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.
Opinion
Improvise, Imitate, Formalize, Reject, Repeat: How the Wheel of Innovation Turns
A look at the cyclical nature of theatre architecture throughout history.
When Critics Don’t Like Their Reflection
Why my play ‘Pass Over’ inspired a whitelash—and a backlash against it from artists who felt targeted.
Belonging and Becoming: Reflections on #TCG17
What was a critic of color doing at a theatre conference? Only listening, learning, networking, and finding his place.
How Bloomsburg’s ‘Gunpowder Joe’ Took Aim at 2017
I was commissioned to write about a divisive historical figure. Who knew my play would drop when U.S. history was writing an explosive new chapter?
Kirsten Childs Thinks Big
Her new musical ‘Bella’ is a tall tale about an unlikely Old West heroine.
I Am Miss Saigon, and I Hate It
It’s not just that the hit musical doesn’t tell my family’s story. It’s that it perpetuates a narrative in which the Vietnamese are victims, not fighters.
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.
Guides for Survival in the Trump Simulacrum
When the familiar seems strange and vice versa, writers who have grasped that dichotomy seem all the more necessary.
