“Are you here for the show?” the guy on the elevator asked. Thursday night, around ten o’clock. Cold, rainy. I’d just driven down from Cincinnati and had barely enough time to check into the hotel before heading over to 21c (art gallery, hotel and performance space) for my...
Although I have to get in my car and drive 100 miles, attending the Humana Festival at Actors Theatre of Louisville always feels like coming home. First and perhaps foremost, it’s the hospitality that guests for the annual “Visitors Weekend” are afforded. When we arrive...
The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) announces that Jason Wells has won its 2010 M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award for an emerging playwright. The award will be presented March 27 at the Humana Festival of New American Plays at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Ky....
Cheers for Richard Christiansen. On March 1, Chicago’s Tony-winning Victory Gardens Theater named its new 109-seat studio theater after the retired chief critic for the Chicago Tribune, a key figure in the growth and recognition of Off-Loop Chicago professional theater and a longtime ATCA member. Read more...
Larry Devine and his wife, Lois, made a surprise visit to Chicago’s Victory Gardens Theater March 1 to attend the gala ceremony naming the new VG second stage in honor of Larry’s old friend and ATCA colleague Richard Christiansen. Since the new “R. C. Theater,” as it already...
When Tang Met Laika (photo by Terry Shapiro) Of the two fully staged productions of new plays as part of the Colorado New Play Summit (see below), Rogelio Martinez’ When Tang Met Laika presented a challenge to the designers that particularly intrigued me. I happened to have an...
Gerald Weales announced his retirement in the Fall, 2010 issue of The Georgia Review with an addendum to his annual “American Theater Watch” essay. His first review appeared in 1955 and he had regular gigs for The Reporter, Drama Survey and especially Commonweal (1968-93)...
Michael Kuchwara, since 1984 drama critic for the AP and thus the most widely disseminated in the U.S., died May 22, age 63. He was an even-handed, well-informed, enthusiastic critic who did the profession proud. Only a sporadic member of ATCA, he...
Below is our first attempt at a group blog from an ATCA gathering, with the most recent posted on top. These were all we had time for in three very busy days. Some ATCA members at the Denver conference: (left to right, in rear) Jim Steinberg, Chris...
A few thoughts about the Denver conference, all of them surprises. First, this Floridian found the weather was not half as harsh as I was expecting, although I hear that’s a spin of the roulette wheel. Second, this was as well-run and smooth an event...