Author: ATCA

ATCA in Ashland

July, 6-10 — This week ATCA is in Ashland at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival for its annual conference. In so far as we can, in between meetings, panels, 8 plays, late night discussions in the Crystal Room of the Ashland Springs Hotel and the attractions of...

Jim O’Quinn, the show must go on

Neither raging fever, pounding headache nor general malaise could keep Jim O’Quinn from delivering his impeccably artistic Perspectives in Criticism speech to ATCA members and their guests, gathered last week in Ashland, OR, for their annual conference at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Jim, a New Orleans Times-Picayune city...

ATCA elects new board; Handelman chosen as chair

jay handelman Jay Handelman, longtime critic for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune, was elected chair of the ATCA executive committee during the organization’s annual conference in Ashland, Oregon. Handelman served as chair from 1994 to 1996. He succeeds Pittsburgh Post-Gazette critic Chris Rawson, who served in the position for the...

ATCA selects Chicago for 2012 conference

ASHLAND, OR—The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has selected Chicago as the site of its 39th annual conference, June 13-17, 2012. The ATCA annual conference will be co-hosted by the League of Chicago Theatres and the City of Chicago Office of Tourism and Culture. Rocco Landesman, Chair...

Round the clock in Ashland

Although it’s pretty mellow in beautiful Ashland, the home to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, this small mountain town has been the site for an energized ATCA conference.With the OSF’s provocatively contemporary productions of not only Shakespeare, but also Moliere and Gilbert & Sullivan, ATCA members are...

Playwright Caridad Svich wins ATCA’s 2011 Francesca Primus Prize

ASHLAND, OREGON, July 8, 2011 – At its annual conference, the American Theatre Critics Association today announced that playwright Caridad Svich has been awarded the $10,000 Francesca Primus Prize for The House of the Spirits. Svich will receive her check immediately and be celebrated at an upcoming ATCA conference. Jointly...

The Bowmer Beam, or, Bowmer in the Park

  Just experienced the remarkable first-ever opening of the Bowmer in the Park tent production of “August: Osage County” — yes, in a tent in Lithia Park adjacent to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, OR. Why is Bowmer in the Park? On June 15, a...

Legendary Nashville critic Clara Hieronymus approaching 98th birthday

A simple question about ATCA’s longtime secretary and distinguished Nashville critic Clara Hieronymus has generated an outpouring of affectionate tributes as she approaches her 98th birthday, July 25. It also reinforces the impact of social media and how we can embrace it. During an ATCA excom meeting, Jay Handelman contacted Evans Donnell via...

ATCA in Ashland

The 2011 ATCA ANNUAL CONFERENCE was be at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, July 6-10: there were eight plays to see (4 Shakespeare, 4 not), lively ATCA panels, companionship, a lovely small town full of good restaurants, and the top-notch Ashland Springs Hotel, just a few...

On the way to Ashland

Somewhere on the way westward from Pittsburgh on the multi-leg flight necessary to keep the price down, I saw a placard declaring this National Ice Cream Month. Actually, it’s always National Ice Cream Month for me. But on first encounter with Ashland, it seemed providential:...