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 […]
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 […]
2018: excavation review themes
I squeezed adventures in Norway, Sweden, the wilds of central Wisconsin, Georgia, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island into 2018, a year of paring, sifting and sorting of involvement on professional boards […]
2018: excavation review
Live and filmed performances, as well as readings of works in progress, filled my days in calendar year 2018. I usually attend solo, and yet often host my spouse or […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
2014: excavation review themes
Chance Magazine issue 3 subscriber cover title line. Issues 3 and 4 of Chance were completed, printed, and delivered to subscribers and newsstands in 2014. I have now accumulated four […]
urban excavations 