A Tip for Regional Theaters

No, don't hand out scripts. Put them online. Saves the company money, spreads the good word, plus they're searchable, improving critics' accuracy and analysis.

I would hope that by opening night the actors would be working off a finished and printable (or e-mailable) script. But even if there are last minute changes, just having a late version in hand is useful.

And sorry if it sounds like I called the audience schmucks. I was really referring to the rise of desktop reviewers and bloggers. Like me.

Seems like a fine idea, with the exception of new plays of course, since they're usually being re-written up to opening night and beyond. Naturally a playwright will not want his or her new play out in print to a critic prior to its being finished, which can take multiple performances in front of an actual audience (of unqualified schmucks, as you call them) to do. Those unqualified schmucks contribute quite a lot to a playwright's understanding of what's been written, what if anything needs to be changed, and how.