Past Conferences
History of ATCA conferences
Each year ATCA holds multiple convenings ranging from 2-3 days to 5-6 days, with ATCA members playing lead roles in planning and organization. (In addition, there’s a tradition of occasional Critics’ Seminars.)
ATCA meetings in the early years (1974-77) were held at the O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, CT. The annual conferences in subsequent years have been held around the country.
One convening each year serves as the annual conference, by tradition held in a national theater center other than New York, allowing ATCA members over time to become familiar with American theater communities around the country. (The 2022 annual conference in New York for the first time celebrates the first opportunity for ATCA members to convene in person since November 2019.) All annual conference locations listed below.
For many years shorter (or mini) meetings were held in New York in February, when many papers traditionally sent their critics to report on new Broadway openings — how the world has changed! Additional convenings have been held at new play and regional theater festivals, such as the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, Harriet Lake Festival of New Plays (at the Orlando Shakespeare Festival), the Denver New Play Summit, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays.
Beginning in 2020, ATCA conference traditions were reconsidered to allow for increased virtual convenings (e.g. our first-ever virtual annual conference in November 2020) and additional virtual events throughout the year.
- 2023 – New York, NY | Holding the Curtain [upcoming Nov 2023]
- 2022 – New York, NY | Seated and In Person
- 2021 – virtual | From Where We Sit
- 2020 – virtual | The Next Normal
- 2020 – Costa Mesa, CA | Pacific Playwrights Festival (cancelled)
- 2019 – Winston-Salem, NC | National Black Theatre Festival
- 2018 – Spring Green, WI | American Players Theatre
- 2017 – San Francisco, CA – III
- 2016 – Philadelphia, PA – II
- 2015 – New Orleans, LA
- 2014 – Louisville, KY | Humana Festival – II
- 2013 – Shepherdstown, WV | Contemporary American Theater Festival
- 2012 – Chicago, IL – IV
- 2011 – Ashland, OR | Oregon Shakespeare Festival – III
- 2010 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – VI
- 2009 – Sarasota, FL
- 2008 – Washington, DC | Arlington, VA – II
- 2007 – Las Vegas, NV
- 2006 – Stratford + Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada | Stratford + Shaw Festivals – II
- 2005 – Los Angeles, CA | National Critics Conference – II
- 2004 – San Francisco, CA – II
- 2003 – Minneapolis + St. Paul, MN – II
- 2002 – Chicago, IL – III
- 2001 – Ashland, OR | Oregon Shakespeare Festival – II
- 2000 – Louisville, KY | Humana Festival – I
- 1999 – Philadelphia, PA – I
- 1998 – Denver, CO
- 1997 – Salt Lake City, UT | Utah Shakespeare Festival
- 1996 – Miami, FL
- 1995 – Dallas + Ft. Worth, TX
- 1994 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – V
- 1993 – Seattle, WA
- 1992 – Cleveland, OH
- 1991 – Chicago, IL – II
- 1990 – The Berkshires, MA
- 1989 – Atlanta, GA
- 1988 – Houston, TX
- 1987 – Stratford + Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada | Stratford + Shaw Festivals – I
- 1986 – Los Angeles, CA – I
- 1985 – Ashland, OR | Oregon Shakespeare Festival – I
- 1984 – Providence, RI + New Haven, CT + Cambridge, MA
- 1983 – San Diego, CA
- 1982 – Washington, DC – I
- 1981 – Nashville, TN
- 1980 – San Francisco, CA – I
- 1979 – Chicago, IL – I
- 1978 – Minneapolis + St. Paul, MN – I
- 1977 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – IV
- 1976 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – III
- 1975 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – II
- 1974 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center – I