American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association and Foundation ATCA name Adam Wassilchalk as the third Helbing Fellowship winner

American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association and Foundation ATCA name Adam Wassilchalk as the third Helbing Fellowship winner

The prize offers the recipient a $5,000 stipend and year of mentorship and collaboration on a LGBTQ+-themed theater project.

NEW YORK — The American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association (ATCA) and Foundation ATCA have announced Adam Wassilchalk as the third recipient of the ATCA Helbing Mentorship Program for LGBTQ+ theater writers. Members of the Helbing Committee reviewed the third season’s competitive applications and selected Wassilchalk, a New York City-based writer, to receive the fellowship, which carries a $5,000 stipend to support the recipient’s career and research during the fellowship year. Wassilchalk’s fellowship begins this summer.

Adam Wassilchalk (he/him) is a Harlem-based arts and culture critic from Austin, Texas. His work has been published in American Theatre, The New Haven Independent, and Midbrow. When he’s not making it happen onstage, he loves writing about the folks who are; his background in stage and production management spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, the indie theatre scene, and everywhere in between. He holds an A.B.. in Theatre and Performance Studies from Yale College, where he wrote at length about Afrosurrealism and Black, queer interiority onstage. He is a proud honoree of the 2023 Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program and the 2024 Irene Yamamoto Arts Writers Fellowship. He will talk your ear off about Black and queer performing arts, boozy brunch, and alternative rock music.

Wassilchalk plans to focus on various aspects of current queer theater in a series of essays to be published over the year-long fellowship and to look at these developments in the context of the history of queer theater. He will further develop his project in consultation with the Helbing committee when the program begins in July.

“The Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association is both the holder of funds received to honor the legacy of Terry Helbing, since he passed in 1994, and an active participant in the Helbing mentorship program,” said Martha Wade Steketee, President of Foundation ATCA and founding Helbing committee member. “The current committee members overseeing the project — founders, past Helbing fellows, and other ATCA members invested in the mission of the program — are all in enthusiastic agreement with the importance of the project selected for the Mentorship’s third round. Adam’s plan to observe the current theater season through a queer lens continues the legacy of Helbing, builds on the work of the first two Helbing fellows, and will craft an important contribution to theater history and theater journalism. The committee is excited to begin work with him and see what his fertile mind creates during the fellowship period.”

Named for the late gay theater pioneer Terry Helbing, the Fellowship was designed to encourage the development of LGBTQ+ theater coverage, and to develop and amplify the voices of LGBTQ+ arts writers through scholarship, mentorship, and professional development to make arts journalism a more inclusive and expansive profession.

The 2026 Helbing Committee includes Christopher Byrne (chair), Jay Handelman, Gerard Raymond, Frank Rizzo, Martha Wade Steketee, and past Helbing fellows D.R. Lewis and Billy McEntee.

For more information about the program, visit the ATCA website’s Helbing Program page.

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