2022: excavation review
2022 was a continued return to viewing on line and in person theater, collaborating on theater, counting theater productions, and coalition-building on behalf of theater. The exhaustive (and exhausting) list […]
Clyde’s, Company, SIX lead 2022 Drama Desk Awards announced June 8, 2022
June 8, 2022 — 66th Annual Drama Desk Awards winners were announced today. The full list of nominees and winners are available here. The nominating committee’s special awards were announced […]
2022 Drama Desk nominations chaired by ATCA member honor the rich return of New York theater
May 16, 2022 — Nominations for the 66th Annual Drama Desk Awards were announced today, and the full list of nominees and announced special awards are available here. In keeping with the […]
2021: excavation review
In 2021 — our year of continued recovery from a viral pandemic, from a devastating presidential term, from professional and social recalibrations — theater professionals including dramaturgs and critics have […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
event musings: 2013-2014 drama desk nominations announcement
Drama Desk presents: 59th Annual Drama Desk Awards Nominations Announcement Robert Lopez, Kristen Anderson-Lopez, and Fran Drescher Friday, April 25, 2014 at 11am 54 Below, 254 West 54th Street The first of […]
drama desk adventure 2012-2013 wrap up
A season year of theatre going — over 250 shows for Drama Desk consideration as well as a substantial additional number of concerts and readings and other events addressing other […]
drama desk adventure begins
Writing about theatre comes from passionate engagement for me. For years I wrote and spoke about the theatre I read and saw and consumed in personal handwritten journals, in academic […]
urban excavations 