Dramaturging the Phoenix: The Next Normal and the Right Now
The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas, one of my professional “home bases,” has run an essay and convening project during the first year of the pandemic. Dramaturging the […]
Notes from the Chair: “We Got Through All Of Last Year And We’re Here”
As a kind of year’s end and year’s beginning, I crafted a summary of the work accomplished by and through the people of the American Theatre Critics Association in 2020. […]
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 […]
ATCA 2020: The Next Normal
American Theatre Critics Association’s 2020 Conference: The Next Normal What good is sitting alone in your room — when through the magic of Zoom, you can join fellow arts journalists […]
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 — the product of 11 months of effort, given with love for the art form and the seven awards […]
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 […]
Celebrating Sondheim’s Birthday with Garland and Others and “Songs I Wish I’d Written”
On the occasion of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday a decade ago, I called upon a list of songs published on the occasion of his 70th that he said he wished […]
Women Count V: Women Hired Off-Broadway 2014/15 through 2018/19
[Selection from February 2020 report, published February 26, 2020 on the Women Count report series page.] EXECUTIVE SUMMARY: WOMEN COUNT V, 2014/15 THROUGH 2018/19 The Women Count report series collects and […]
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 […]
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 […]
Calm and Coiled: Musings on the Lolling styles of Hepburn and Garland
Back in 2010 and 2011 I played with a theme, a meme, of “lolling” through two of my favorite film divas Lolling served as a way for me to select among […]
