How Press Reviews Work on Parts Known
Reviews are a big part of how work in the performing arts is remembered.
They:
- Prove that a production actually happened
- Show how it landed with critics and audiences
- Often name and praise specific artists, companies and venues
Parts Known lets you bring that information into your portfolio and into the archive – but in a way that stays structured and fair.
This post explains how we think about press, who can add reviews, and why every review is always tied to a production first.
Reviews belong to productions, not to thin air
On Parts Known, a press review is always attached to an Event/Production.
That's because in the real world, reviews are written about:
"Space Hamlet at Norwich Puppet Theatre, produced by Open Door Theatre."
not just about "acting in general" or "some random person".
So in the system, the structure is:
Work (optional) → Event/Production → Credits & People
>
and Press Reviews hang off the Event.
Everything else – mentions of people, companies, venues or works – flows out from there.
Adding a review: two ways in, same result
There are two ways reviews get into Parts Known, but they behave the same way.
1. From the production's page (normal users)
If you were in or worked on a show, the natural flow is:
1. Go to that production on Parts Known.
- e.g. Space Hamlet – Open Door Theatre at Norwich Puppet Theatre, 2025
2. Click "Add press quote".
3. Paste:
- Publication name
- URL of the review
- A short quote / excerpt
- The date
4. (Optional) Tag people, companies, venues and works that are clearly mentioned in that quote.
This attaches the review directly to the event.
2. From the backend (seeding the archive)
Sometimes reviews will be added by admins or power users – for example, when:
- Seeding past seasons for a venue or company
- Importing coverage from an old website or press pack
In that case, there might be an admin form where you:
1. Search for the event ("Space Hamlet 2025…") or create it if it doesn't exist.
2. Paste URL, quote and date.
3. Optionally add callouts to people/companies/venues/works.
But even there the rule is the same:
No free-floating reviews.
Every review is always tied to a specific event/production.
That keeps the archive coherent and searchable.
Callouts: connecting reviews to people and organisations
Once a review for an event exists, callouts link that review to specific subjects:
- People (artists, creatives, crew)
- Companies / groups
- Venues
- Works (plays/musicals)
A callout is basically saying:
"This quote is about this person / company / venue / work."
For each callout we store:
- Who or what it's about
- Who added it
- Whether it's simply a mention or clear praise
- Optionally, which skills it relates to (Acting, Singing, Shakespearean acting, etc.)
Mentions vs praise: verification and endorsement
We keep two simple ideas:
1. Mention – the review lists or names you.
2. Praise – the review clearly says something positive about your work.
You can combine them:
- A review might list you in the cast list (mention).
- The quote might call you out as especially good (praise).
Here's how that maps to trust on Parts Known.
Event-level: proving a production happened
Any review attached to an Event is extra evidence that the production existed.
On a production page you might see:
Press
– "A powerful, inventive Hamlet." – The Stage ([link])
– "Open Door Theatre's production crackles with energy." – Local Paper ([link])
These reviews help verify that this show took place at that venue under that company.
Credit-level: mention vs praise
If you're named in the review (by someone adding a callout):
- It supports the idea that you were really part of that production.
- We treat this as supporting evidence, not the only source of truth.
- Formal verification still comes mainly from:
- The company that produced the show
- Collaborators who were there
If you're praised in the text:
- That callout acts as a press endorsement on your credit.
- If skills are tagged, it can endorse specific skills:
> Press: "Jane Smith's Hamlet balances razor-sharp verse speaking with a raw emotional core." – The Stage
> (Counts as an endorsement of Acting / Shakespearean acting.)
On your credit, you might see:
Verified by Open Door Theatre and 3 collaborators. Mentioned in press.
>
Skills used on this production:
– Acting (endorsed by 3 collaborators, praised in press for Shakespearean verse)
– Singing (endorsed by 2 collaborators)
– Stage combat (endorsed by 1)
Who can add reviews and callouts?
Because reviews are public facts, we lean into a community-driven model:
- Any logged-in user can add:
- A review (URL + snippet) for a production
- Callouts from that review to people, companies, venues and works, if the quote clearly mentions them
To keep this fair and abuse-resistant, we add two important controls:
1. Visible source
Every review and callout records who added it.
On a callout you can see:
Added by [User Name] · [date]
So if something's off, you know where it came from.
2. Right of refusal
If you're the subject of a callout, you control whether it appears on your profile.
- In Backstage → Press, you'll see callouts where you are the subject.
- For each one, you can:
- Show on my profile
- Hide from my profile
Hidden callouts:
- Don't show on your profile.
- Don't count as endorsements.
- Can still be visible on the production page if they're about the show as a whole.
If a callout is clearly malicious or inaccurate, you can also flag it for admin review.
This matches our "data with dignity" principle: other people can point to real public information, but you decide how that sits on your profile.
Duplicates and seeding
What if five people add the same review?
Early on, that's not a big problem. We'd rather capture true information multiple times than block it.
Behind the scenes we can:
- Detect reviews with the same URL + event and merge or hide duplicates later.
- Prefer reviews added by companies/venues as the canonical ones, but still keep others as a record.
From a user point of view, you'll just see:
- One entry per publication/URL per production in the Press section.
How this fits into the bigger trust picture
Press is one more layer in the trust stack, alongside:
- Company verification – the group that produced the event
- Collaborator verification – people who were on the show with you
- Skill endorsements – colleagues ticking the skills they saw you use
- Press endorsements – critics calling you out in print
None of these on their own define your career. Together, they give a richer, more honest picture than a bare list of roles.
What you need to do as a user
In practice, using press on Parts Known is simple:
1. Find the production you were involved in.
2. Add a press quote:
- Paste the link, publication, date, and a short excerpt.
3. Tag people and organisations the quote clearly mentions.
4. If the quote is praising you, tick "This is praise" and (optionally) which skills it relates to.
Then, in your Backstage:
- Decide which callouts you want to show on your profile.
That's it. We'll connect the dots between productions, credits, skills, and press so that future casting teams, collaborators and researchers can see not just what you did, but how the work landed.
If you want your reviews to be part of that record, you can:
[Create your free profile]
[Add a production you've worked on]
[Link a press quote to that production]
Every time you connect a review to a show, you make the archive more useful for everyone who was there.