Readers offer advice to Joe Haj and new Guthrie administration

The new administration should heed this from the ­theater's official history:

"The Guthrie became a prototype for an important new kind of theater in contrast to the commercial environment of Broadway. There, the high costs associated with mounting a production increasingly mandated that shows must be immediately successful at high ticket prices. The Broadway atmosphere was conducive neither to producing the great works of literature, nor to cultivating the artists' talents, nor to nourishing the audience."

So continue the Guthrie tradition of producing shows like "Crimes of the Heart," "The Sunshine Boys" and "Charley's Aunt" to continue as an important new kind of theater in contrast to that Broadway atmosphere.

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I have been coming to the Guthrie since it first opened. I love that they do Shakespeare and classics, but do not remove the musicals. They are another part of theater and draw a different crowd, which is nice. I think [outgoing director Joe] Dowling has done a wonderful job and he will be missed, but it will be fun to have a change, but still keep it a class theater! One physical gripe: Why make us feel like we are crammed on an airplane with the lack of legroom? Cramps in the middle of a play are very distracting! It is my one biggest disappointment in the new theater.

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I'm a fan from the early Tyrone Guthrie days. Call me old-fashioned. I'd like to see more Eugene O'Neill, Arthur Miller and always Chekhov, Ibsen, Strindberg. Shakespeare, of course. Throw in Wendy Wasserstein and a few exciting new playwrights, and I'll be there.

I'm inclined to agree with the basic strain of many of the comments: The Guthrie needs to branch out more and bring new voices in. I'm certainly not suggesting it become an exclusive showcase for the contemporary, but it does seem the theater — at least up until the last several years — turned away from new plays and playwrights, creating a perception of stodginess. (Actually, the Guthrie hasn't always been that comprehensive in covering the classics, either; there are still notable playwrights whose work has not been sufficiently explored on the Guthrie stage.) But like all rep theaters, the Guthrie has to balance commercial viability with risk, which doesn't always leave much room for surprise. So I was very pleased to see "Mr. Burns, a Post-Electric Play" on this season's current lineup. I never would have expected that from them.

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