The problem with NYMF is it has become something it was not intended to be - about "names." They want to send out a press release touting the "name" performers in the shows (never mind that I've seen the list and haven't heard of half these people), and that's not what this festival started out to be about - it was about the SHOWS, not the cast members. Pity the show that just decided to get the best possible people for each role - if they're not "names" they won't be in the press release - I've written NYMF and talked to the overall PR guy, who is a big fan of mine and he totally gets what I'm saying, so that, at least, is good. So, it somehow becomes that the shows to see are the shows with the "names" which is hardly what it should be about. Names are great but the shows that don't have them (and I don't count myself as one of those shows, since Barry Pearl has more credits on his little finger than most of these people will have in their lives, and Alet is not exactly chopped liver) should not suffer because I'm sure there are good shows that don't have names and people should see them and not be waylaid by lists that, in the long run, are meaningless - the play's the thing.