First name from great grandmother, middle name from mother, surname from father. Pronounced STEK [rhymes with heck] – EH – TEE. It should not be a surprise that I have a lifelong empathy for those continually asked to spell and to pronounce their names. My sense of the thing is reflected in the name of a long-defunct social media group I once visited: “Steketee. If you can spell it you must be one of us.”

I am a Michigan girl who loved movies and theater, went off to study literature at Harvard and social science and social welfare at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Michigan, and spent 20 years as a court researcher and domestic policy analyst in university research offices and nonprofit research settings in several cities.

I returned to theater as a dramaturg and critic in my 40s — script reading for Washington DC, Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York City theaters and festivals; dramaturging productions and readings in Chicago, Philadelphia, and New York; and writing and mentoring young critics in Chicago and New York City. I was a 2014 O’Neill National Critics Institute Fellow and was a member of Chicago’s Joseph Jefferson Awards Committee (2008-2009). After a move to Manhattan in 2010, I joined New York’s Drama Desk in 2012, served as a member of the nominating committee for the 2012-2013, 2013-2014, and 2017-2018 seasons, and have served since 2018 as the committee’s chair.

My journey to criticism is covered in this January 2022 conversation with a colleague from the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association.

I honed my fascination with theater design during years of writing for and editing Chance Magazine and continue to exercise it through my enthusiastic membership on the Henry Hewes Design Awards committee. The Hewes Awards were established in 1965 as the Maharam Awards, renamed the American Theatre Wing Design Awards, and renamed yet again in 1999 for the founding chairman Henry Hewes to honor scenic, costume, and lighting design (now expanded to sound, media design and special collaborations), for Broadway, Off Broadway, and Off-Off Broadway designers considered equally.

I assemble, analyze, and report on extensive Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway credits in the Women Count report series (reporting since 2014) that I created to provide the data to augment the advocacy ideas generated by project founder Judith Binus to change the conversation from anecdotes to advocacy on behalf of female and nonbinary theater creatives. The Women Count project collaborates with other interorganizational collaborations to expand its reach and find common ground in similar data and advocacy efforts in the arts: the Counting Together collaborative (member since 2019 and co-facilitator since early 2022) and the RISE (Representation, Inclusion & Support for Employment) initiative (Network Partner since 2023), leading to several presentations on themes and issues confronting data reporting projects directed at effecting systems accountability and change in the arts.

Past and current organizational memberships and board obligations inspire and distract me. For the Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, I have been regional representative for NYC, member of the Executive Committee, chair of the Advocacy Committee, and regional representative and steering committee member for the American Theatre Archive Project. I served on the leadership team for the LMDA project Dramaturging the Phoenix from 2021 through 2022, planning and executing regular seminars exploring the evolving professional lives of dramaturgs in the US. Canada, Mexico, and Britain.

Recent roles with the American Theatre Critics/Journalists Association include Executive Committee chair (2019-2021), vice chair (2017-2019), and founding co-chair of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion (now Belonging, Equity, Inclusion and Diversity) committee (2018-2019). Current ATCA roles include serving on the New Play committee that awards the Steinberg-ATCA and Osborn playwriting prizes; co-founding the Helbing mentorship program focused on mentoring college-aged LGBTQIA+ theater critics; and acting as the ATCA revised website webmaster composing and revising posts and pages, crafting new content, and coordinating access for member-only resources including creation of online conference content. I have also been an active member of the annual conference planning committee (often presenting and hosting sessions) for two pandemic-mandated virtual conferences (2020 and 2021), and the now routine annual November New York City conferences (2022, 2023, 2024, and 2025). Events for 2026 are in development.

After serving for over a decade as a member of the Board of the Foundation of the American Critics Association. I became its President in February 2025. Foundation ATCA, formed in 1991 and incorporated in Illinois, is a public, not-for-profit, tax-exempt charitable corporation that provides financial and other tangible support for scholarships, critics’ institutes, ATCA awards, educational talks and seminars, and other eligible programs. 

I have written for HowlRound, Dramatics, TDF Stages (including my favorite interview with Albert Poland), and other outlets. I provide dramaturgical services to playwrights and authors, and have dipped a toe into the field of dramaturgy and research for film and television. It’s all about curiosity and tenacious research.

Email at msteketee [at] post [dot] harvard [dot] edu — no pronunciation required.

A recent vita can be found here. Additional details about articles, criticism, reports, and presentations are available upon request.