At the 37th World Congress of the International Association of Theatre Critics, meeting in Beijing, China, Oct. 15-20, ATCA was represented by three chairs: Jonathan Abarbanel (ATCA excom), Jay Handelman (Foundation ATCA) and Jeffrey Eric Jenkins (ATCA International Committee). For the congress symposium on “A New World: The Profession of Criticism in...
David Dow Bentley III is the thepeoplescritic.com, which can also be read at the Houston Chronicle and broadwaystars.com. Nancy Bishop is editor and publisher of Third Coast Review, a Chicago-centric arts and culture website. You can read her reviews there and her pop culture writing here. Lindsay Christians is a full-time arts and food writer for The...
Alvin Epstein The eight 2014 inductees into the Theater Hall of Fame include actor F. Murray Abraham (currently in It’s Only A Play), legendary actor Alvin Epstein (original N.Y. cast of Waiting for Godot), Tony-winning actor Blythe Danner (now in The Country House), director Marshall Mason, former N.Y. Times theater critic Frank Rich, chairman of the Shubert Organization Philip J....
Playwright Jennifer Haley has been awarded the 2014 Francesca Primus Prize for her play The Nether. Haley will receive the $10,000 award check immediately and be officially celebrated at an upcoming ATCA conference. Jointly sponsored by ATCA and the Francesca Ronnie Primus Foundation, the Primus Prize is given annually...
The ATCA executive committee has joined the protest over the cancelation of a scheduled production of Spamalot at the South Williamsport Junior/Senior High School in Williamsport, Pa., because of, according to principal, Jesse Smith, its “homosexual themes.” In a Sept. 19 letter to Superintendent of Schools Dr....
ATCA members received nominations and ballots several weeks ago. Voting is fun, but it’s also a service to the American theater and it provides well-earned pleasure for the winners. If you need a replacement ballot, contact ATCA’s man on the Hall’s executive committee, Chris Rawson (cchr@pitt.edu). ...
Save that date! Longtime New York ATCA chairs Sherry Eaker and Ira Bilowit invite all ATCA members to a long-standing tradition, an ATCA Weekend Meeting (aka “mini-meeting”) on Broadway and off. Highlights include an interactive Playwriting Primer for Critics led by playwright Arthur Kopit, a panel of playwrights in the latest...
The annual National Critics Institute at the O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Conn., just finished its first year under Chris Jones (Chicago Tribune). Known for years as a “boot camp for critics,” NCI has broadened its subject to theater writing. Word is that Jones brought fresh energy...
After 22 happy years of ATCA membership, Pat Feldhaus, who reviewed for various Northern California dailies, has retired. “Thank you for all my good times,” she says, especially ATCA conferences (including London, 1995), at which she would write and perform a song about the event. She...
Click here for Gunderson’s talk (Humana Festival, 2014), the 33rd in a series that began in 1992....