By David Roberts
Theatre Reviews Limited
“Encore Monthly” is a new theatre magazine for the 21st Century. It celebrates everything we love about American theatre, whether it is happening on the stages on Broadway or on the pages we follow on social media.
Launching on an initial bimonthly schedule, “Encore Monthly” will move into monthly print releases later in 2021 when Broadway theatres are expected to reopen. Veteran magazine publishers Louis Doucette and Brantley Manderson helm the publication with Editor in Chief Robert Viagas leading an experienced editorial team.
With its distinctive voice and contributions from both established and emerging writers, “Encore Monthly” offers a unique and intimate view of the world of the American stage. Its exclusive content takes readers into the wings, behind the scenes and to all the places theatre people come together. It also takes a close look at the lifestyle of theatre lovers, getting inside their living rooms to examine how they spend their time when they are not sitting in their orchestra seats. It covers everything from food, wine, fashion, travel and much, much more—but all from a theatre lover’s specific point of view. Encore Monthly goes far beyond the experience of seeing a show: it illustrates how that experience can shape our lives forever.
Theatre Reviews Limited reached out to Editor in Chief Robert Viagas for an exclusive interview about the magazine’s launch and its first-ever cover featuring Bernadette Peters.
David Roberts (DR): “Encore Monthly” is ready to launch its first issue. That must be exciting. Any thoughts on the process that has led up to this moment? Any anxieties or second thoughts?
Robert Viagas (RV): In a year when everything seemed to be sliding into disaster, “Encore Monthly” proved to be a shining success for me personally and, I hope, for the theatre world. People told us we were crazy to launch a new magazine in the middle of the COVID-19 shutdown, but we quickly found that theatre folk were hungrier for a continued engagement with the theatre than we had even anticipated. We had some anxiety at first, but we believed strongly in what we were doing. Don’t forget: We’re not amateurs at this. I and my publishers Louis Doucette and Brantley Manderson have been in publishing all our lives and seen some of our efforts succeed, and some not. We all had a good, solid, hard-nosed feeling that Encore Monthly was going to be a winner. I just got my first hard copy of the first edition and I feel like a new dad.
DR: The wave upon wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is indeed a challenging time to launch a new subscription magazine. What will motivate theatre lovers to subscribe during this time when the theatre has been dark for ten months? Do you think “Encore Monthly” will be able to sustain subscribers’ interest in theatre?
RV: Like “Playbill,” where I worked for 24 years, our print issue will always be our Mother Ship. But we are also planning some exciting build-outs to our website, encoremonthly.com. I’m certainly aware that there is a lot of material about theatre on the web. I know because I put a lot of it there! But I have hired some of the best veteran and new talent in the business—people with wonderfully distinct voices—and the magazine is the only place where theatre fans will be able to find them all together, like an all-star band. And what they write will not sound like what they can get elsewhere because “Encore Monthly” has a unique focus—on the interests and preoccupations of the audience in all its forms. We are not a magazine for press agents or star managers, but for the people who pay their hard-earned money for tickets. That will keep them coming back.
(DR): Why did you choose Bernadette Peters for the inaugural cover?
(RV): We wanted several things for the cover: a recognizable Broadway star, a compelling image of theatre being made, and an acknowledgement of the perilous times in which theatre is struggling to survive. We considered several images but the one of Ms. Peters in Times Square, singing her heart out in full PPE, seemed to say it all. It jumped off the screen when I looked at all the photo candidates together. It took a bit of Photoshop magic to make her face clearer and more recognizable through the glare on the mask, but we didn’t manufacture anything. The urgency and poignancy of the image ultimately sold itself.
DR: How would you define a “consumer lifestyle magazine?”
RV: One that explores the many ways people enjoy theatre. I personally have seen nearly 2000 shows on Broadway, and countless more Off-Broadway and regionally. But I am acutely aware that most people see only 3-5 shows in a year’s time. What do they do to maintain their interested between those golden moments? Cast albums, podcasts, social media, YouTube, books, the Tony Awards, Zoom performances, etc. etc. It is in these supplemental areas, along with the shows and stars themselves, where a consumer lifestyle magazine finds its audience.
DR: Any specific contributing writers or specific articles planned you’d liked to “tease” us with?
RV: Our first issue ranges from the cover story on the Theatre Heroes of the Covid Pandemic, to a quiz on obscure musical theatre lyrics; from a survey of the preoccupations of Pulitzer Prize winners in the 21st century, to a food-oriented look back at scenes from shows that made us hungry. We write about the founding of Black Theatre United, but also about the ghosts believed to haunt American stages. Some theatre is about fun and entertainment; some theatre asks the most profound questions about how we live today. “Encore Monthly” does both of those things too.
DR: How would you differentiate “Encore” from “American Theatre?”
RV: “American Theatre” is more of an academic magazine that serves regional theatres across the US. “Encore Monthly” also celebrates audiences across the country, but it focuses more on the needs and interests of the people in the seats.
DR: Anything else you would like to include that I have not asked?
RV: We truly want our magazine to be the voice of American Theatre in the 2020s, the 2030s and beyond. Theatre after COVID is going to be very different, and we will be there to chronicle it.
DR: Thank you, Robert. We look forward to seeing the first and future issues of “Encore Monthly” and wish you, the publishers, and staff all the best. Congratulations!