NewCrit Guidelines and Best Practices
NewCrits are reviews/criticism about specific productions that offer a deep analysis, placing the work in a broader context. This might mean situating the production in the time or place of its performance, its genre, an artist’s body of work, a writer’s own perspective, and/or an aspect of a particular political moment.
We kicked off this section of the HowlRound Journal in 2013. In our initial call for NewCrits, we wrote the following:
We (...) want to foster more in-depth dialogue about the work on stage. We want to bring the art of criticism to HowlRound—to more regularly talk about the art and foster a space for respectful dialogue about what gets produced and why. We will work closely with our critics to cultivate a HowlRound voice that engages the work on stage through positive inquiry asking: Why this play, playwright, or story now? This criticism will not be aimed at ticket sales. In fact it’s unlikely that articles will be published during the run of the show—our hope is to deepen conversation around the work and emphasize its importance above and beyond the market value of the ticket.
Selecting a Production to Write About
Though you are welcome to pitch a NewCrit piece on any show, here’s what we’re most likely to be interested in:
- Formally experimental work
- Work by creators who are from communities or backgrounds that have not traditionally been represented or given equal access to opportunity in mainstream theatre
- Work that addresses a pressing contemporary or political issue
- Non-commercial work
- Productions in places that aren’t considered “theatre hubs”
- Work that is less likely to be documented through traditional media outlets or reviews
When writing your piece, please avoid spending too much time on plot summary. NewCrit articles are 1,500–2,500 words and edited for style and content. Upon publication of a NewCrit review, we pay the author $200.
Outstanding examples:
We love each of these pieces for different reasons, but they’re just the tip of the iceberg. You can find other great examples of NewCrit under our Criticism tag.
- “Towards a Hapa Consciousness: Understanding Blended Identities Through David Johann Kim’s Pang Spa”—The author of this piece uses her own identity, relationships, and artistic practice to come to a deeper understanding of this production.
- “An Art Festival in Rwanda Converses with the Past and Celebrates Our Shared Present”—This piece reviews several pieces in a festival and threads them together with analysis rooted in place, politics, performance, and history.
- “Sympathy for the Incel?”—The author of this piece provides a new perspective on a production that was high-profile and received a lot of attention.
- “One Queen’s Highly Personal/Subjective Reaction to Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music”—This piece is full of heart and personality, and it documents an unusual and groundbreaking performance.