To The Greater Michigan Theatre Community:

For the last 11 years, I have run EncoreMichigan.com. But the time has come to make a change in my life. As of September 10, I am retiring as Editor and Publisher.

At present, I am looking for someone or some entity to take over the site. I have made some inquiries myself around this idea. My preference would be to gift the site to a non-profit. Perhaps our readers want to share this announcement with someone who may be interested. They can email me at encorepress@gmail.com.

For the next few months, I, and some of other reviewers, will review shows at our discretion for EncoreMichigan and possibly other sites.

When Founder Don Calamia came to me to take the site over and save EncoreMichigan, and the Wilde Awards, it was a very happy beginning. We redesigned the site, and I am happy with the way it has held up. I have been blessed with some great colleagues and reviewers. I think we have done good and meaningful work for the community.

And I have made wonderful friends among the artistic community that I hope will last for the rest of my life.

I know that there are those who don’t like what we do and how we do it, and I understand that. After all, I have reviewed hundreds of shows ( I lost count), and I have been frank when I have leveled some criticism at productions. Some didn’t like it when I did that. To them I say “Maseltov.” Seldom did I see a bad production. These days, and for the last decade, my criticism is more directed at the choice of material rather than the talent or efforts of the hardworking artists.

We will issue Wilde Award winners for the 2023-24 season, which ended August 31, as soon as we have them locked up.

The future of Wilde Awards is up in the air. I have an idea about how to continue it, but I’m not sure it will work. So, stay tuned.

As of this week, we will stop running other content like auditions, show and season announcements, etc. In the near term, the only new content will be our reviews.

I will keep the Facebook Page up and post our reviews, and repost content from the theatres we follow to our followers. I think echoing your content to our followers is useful.

You all rock. It has been a privilege to run EncoreMichigan and be your champion.

I hope that what we did these last 11 years mattered to you all. I know it mattered to me.

Love you all.

David Kiley