Author: ATCA

Bill Gale, back at the mic

Gale continues to recover from a two-week hospital stay which included a quadruple heart bypass operation and another to insert a pacemaker. For his take on it all (he calls it “Heartless”) … Bill writes (Aug. 22): Well, I can’t tell you it was a day at the...

Jim Kilker, a friend to ATCA

James Anthony Kilker, husband of long-time ATCA member Marie Kilker, died Aug. 16, age 86, in Bradenton, FL. Jim was known to ATCA from the many conferences he attended and as co-host with Marie of ATCA members and guests at a tour of Paris for...

March 21-24, 2013 weekend conference set for home of theater, stock cars, satire and song

Organizer Lou Harry bids us welcome to Indianapolis: “Central Indiana is looking forward to welcoming you to the home of the Greatest Spectacle in Racing and the place that gave the world Kurt Vonnegut and David Letterman. Conference offerings will include the Midwest premiere of Nicky Silver’s “The Lyons” at the Phoenix Theatre,...

Happy 99th, Clara! . . . plus a pitch for ‘Under the Copper Beech’

Tennessee critic and ATCA co-founder Clara Hieronymus  just turned 99, occasioning a burst of congratulations from near and far. Tucked among them was a pitch for Under the Copper Beech: Conversa- tions with American Theater Critics (ed. Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, 2004), in which she and other pioneer regional...

Stream of commentary on criticism: check in here to keep up!

Thanks to Wendy Rosenfield, the new ATCA website has a steady stream of Twitter links to commentary on criticism (@Theatre_Critics, orange boxes on the home page) and also links to ATCA member reviews and stories (@ATCA_Member, just below them). You should follow both, or just check...

IATC publishes web journal, ‘Critical Stages’

Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, chair of ATCA’s International Committee, sends word of the latest (sixth) edition of Critical Stages, the web journal of the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC). Go to the International Committee’s own web page or go direct to Critical Stages. Coming updates will include a...

Another lament over the erosion of criticism

Maybe you missed the reference in the (excellent!) rush of ATCA tweets (those orange boxes up top on the left), so here it is again: the controversial Johann Hari defends criticism, most recently in Spin. ...

More links to Chicago conference reviews and commentary

(NOTE that we’ll link to other reviews from our Chicago conference as we get them.) In the Desert Local News, Jack Lyons reviews Timeline Theatre premiere, My Kind of Town: click here. Chicago report from Jacksonville’s Dual Critics (Dick Kerekes & Leisla Sansom): click here. Jack Petro (Jack’s...

Jay Handelman re-elected ATCA chair by new executive committee

Laura Hayes’ logo for ATCA Chicago: ATCA’s satiric image of a self-satisified critic by Daumier takes over the famous spitting Crown Fountain in Millennium Park. At the Chicago conference, the ATCA membership elected Michael Howley and Tim Treanor to three-year executive committee terms (until 2015). Re-elected to a second term...

Vigorous and brawny, full of variety

Chicago, writes Chris Rawson in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “feels like a throwback to the great age of cities” — and that includes five Tony-winning theaters, out of some 200 in all. Quick survey of seven shows: click here....