Press Releases

Boot camp: National Critics Institute at O’Neill Theater Center

Accepting applications March 15-25 for this summer’s session, July 1-15. One of the O’Neill Theater Center’s oldest programs, NCI is a two-week residential workshop and conference, designed for arts writers and critics looking to strengthen their skills in an increasingly competitive and fast-paced industry. The Institute convenes concurrently...

Playwright Lauren Yee wins $10,000 Francesca Primus Prize for 2016

How do you find the words to express grief and loss, especially when they are tinged with guilt? That is the conundrum at the heart of in a word. Fiona and Guy’s seven-year-old adopted son, Tristan, disappeared two years earlier, apparently kidnapped. Tristan was a very bright...

U.S. Theater Critics Name Six Finalists for Nation’s Largest New Play Award

The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has selected six finalists for the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for the best scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2016. The top award of $25,000 and two citations of...

ATCA names seven finalists for 2016 Francesca Primus Prize

January 22, 2017 — The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has announced the names of the seven finalists for the 2016 Francesca Primus Prize. Jointly sponsored by ATCA and the Francesca Ronnie Primus Foundation, the Primus Prize, which includes an award of $10,000, is given...

2016 Theater Hall of Fame inductees announced

Producer Terry Hodge Taylor has announced the eight 2016 inductees for the Theater Hall of Fame: actors Glenn Close, Brian Stokes Mitchell and Phylicia Rashad; producer Paul Libin, book writer Joe Masteroff, playwright Marsha Norman, lyricist Tim Rice and costume designer Catherine Zuber. They will be inducted Nov. 14 at the Gershwin Theater, where the more than 500 previous members of the...

Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone” wins $25,000 Steinberg/ATCA Award for 2016

Additional $7,500 citations go to Steven Dietz and Jen Silverman ATCA has selected Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone” as the winner of the 2015 Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for scripts that premiered professionally outside New York City during 2015. Qui Nguyen This “sexy comedy...

Norton wins 2016 Osborn Award

Jonathan Norton has won the 2016 M. Elizabeth Osborn New Play Award for an emerging playwright. The award will be presented at the Humana Festival of New American Plays in Louisville on April 9. The Osborn Award recognizes Norton’s “Mississippi Goddamn,” which premiered in February 2015 at the...

Playwright Sharyn Rothstein wins 2015 Primus Prize

Sharyn Rothstein has won the 2015 Francesca Primus Prize for an emerging woman playwright for her By the Water, which premiered at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Stage II in Nov., 2014. ATCA adjudicates the award. Primus committee chair Barbara Bannon of Salt Lake City explained that the 2015 announcement came late...

Rebecca Gilman wins 2015 Steinberg/ATCA Award with ‘Luna Gale’

Additional citations go to Lucas Hnath and Nathan Alan Davis M. Elizabeth Osborn Award goes to Tom Coash The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) has selected Rebecca Gilman’s Luna Gale as the recipient of the Harold and Mimi Steinberg/American Theatre Critics Association New Play Award, recognizing playwrights for scripts that...

ATCA elects new leadership; Bill Hirschman new Excom chair

ATCA members at the New Orleans conference in March took time between beignets to elect new members to the Executive Committee, and the Excom elected new officers: Bill Hirschman, Excom chair  Bill Hirschman, chair; Brad Hathaway, vice-chair; Barbara Bannon, secretary (continuing); and Mark Lowry, treasurer. Elected to three-year Excom terms were:* Brad...