Past Conferences
History of ATCA conferences
ATCA over the years has held multi-day convenings each year, with ATCA members playing lead roles in planning and organization.
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. The 2020 and 2021 annual meetings were virtual, and the annual meetings moved to New York in 2022.
For many years, additional short meetings were held in New York in February, when many papers traditionally sent their critics to report on new Broadway openings. Other short convenings over the years 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.
ATCA reconsidered conference traditions in 2020 to allow for increased virtual convenings (e.g. our first-ever virtual annual conference in November 2020) and additional virtual events throughout the year.
All annual conference locations listed below.
- 2025 – New York, NY | Annual Conference 2025
- 2024 – New York, NY | No One Asked Us to Do This
- 2023 – New York, NY | Holding the Curtain
- 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
- 2016 – Philadelphia, PA
- 2015 – New Orleans, LA
- 2014 – Louisville, KY | Humana Festival
- 2013 – Shepherdstown, WV | Contemporary American Theater Festival
- 2012 – Chicago, IL
- 2011 – Ashland, OR | Oregon Shakespeare Festival
- 2010 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
- 2009 – Sarasota, FL
- 2008 – Washington, DC | Arlington, VA
- 2007 – Las Vegas, NV
- 2006 – Stratford + Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada |
Stratford + Shaw Festivals - 2005 – Los Angeles, CA | National Critics Conference
- 2004 – San Francisco, CA
- 2003 – Minneapolis + St. Paul, MN
- 2002 – Chicago, IL
- 2001 – Ashland, OR | Oregon Shakespeare Festival
- 2000 – Louisville, KY | Humana Festival
- 1999 – Philadelphia, PA
- 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
- 1993 – Seattle, WA
- 1992 – Cleveland, OH
- 1991 – Chicago, IL
- 1990 – The Berkshires, MA
- 1989 – Atlanta, GA
- 1988 – Houston, TX
- 1987 – Stratford + Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario, Canada |
Stratford + Shaw Festivals - 1986 – Los Angeles, CA
- 1985 – Ashland, OR | Oregon Shakespeare Festival
- 1984 – Providence, RI, New Haven, CT, Cambridge, MA
- 1983 – San Diego, CA
- 1982 – Washington, DC
- 1981 – Nashville, TN
- 1980 – San Francisco, CA
- 1979 – Chicago, IL
- 1978 – Minneapolis + St. Paul, MN
- 1977 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
- 1976 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
- 1975 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center
- 1974 – Waterford, CT | Eugene O’Neill Theater Center