1. Find out about theatrical performances in the Thursday or Sunday section of the Herald Tribune: http://www.heraldtribune.com/  or in Creative Loafing: http://sarasota.creativeloafing.com/gyrobase/index .  MCC events are announced on the MCC website at: http://www.mccfl.edu/pages/136.asp .

2. See the play -- you may find it helpful to read the script, if available, either before or after you see the production.

3. Jot down a few notes of your impressions during the intermission and immediately after the performance -- particularly on details you might forget.

4. Include the following information in your review: title (underlined) and author of the play, director, actors and the roles they play, major designers (i.e. lighting, costumes, scenery), theatre, and date of performance.

5. While you may wish to include a brief synopsis of the play, do not make it longer than a paragraph. Your emphasis should not be on plot summary.

6. A new play may warrant some analysis and critique of the script or you may want to comment on how well and "old standard" holds up, but the major focus of your critique should be on the quality of the production -- the direction, the acting, and the design aspects. DESCRIBE, describe, describe.

7. Be subjective, but be sure to back up your opinions with specific objective illustrations and details.

8. Read reviews in the New Yorker, New York magazine, the Village Voice, the New York Times, Time, Newsweek, and local publications --begin to look at reviewers' styles and emphases and to judge how well the reviewer has succeeded in communicating his/her impressions of the production. Whose style do you like? Whose do you dislike? Why?

9. In a review that requires research (probably anything over 500 words), many types of research are possible: 1) interviews with some of the principal people involved in the production; i.e. directors, designers, actors; 2) other reviews of the same production; 3) reviews of other productions of the same play; 4) published interviews or articles with or about the author or those about his writings; 5) literary criticism on the play or playwright; 6) research into the historical period in which or about which the play was written -- especially regarding play production at that time.

10. Use MLA documentation style for any research.

11. Be creative, but be fair.

12. Student sample: Miss Saigon