After our five hours of O’Neil last night, I delighted in the cool air and bright sun as I walked to our morning meeting in what was designed to be “the most beautiful office building in the world.” In 1922 the Chicago Tribune held a...
If you not here in Chicago with the ATCA conference, you’re missing a terrific time. Gorgeous weather, yes. Good food, sure. But what great theater Jonathan Abarbanel has lined up. Last night, a four hour and fifty minutes (including three intermissions) production of The Iceman Cometh at the...
June 15, Friday - 9:30AM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Skyline Room (6th floor), continental breakfast. - 10:15AM-11AM, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, welcome from artistic director Barbara Gaines and executive director Criss Henderson; presentation of Osborne and Primus awards to playwrights Darren Canady and Caridad Svich. - 11AM-Noon, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Perspectives in Criticism: Wall Street Journal critic Terry Teachout discusses The...
PLAYWRIGHT TAMMY RYAN WINS $10,000 FRANCESCA PRIMUS PRIZE FOR 2012; DOMINIQUE MORRISEAU ALSO HONORED Chicago, June 14, 2012 — The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) announced at its annual conference today that playwright Tammy Ryan has won the 2012 Francesca Primus Prize for her play Lost Boy Found in Whole Foods. She receives $10,000, a...
Obviously the big (in every way) event of the conference’s first day was “The Iceman Cometh,” a painstakingly rich version of the O’Neill classic. Opinions will naturally differ – hey, everyone’s a critic — but no one can deny the size of the accomplishment, or...
Day 1 featured a reception with the Commissioner of Cultural Affairs (this is not your average city government) and an Iceman Cometh marathon, just the right way to test our mettle. Here’s Day 2: June 14, Thursday * Arrivals contune at conference hotels. * Continental breakfast and General...
Chicago, Tuesday, June 12: What a great city – to arrive in the Loop by train (subway? what do they call it?) on a glorious day like today you discover what a city can be, lively, vigorous, brawny (as the poet says), a real urban city. For me, Chicago always...
That’s what Chicago felt like Tuesday, with or without the big shoulders, with five days of plays and old friends ahead at the 2012 ATCA annual conference. Laura Hayes’ logo for ATCA Chicago: ATCA’s satiric image of a self-satisified critic by Daumier takes over the famous spitting...
Read the final, completed schedule below or click here to view a pdf printable version. ATCA CHICAGO 2012 Annual Conference Schedule June 12, Tuesday -3PM-7PM, Executive Committee meets, home of Jonathan Abarbanel. -Early arrivals, members and guests at Conference hotels; free time. June 13, Wednesday -Executive Committee meets, 10AM-3PM, Club Quarters Hotel. -Arrivals,...
“NATO has left the building and Chicago is still intact.” So says Jonathan Abarbanel, chair of ATCA’s Chicago conference, June 13-17. Recent schedule additions include a Soul Food dinner courtesy of brand-new $19 million Black Ensemble Cultural Center, followed by the Ensemble’s latest musical biography, “The...