Member Milestones

Dan Sullivan | ATCA emeritus and founding member, mentor, teacher

Dan Sullivan at The Times (photo courtesy of Ben Sullivan) Dan Sullivan, gentle mentor, director of the O'Neill Center National Critics Institute for many years, and co-founder of the American Theatre Critics Association, passed away Tuesday of natural causes at his home in Minneapolis. He was...

Sylvie Drake named newest ATCA Emeritus member

Sylvie Drake The ATCA Executive Committee unanimously voted earlier this month to add veteran critic, mentor, writer, and scholar Sylvie Drake to the ATCA roster of Emeritus members honored for career distinction and service to ATCA. The most recent prior addition to the Emeritus roster of...

Kelundra Smith wins Atlanta Press Club 2022 Award of Excellence

ATCA member Kelundra Smith, co-founder of the Belonging, Equity, Inclusion & Diversity Committee, has been recognized by her home town press club for editorial work. As she announced on social media in late July, she won her first Atlanta Press Club Award for "New Flavor...

Mark Cofta | In memoriam (1960-2022)

Mark Cofta We report with sadness the death of longtime theater critic and former ATCA member Mark Cofta on July 8, 2022. Mark covered live performance in the greater Philadelphia area for nearly 30 years, prior to his retirement in 2019. He served as Philadelphia City...

2022 Drama Desk nominations chaired by ATCA member honor the rich return of New York theater

May 16 — Nominations for the 66th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today, and the full list of nominees and announced special awards are available here. In keeping with the Drama Desk's mission, the nominators considered shows that opened on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway...

James Ijames play “Fat Ham” wins 2022 Pulitzer for Drama

James Ijames May 12 -- Announced May 9: "Fat Ham" by James Ijames, running May 12-June 12, 2022 at New York's Public Theater after an earlier digital run at the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, wins the 2022 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize website...

Jonathan Abarbanel | Retired and writing

Jonathan Abarbanel In June 2021 former ATCA ExCom chair Jonathan Abarbanel officially retired from the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Theatre & Music, after 14 years as an adjunct professor. He says his State of Illinois pension should "just about cover a daily Starbucks."...

Pam Harbaugh | Theater critic and “Casserole” playwright

Pam Harbaugh Pam Harbaugh, long-term ATCA member, critic, and arts writer at Florida Today, and administrator of Space Coast’s Junior Theatre Workshop program, now devotes much of her time to playwriting and directing. Her play Casserole was one of six winners in the 2020 national competition...

Phillips wins George Jean Nathan Award

Maya Phillips Cornell University’s Department of English, which administers the award for excellence in dramatic criticism endowed by Cornell alumnus, the late George Jean Nathan (1882-1958), awarded  Maya Phillips, New York Times critic at large and ATCA member, the 2020-21 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism....

Lindsay Christians | Conferences, events, and food

Lindsay Christians. Image by Ruthie Hauge. Journalist Lindsay Christians, whose professional home base is Madison, Wisconsin’s The Capital Times, has been a member of ATCA for almost 15 years. During that time, she has been deeply involved in playwright awards and conference planning committees. In recent...