never shuts up, but like, she wants to hear about what you love, too, so let’s share.
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Contributors
NineDaves
He knew he had a problem with theater at age 7 when after seeing his first Broadway show, Les Miserables, he told his parents, “I liked it, but I wish there was more choreography.” He’s been writing about theater steadily since then, for a few years as theater editor for Rhode Island’s Providence Monthly, and more recently on his own site, www.ninedaves.com — where his SMASH Reality Index recaps with Linda have become more entertaining than the show each week. He has a total crush on Raúl Esparza, Norbert Leo Butz, and Brian d’Arcy James. He also may have seen Xanadu more times than he’d like to admit. If you follow him on Twitter, expect way too many tweets about Newsies.
Lovely Linda
She’s very excited to be writing for The Craptacular because she enjoys talking about cute boys in shows. Her current top three theater crushes are Justin Kirk, Michael Esper, and Jeremy Shamos, but this is subject to change by the week. She writes about Broadway on her site, Pataphysical Science, where you can read the SMASH Reality Index she writes with NineDaves, and on her Twitter @PataphysicalSci. She also writes features for TDF Stages and Broadway Direct. Her current favorite topic of conversation is Nick Jonas.
Mildly Bitter
Mildly Bitter’s first Broadway musical was Starlight Express — roller skating trains y’all. But in the Webber v. Sondheim debate, there is no question she’s a Sondheim girl all the way. She prefers plays to musicals but she’s DYING for a City of Angels revival. She writes about US and UK theater and can’t stop talking about her favorite human, UK storyteller and comedian Daniel Kitson, at mildlybitter.blogspot.com. She’s juggling a lot of major talent crushes right now including ones on actors Brandon Dirden, Jeanine Serralles and Steve Rosen, the theater company The Civilians, director Sam Gold, playwrights Annie Baker and Will Eno, and guitar player Bryce Dessner. Follow @MildlyBitter on twitter where she won’t shut up about them. Of course she’ll buy a ticket to any show which includes the sights and sounds of Will Chase, Jason Danieley, Colin Donnell, Claybourne Elder, Jeremy Jordan or Steven Pasquale. She’s only human after all.
