One of the great ways I waste time at work ... I mean, one of the ways I stay connected to theatre practitioners across the country is by following webcomics about theatre. They're funny (and sometimes insightful) about the world of theatre, its practitioners and fans. Here's a couple I dig -- let me know which ones you follow (or your favorites of this bunch) in the comments!

Q2Q Comics is probably the most popular backstage webcomic around. It updates three times a week and generally has a (painfully) funny look at backstage life. Here are some of my favorites ...

One of my favorite things about this strip is that a couple days after I read it my wife got this forwarded to her from a castmate as they frantically tried toget off-book...

The next one is for anyone who's had to deal with a director...

Q2Q covers all aspects of backstage life -- the plight of the costumer who has her shears "borrowed," the sound guy who really should have checked the cable, and more. You can read them all at www.q2qcomics.com.

Another webcomic that I love about theatre is "Good Tickle-Brain." The name comes from a Shakespearean insult, and as you might have guessed from that -- the comics are largely based around Shakespeare, and the author's vast appreciation of theatre. She did a series of comics documenting her trip to the Stratford Festival this summer, and she has a whole page dedicated to three-panel recaps of Shakespeare's plays. The comic is smart and full of love for theatre and Shakespeare, so I love it. Here's a couple examples.

A valid question to Henry V...

And a sampling from her collection of three-panel Shakespeare plays...

The final webcomic, Sheldon, isn't really about theatre. It stars a brilliant 10-year-old boy who made a bajilion dollars starting a tech company. How smart is he? So smart he downloaded all of Wikipedia into a duck and gave it the power of speech. (It's a comic strip, roll with it.) But the boy's neighbor, a girl named Emily, LOVES theatre. In one hilarious series of strips she decides to go to Theatre-Con, which mashes up the idea of Comic-Con and theatre -- and the duck wants to go with.

What's a duck to do? Theatre cosplay!

The duck has a good time at Theatre-con, but comes away from it having noticed one big problem facing theatre today...

I hope you enjoyed these strips on theatre! Check out the websites of each comic for more, and share any more you know of!