2017: excavation review themes
Simplifying, complicating, simplifying again. This has been a year of expanding and paring involvement on professional boards and projects, resuming old roles and assuming new ones. I continue into 2018 […]
2017: excavation review
Public performances in calendar year 2017, live or filmed, were many and thrilling, with new talents and old familiars, in large venues and intimate spaces. By my rough count, during […]
A Collective Call Against Critical Bias
I am one voice among two dozen signatories to this piece that addresses selected critical response to several New York shows in the 2016-2017 season, and raises some questions about […]
Parity, Politics, and Survival: WiTFESTNYC 2017
[Original published in The Brooklyn Rail, June 2017, posted May 28, 2017.] This June, the Women in Theatre Festival (with its creatively capitalized WiTFESTNYC tag) will unfurl its second year […]
Roundtable: Is Jesse Green the right choice for the New York Times?
[I am one voice among many in this article originally published by “Exeunt Staff” in Exeunt Magazine, April 10, 2017.] As yet another white man is hired to the most prestigious job in US theatre criticism, Exeunt’s New York writers ask when the conversation will really change. After theater critic Charles Isherwood was fired, the New York Times announced […]
Chris Rawson, Theater Critic, On Honoring August Wilson
[article as originally published in The Clyde Fitch Report, March 12, 2017.] It is fashionable to debate the importance of cultural criticism. The debate questions what criticism is and who is […]
Wrestling With the Legacy of a Real-Life Attorney
[article as originally published in TDF Stages, March 1, 2017.] A new play takes on William Kunstler — Playwright Jeffrey Sweet was inspired by a shock of hair and a lanky swagger. […]
Catherine Filloux and Poetic Political Theater
[article as originally published in The Clyde Fitch Report, February 28, 2017.] Poetry, design concepts, political themes and strong female characters distinguish the work of playwright and activist Catherine Filloux. […]
Bill Hirschman: Theater Criticism’s Cockeyed Optimist
[article as originally published in The Clyde Fitch Report, February 12, 2017.] It is fashionable to debate the importance of cultural criticism. The debate questions what criticism is, who is and […]
A Most Visible Baby Mama on Multiple Births
[article as originally published in The Clyde Fitch Report, January 24, 2017.] [feature image caption: Mariah MacCarthy. Photo: Kacey Stamats.] Edgy and sweet, tenacious and joyous, raucous and calm, crude and […]
Exeunt New York’s Most Memorable Shows of 2016
[I am one voice among many in this piece that asked NYC based Exeunt contributors to nominate one (or in some cases two) productions that haunted us, rather than our […]
2016: excavation review themes
After six annual marathons captured in “what Martha has seen” lists of theater and film adventuring (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016), I’ve learned a few things. I’ve learned that […]
2016: excavation review
[featured image caption: Times Square. Screen capture from opening sequence of Babes on Broadway (1941).] Public performances in calendar year 2016, live or filmed, were many and thrilling. I viewed new […]
Why Does a Play About the Internet Have a Realistic Set?
[article as originally published at TDF Stages, December 13, 2016.] The meaningful space of Tiny Beautiful Things. It might be about strangers communicating on the vast and anonymous internet, but […]
After Orlando: International Rapid Response Theatre
[article as originally published in Exeunt Magazine, December 12, 2016.] [Featured image caption: After Orlando reading in St. Louis, Missouri November 14, 2016. “Dance On” by Ian Rowlands. Image by […]
“Pop!”-Up Theater Extends Venues and Audience Experiences
[Original published in The Clyde Fitch Report, November 15, 2016.] [featured image caption: A Scandal at the Table, September 24, 2016 at Hell Phone. Photo: Edward Morris.] “I wanted people to […]
urban excavations 