Politics, Playmaking Collide at the Edinburgh Fringe
A dispatch from this year’s record-breaking festival, where 3,000 shows competed for theatregoers’ attention.
Critic’s Notebook
Our Reflection Talks Back
In the digital post-truth era; theatre of the real doesn’t just dramatize change—in some case it embodies it.
14 Lessons in 14 Days at the National Critics Institute
What I learned at the O’Neill Theater Center’s annual July boot camp for arts journalists.
Kirsten Childs Thinks Big
Her new musical ‘Bella’ is a tall tale about an unlikely Old West heroine.
New Black Fest: The Revolution May Be Theatricalized
Play reading festivals come and go, but there was something electric and urgent about this year, the fest’s 7th.
How One Song Changed the Arc of ‘Great Comet’
More than just a nice showcase for Josh Groban, ‘Dust and Ashes’ makes the non-linearity of mental illness dramatically compelling.
Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner in ‘A Moveable Feast’?
The Book-It Repertory Theatre adaptation of the Hemingway classic takes audiences on a Parisian tour.
Notes on Shakespeare 400: Too Much of a Bard Thing
Barbara Gaines’s Chicago Shakespeare Theater staged an ambitious yearlong program in 2016. I tried to match that ambition as an attendee, with mixed success.
Four Decades Later, ‘Zoot Suit’ Still Fits
It’s sobering that Luis Valdez’s stirring Chicano protest musical is freshly relevant, but there’s nothing somber about its vibrant new staging.
Updating the Classics: When, Where—and Why
From ‘Cherry Orchard’ on Broadway to ‘Cymbeline’ in London, period transplants have varied success.
