Still reeling slightly from last Friday when 22 of my colleagues were downsized out of the Daily News. Yes, all you devoted readers of TCiC, I'm still here. Didn't necessarily think I'd escape the ax, but for the immediate future at least, theater writing/criticism (or the closest approximation I can attempt) will continue here at the Daily News.

You try to be professional. You try to do your job and take the good and the bad. I didn't truthfully get much work done that Friday, or during the days leading up to it. Kinda hard to sit there and try to be productive when you don't know whether one of the top dogs is going to come tap your shoulder and say, "we need you in human resources for your exit interview." No, like everyone else, I chatted with friends who were leaving, hugged people, tried to say some semblance of the right thing, and got the hell out of the building to spend the weekend thinking about how and why I was still standing. It's a day I'd like not to repeat.

I did get a couple of phone calls that day, though. One from a pushy publicist -- he knows who he is -- urging me to see the magic themed show he's repping.

And on that awful day, I got a call from a man who had seen my rave of "Almost, Maine" at the Colony Theatre, had taken a friend's extra seat, had seen the show and proceeded to spend a perfectly miserable evening at the theater. He called me up not to berate me, but to ask what I had seen in the play? Was he crazy for detesting it? I believe he used the phrase, "Was it just me?"

Now, whenever I get a disagreeing phone call or e-mail (not a DISAGREEABLE call. There's a difference), I try to get the reader talking. This gentlemen wasn't calling me an idiot or a loser unqualified to occupy a dark room. He disagreed with my opinion, politely, and wanted to know where I was coming from. I turned the question around. "Why did you hate it?" I asked, and listened to his answer. And I told him that, in my book, his opinion was as valid as any other. Part of what makes theater criticism -- or any criticism -- a kick, is the freedom to hold opposite views, and to disagree. I conveyed as much. The conversation ended as politely as it began. I hope to God I remembered to thank him.

Yeah, I like to know that people are reading, particularly when they care enough to let me know they're reading, keeping an eye on me. That was a day from hell, but that phone call made me feel just a little bit better about the work I do.

I guess this is my umpteenth way of saying, for pity's sake, bring on the feedback. If you go to the theater. If you AVOID the theater, tell me why. No comment is unwelcome. Well, OK, maybe that spam from the porno sights is unwelcome. Everything else, bring it on.

Sentiment and plea over. We now return you to your regularly scheduled blog.