2020: excavation review
This theatrical season will always have an asterisk. The COVID-19 pandemic closed down Broadway theaters as of March 12, 2020, with an uncertain re-opening date, and Off and Off Off […]
Isabella Byrd II: Cradling in the Abyss
[Full article published in UrbanExcavations May 26, 2020, by Martha Wade Steketee.] Isabella Byrd has chased the light in her stage designs around the country in recent years, several of […]
Isabella Byrd I: Chasing the Light
[Full article published in UrbanExcavations May 22, 2020, by Martha Wade Steketee.] I spoke with lighting designer Isabella Byrd several times in 2019, hoping to publish our interviews in several […]
Steinberg-ATCA and Osborn Awards Go Online for the First Time
Two critics, a philanthropist, and four playwrights enter a bar. No, two critics and four playwrights enter a theater. No, critics and playwrights film themselves separately and create a video […]
The Asterisked 2019-2020 Season: Drama Desk Nominations in the Time of the Virus
[A full listing of the 2019-2020 Drama Desk nominations appears here and here (as PDF) — the product of 11 months of effort, given with love for the art form […]
RDU On Stage: Live Chat with Martha Wade Steketee and Lauren Van Hemert
[Originally posted at RDU On Stage April 12, 2020. Martha Wade Steketee and Lauren Van Hemert in conversation.] My colleague Lauren Van Hemert has an active theater web site and […]
Women Making (Sound) Waves: Reflections From Six Leading Sound Designers
[Full article published in Dramatics Magazine April 6, 2020. By Martha Wade Steketee and Anita Martin.] SOUND DESIGNER Palmer Hefferan has noticed that, when watching a theatrical production, people have a […]
2019: excavation review themes
My travels this year were limited compared to travel in prior years: several days in Washington DC (where i lived in the late ’90s and early 2000s), ATCA-related trips to […]
2019: excavation review
I lived thousands of hours in roving artistic communities that move from theater to reading room to cabaret venue in the course of 2019. By my rough count, during 2019 […]
Fornés Documentary The Rest I Make Up Director and Editor Discuss their Artistic Marriage
[Full interview originally published in Contemporary Theatre Review, Backpages 29.2, August 5, 2019.] Martha Wade Steketee spoke with filmmaker Michelle Memran and film editor Melissa Neidich in October 2018 about […]
Chairs, Tables, and the American Theatre Critics Association
When I was 10 years old in East Grand Rapids, Michigan, I was in a class at Wealthy Street Elementary School comprised of kids selected for their smarts (maybe) and to […]
Honoring the (Re)Vision: Catherine Zuber on Adaptability in Costume Design
[Full article published in Dramatics on-line and appeared in the April 2019 print issue of Dramatics.] AS AUDIENCE MEMBERS, we may imagine that set, light, projection, sound, and costume designs are executed and then […]
Halley Feiffer: Writing New Roles One Play at a Time
[Full article by Martha Wade Steketee published in The Clyde Fitch Report, March 23, 2019.] Playwright-actor Halley Feiffer is currently shouldering both of her hyphenated roles in The Pain of My […]
THE BAND’S VISIT: A conversation on creating the Tony-winning musical
[Full article published in Dramatics on-line and appeared in the August/September 2018 print issue of Dramatics.] ERAN KOLIRIN’S 2007 film, The Band’s Visit, is set in the deeply political geography of rural […]
Of Sound Mind: Fitz Patton Sees Theater As Tonal Adventure
[Full article published in The Clyde Fitch Report, February 24, 2019.] Fitz Patton is a Drama Desk and Lortel-winning composer and sound designer who has built an extensive and varied body of […]
Lear deBessonet Makes Theater as a Hopeful Public Proposal
[Full article published in The Clyde Fitch Report, January 20, 2019.] In a previous series of CFR stories called Critical I, theater critics were asked to reflect on their work — […]
urban excavations 