ATCANY2023 | Holding the Curtain

Early Bird $80 through November 1, 2023. Full Price $125 November 2, 2023 and after.

Members and Member Guests Only

The American Theatre Critics Association 2023 annual conference Holding the Curtain, celebrating theater and theater makers in New York City, will be held November 10-12, 2023.

Days are structured to allow attendees to schedule evening and matinee performances, to be arranged by participants with press contact information provided to paid attendees. Note: contact with press representatives to be by ATCA members only and not by ATCA member guests.

Stay tuned to this page and weekly ATCA newsletter for the latest developments in the evolving agenda.

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PRICE

• $80 Early Bird registration for full conference, rate available September 26, 2023 through November 1, 2023 [midnight Eastern]
• $125 Full Price registration for full conference, rate available November 2, 2023 [12:01 am Eastern] through end of conference

Tickets are available via a TICKETS purchase window visible to logged in ATCA members only. If you are an ATCA member and not logged in, please login, access this page again (click EVENTS dropdown menu at the far right of the page, then select CONFERENCE REGISTRATION), and scroll to the bottom of this page to the TICKETS purchase window where one or multiple tickets can be purchased.

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AGENDA
[Subject to change based on availability of invited guests.]
Presenter Bios and Headshots [updated 2023-11-6]

All times are Eastern. 

THURSDAY | NOVEMBER 9, 2023

venue: [provided to registered attendees]

BONUS PRE-CON SESSION: Musical conversations in color. Sean Mayes — orchestrator, arranger, conductor, educator  — will join early conference arrivals for an insightful early-evening chat and preview of his new book Conversations in Color: Exploring North American Musical Theatre.

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FRIDAY | NOVEMBER 10, 2023

venue: Club 135 by Industrious at 135 West 50th Street
[meeting on 2nd floor of the venue]

Lunch, coffee, tea, and drinks provided.

9:00 am PROGRAM OPENING. ATCA members meet-and-greet, welcome, introduction of new members, committee chairs, and board members, discussion of themes of the weekend.

10:00 am SESSION: Performing Sondheim. Panel hosted by Rick Pender, ATCA member and author of The Stephen Sondheim Encyclopedia (2021), with performers Ruthie Ann Miles (The Beggar Woman) and Maria Bilbao (Joanna) from the current Broadway revival of Sweeney Todd, and Reg Rogers (Joe Josephson) and Katie Rose Clark (Beth) in the recently opened revival of Merrily We Roll Along.

11:15 am PERSPECTIVES IN CRITICISM. ATCA’S lecture series inaugurated with remarks by Clive Barnes in 1992 continues with culture critic and journalist Naveen Kumar, whose outlets include The New York Times, Variety, and Broadway News, and who currently serves as Associate Director of the O’Neill National Critics Institute.  ATCA chair David John Chávez hosts the conversation.

12:30 pm BREAK: lunch chat and theater games with Lou Harry. Lunch provided.

1:30 pm SESSION: Conversation with Charles Busch on “Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy.” Martha Wade Steketee will have a chat with playwright, performer, creator, and raconteur Charles Busch about his memoir  Leading Lady: A Memoir of a Most Unusual Boy (2023).

3:00 pm SESSION: Current State of American Regional Theaters.  Discussion moderated by Jay Handelman with American Theatre magazine editor Rob Weinert-Kendt and The New York Times theater reporter Michael Paulson.

4:00 pm SESSION: Upright Citizens Brigade past and future. Discussion moderated by Lou Harry with the new co-artistic directors of Upright Citizens Brigade, Iliana Inocencio, Laura Canty-Samuel, and Michael Hartney. The panel will discuss UCB history, its evolution, and challenges of improv and sketch comedy in New York City.

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SATURDAY | NOVEMBER 11, 2023

venue: Perelman Performing Arts Center (PAC NYC) at 251 Fulton Street
BBC Radio news documentary PAC NYC: Creating an arts center at Ground Zero

12:00 pm TOUR: Perelman Performing Arts Center. PAC NYC is a new home for emergent and established artists in theater, dance, music, opera, and multi-disciplinary performance from New York and the world. Check this webpage for directions to the PAC NYC via subway. Otherwise, tell your taxi driver that you’re going to 251 Fulton Street.

12:30 pm SESSION: Q&A with PAC NYC Leaders. Lobby discussions with either PAC NYC Artistic Director Bill Rauch or PAC NYC Executive Director Khady Kamara.

2:00 pm PERFORMANCE: Watch Night. Matinee performance available by pre-arrangement for registered conference attendees (members must make arrangements individually with press agent). A PAC NYC World Premiere from the acclaimed artistic team of Tony Award®-winning choreographer / dancer / director / writer  Bill T. Jones (Fela!, Spring Awakening), poet Marc Bamuthi Joseph (We Shall Not Be Moved), composer Tamar-kali (Mudbound) and dramaturg Lauren Whitehead (Between the World and Me: Onstage at the Apollo). Watch Night fuses melodies rooted in spirituals, percussive breath and fiery opera with the urgency of slam poetry and Bill T. Jones’ dynamic staging to create an exploration of justice and forgiveness in the face of deadly rage.

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SUNDAY | NOVEMBER 12, 2023

venue: Audacy Sound Stage @ Hard Rock Hotel NYC at 159 West 48th Street
[meeting on 3rd floor of the venue]

Pastries, coffee, tea, and drinks provided.

9:00 am SESSION: Second annual ATCA Edward Medina Prize for Excellence in Cultural Criticism. Gloria Oladipo will receive the ATCA Edward Medina Prize from ATCA BEID members Nate Hinkle and Elizabeth Kramer. The first annual ATCA Medina Prize recipient Brittani Samuel will hold a Q and A with the new winner.

10:00 am SESSION: Revival and Revision in I Can Get It for You Wholesale. Classic Stage Company has opened its 2023-2024 season with I Can Get It for You Wholesale, a musical set in 1937 and last seen in New York in 1962, that showcases Harold Rome tunes and a book adapted by Jerome Weidman from his own novel about striking garment workers, family and ambition, tradition and opportunism. The panel will address musical revision, adaptation, and staging of this almost forgotten classic: CSC Producing Artistic Director Jill Rafson; John Weidman, who revised his father’s book; David Chase, who arranged and adapted the score; director Trip Cullman; and choreographer Ellenore Scott. ATCA member Martha Wade Steketee moderates.

11:00 am SESSION: open discussion. ATCA member issues. concerns, discussion of strategies of dealing with press agents, other possible topics.

1:00 pm PROGRAM CLOSING

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