In The Guardian, 17 April 2010, the playwright replied to his critics by arguing that good theater should never be confused with journalism. A few quotes: “Journalism is life with the mystery taken out. Art is life with the mystery restored.” …“If we accept the simple...
At last summer’s ATCA/O’Neill Theater Center conference, the necktie sporting both versions of the logo of our Daumier critic and playwright Eugene (with and without the seagull), quickly sold out. Now we have a limited new supply in time for the holidays. Just send a check...
Full info on our annual weekend conference (aka Mini-Meeting) is due in your email box shortly and snail mailbox shortly thereafter. But it isn’t too soon to make travel and housing arrangements. The full program starts at 10 am Fri. and ends Sun. at noon. ...
Julie York Coppens: where angels fear to tread Nov. 5 — ATCA member and former membership chair Julie York Coppens, former critic at the Charlotte Observer, is now at the Educational Theatre Association as associate editor of Dramatics Magazine (aimed at young people) and Teaching Theatre Journal....
Norman Nadel teaching criticism Norman Nadel, ready to travel, 1961 (images from “Under the Copper Beech”) Norman Nadel died Oct. 25, age 95. He had been critic in turn for the Columbus (Ohio) Citizen, the New York World-Telegram and Sun and the New York World Journal Tribune, chaired...
Critics and criticism keep making news, so after appearing here on the home page, such items will move to our new “Criticism in Controvery” page. Examples to date: the flap over a Cleveland music critic, Pulitzers ignoring the drama jury, Theresa Rebeck taking on critics, and Tonys...
“Right to an opinion – or wrong?” is Michael Phillips’ Aug. 12, 2010, Michael Phillips Chicago Tribune column about the lawsuit by classical music critic Donald Rosenberg against the Cleveland Orchestra and his own paper, the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which took Rosenberg off the Orchestra beat in response to complaints about...
For the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, the 17-member Pulitzer board rejected the three finalists selected by its own five-member Drama jury, instead awarding the Pulitzer to “Next to Normal.”This is an old story. The Pulitzer for Drama began in 1917 (although no play that year...
The ATCA website is for news about theater critics and Theresa Rebeck criticism, not about the theater in general. But playwright Theresa Rebeck’s stem-winding March 15 Laura Pels keynote address is more than theater news in general, and it certainly bears directly on theater criticism. So follow the link...
Gerald Weales: formally retired but still writing Oct. 15 — Gerald Weales, winner of the 1965 George Jean Nathan Award (the highest national award reserved for theater criticism) and an ATCA emeritus member, says, “After more than a half century of reviewing, I formally retired. My farewell...