While Coast Weekend Editor Patrick Webb’s lifelong joy is theater, he pledges that other arts will earn their share of publicity. This clipping from the Anchorage Times was a review of a production of “Waiting for Godot” that was beyond edgy.

When I was managing editor of The Astorian, my desk was next to the editor of Coast Weekend. Kathleen Strecker and her successors were among my favorite career colleagues, interesting company, creative and efficient. I always marveled at their skill in juggling so many projects, and envied them because of the material that was their daily bread and butter. 

I love the arts: theater, music, books and paintings bring me joy, even though I cannot claim to be an expert on any. 

The most enjoyable era in my 38-year full-time professional newspaper career was my second of two years at the Anchorage Times.

When I lost a newsroom management struggle with a rather assertive but admittedly competent city editor, I was “shuffled off to the features department.” I became editor of Scene magazine, the Times’ weekly equivalent of Coast Weekend. And — the biggest joy of my professional life! — I became the newspaper’s theater critic. I have long said it was “like being paid to eat chocolate.”

People who have never been to Alaska may be surprised, but in 1990-1992 when I lived there its largest city had a vibrant arts community. The Native American influence greatly enriched all art that formed the tableau of Alaska. And the international nature of the city — “the crossroads at the top of the world” — prompted a demand for culture. In fact, there was so much theater going on I had to delegate some critiques to my freelance writers. But I had first pick. We had an informal rule: if you wrote the preview for Scene, you didn’t write the review for the daily. This was supposedly because you “got too close” to the production team; rot, but not unreasonable.

The University of Alaska at Anchorage boasted a thriving theater program, enriched by the department chairman’s promise to stage one Canadian play each season. That broadened my horizons greatly (though he confided that he regretted the commitment). The production of Evgeny Schwartz’ 1944 Soviet satire “The Dragon” held huge appeal, not least because the director wanted to take it on the road to a theater festival in Vladivostok. I followed it from auditions to opening, and wrote my career-longest article, which I suspect nobody read. I had my bags packed to tag along on the flight to Russia, but alas it never happened.

Anchorage’s big downtown theater attracted most Broadway touring productions plus huge names like Tony Bennett and Patrick Stewart. And there were community and semi-pro outfits that mixed old favorites with cutting-edge drama. Memories of one edgy version of “Waiting for Godot” helped when I auditioned for the delightfully amusing part of “Lucky” when the talented Karen Bain directed the show in 2016 at Astoria’s Charlene Larsen Performing Arts Center. The Anchorage Lucky was chained up to a neck collar with spikes, wore a leather codpiece and little else. He was mightily abused by the actor playing Pozzo. Bill Honl seemed a gentleman in comparison.

I am “lucky” to be writing about theater still, so many years later: Saturday marks the 49th anniversary of the day I started. I never tire of making theater a significant focus. But while I am Coast Weekend editor, I pledge that music, books and paintings and other interesting stuff will fill our editions, ideally in equal measure. As evidence, we have this week’s model trains. Coming up, the variety will include a rodeo, a regatta and volleyball on the beach. And watch out! Dracula will take a bite out of our pages in September.