I have started a newsletter on Yahoo! Groups that I call "Hobbit News". It's not so much news about the upcoming "Hobbit" movies just a roundup of what I feel are interesting and perhaps obscure news items somehow related to Tolkien literature, fandom, whatever.

In this weekend's issue, HOBBIT NEWS, Volume 2009, Issue 3, January 25, I offered to help promote events from community theaters such as "Hobbit" productions.

There appears to me to be an increasing interest in local theater for Tolkien's story. A lot of children's theaters and community theaters have staged "Hobbit" productions in recent months (at least here in the United States) and I expect to see more such productions for several reasons.

First, as anticipation for the Guillermo del Toro "Hobbit" movies builds up, more communities will rise to the occasion and stage their own local productions. I think this is great.

Secondly, I honestly believe that recent books such as The History of The Hobbit and The Children of Hurin have sparked renewed interest in Tolkien's work.

And I also believe that the Harry Potter phenomenon has revived interest in children's literature in a way that pure Tolkien fandom could not have. But people are now looking at other classic children's stories with refreshed passion.

To the schools, churches, community playhouses, and children's theaters who are interested in staging "Hobbit" productions, I say to you take on the Web. Use the Internet to help make people aware of your productions, your auditions, and your job openings (if any) well in advance. The news media seem to be doing a poor job of supporting you.

The people handling publicity and communications for local plays may not know much about the Web or the online Tolkien community. Tolkien fan sites can help build communications between those local production groups and people in their own communities by supporting any "Hobbit" plays on their Web sites.

But you can do more. You can ask your local libraries to include "The Hobbit" in their children's programming. You can suggest to any school theater groups that they consider the challenge of putting on a "Hobbit" play. You can set up online petitions to ask people in your community to lobby your local theater companies to stage "The Hobbit".

Tolkien fandom can take an active role in promoting and guiding local theater, in helping communicate to the Internet theater audtions, production needs, and performance schedules well in advance of the actual events. We have an opportunity to help transform the local theater experience into a more community-wide experience.

If we fans can organize line parties for movies (and the Houston LoTR Line Party that Vince Smith organized three years in a row grew to 3,000 attendees -- larger than the so-called "official" New Line Cinema line party held the third year), then we can certainly lend our hearts and our support (and our bows and axes) to the causes of local theatrical production companies.

Who knows? You might just find you have a real gift for working in local theater.

I'll do what I can to help community theaters promote their plays. Anyone who wants to get the word out is welcome to contact the Xenite.Org Administrators. Send us a text-only press release and make sure you include a working email address and telephone number (in the United States or Canada).

If I find there is sufficient need, I'll see if I can set up a Web site to help local theater groups announce and promote their "Hobbit" plays (although, to be honest, there are a few other fan sites that actually have software in place which would make it easier for them to provide this kind of support).

I'll promote any site that helps the local theater movement in this respect.

Let's pull together and launch a new era in Tolkien-inspired stage plays!