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Criticism

Here, you’ll find content about the art and practice of theatre criticism. Many pieces grapple with questions of how to diversify the field, making it more accessible for young people, queer folx, and critics of color. This section also contains all the pieces of criticism in the Journal, which we call “NewCrits.” NewCrits analyze productions and go beyond “thumbs up, thumbs down” reviews, placing the work(s) in question in a larger, broader context—whether that’s the context of the time or place it’s done in, the artists’ body of work, or its genre. Are you interested in writing a NewCrit? Check out our guidelines and best practices!

The Latest

Essay
Black Survival and Cyclical Fate in Hang Time
by Ciaran Short
4 June 2026
Essay
On a Theatrical Pilgrimage to See Carolina Bianchi and Cara de Cavalo's Chapter II: The Brotherhood
by Amanda L. Andrei
6 April 2026
Essay
How The Last Country Amplifies Stories of Immigration and Belonging in South Africa
by Tonderai Chiyindiko
4 February 2026
Essay
30 July 2017

Ruth Zamoyta reports on the Association for Performing Arts Service Organization's annual meeting, May 19, 2017, Asbury Park, NJ.

Essay

Raja Feather Kelly and the Imprint of Pop

25 July 2017

The Feath3r Theory post-ballet theatre musical about the influence of pop culture on how we live.

Essay

Audience Development and Community Based Theatre

13 July 2017

Carlos Morton on the revival of Simply María, or The American Dream by Josefina López in Los Angeles.

Essay
12 July 2017

Wild Women of Planet Wongo is a cliched tribute to sci-fi and B-movies about worlds without men.

Essay
11 July 2017

After a comment storm on a recent HowlRound post about bias in criticism in the American Theatre, P. Carl addresses how the democratization of the arts is a form of inclusion.

Essay
30 June 2017

Brett Aresco looks at personal comedy theatre and recent shows by Neal Brennan and Mike Birbiglia.

Essay
27 June 2017

A fairy tale for our modern age? A consideration of Anastasia by Amanda Prahl.

Essay
26 June 2017

A collectively authored essay by leading artists, academics, and theatre advocates about Paula Vogel’s Indecent and Lynn Nottage’s Sweat on Broadway amid a conversation about critical bias toward women playwrights and playwrights of color.

Essay
22 June 2017

What happens to Nora after she slams that door? Cristina Sanza considers A Doll’s House, Part 2.

Essay

On the Road with the Minnesota Bard

20 June 2017

Minnesota’s favorite storyteller: Kevin Kling.

Essay

Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías

15 June 2017

Trevor Boffone looks at the provocation of Native Gardens by Karen Zacarías in Houston and the conversations it’s starting about Latinx theatre.

Essay

Other Places

13 June 2017

Gary English looks at the production Other Places by the Palestinian theatre group Al Khashabi Ensemble.

Essay

7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments

8 June 2017

Lydia K. Valentine looks at Hands Up, a series of monologues that address the killing of unarmed black men by police.

Essay

Sorting through Building the Wall

4 June 2017

Jonathan Mandell compares the countrywide reaction to the anti-Trump play Building the Wall with its reception in New York, where it's closing a month early.

Essay
28 May 2017

Sarah Ruhl on The Lilly Awards, criticism, and the power of mothers.

Essay

 The Drama in the Data

26 May 2017

Holly L. Derr looks at ethnodrama and Her Opponent, a restaging of excerpts of the 2016 presidential debates with gender-reversed casting.

Essay

Adventures in Pre-and Post-Racial America

20 May 2017

Yuko Kurahashi talks about the Collidescope 3.0 project, which uses movement, video projections, and soundscape to explore black and white relations in American history.

Essay
13 May 2017

Airness uses air guitar to ask what is real. The answer: the families we make.

Video
Wednesday 10 May 2017
New York City, NY, United States

The Martin E. Segal Theatre Center in New York City presented Andrzej Wirth: A Century in the Landscape of Theatre livestreamed on the global, commons-based peer produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Wednesday 10 May at 6:30 p.m. EDT (New York) / 5:30 p.m. CDT (Chicago) / 3:30 p.m. PDT (Los Angeles).

Essay

Sam Gold’s The Glass Menagerie

9 May 2017

Ryan Donovan considers the critical reception of casting an actor with a disability in the current Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams's The Glass Menagerie.

Essay

Escapist vs. Socially Conscious Shows in the 2016–17 Season

4 May 2017

Jonathan Mandell looks at the Broadway season that just ended, dividing it into escapist entertainment and socially engaged theatre, and wondering which is more needed in times like these.

Essay

Bring Down the House

2 May 2017

Erin Murray discusses the echo of history in upstart crow collective’s Bring Down the House.

Essay

From the Perspective of Black Mothers

20 April 2017

Cherry Lou Sy looks at the one-woman show Mary Speaks written and performed by Angela Polite, about using Mary, the mother of Jesus, as a vehicle to explore black grief.

Essay
18 April 2017

The grace and fury in the performance of Jo Lampert as Joan in Joan of Arc: Into the Fire.

Essay

The Collector and Anonymous in Dublin

8 April 2017

Laura Marriott explores Daniel Wade’s The Collector and Mark Richardson’s Anonymous, two recent productions in Dublin that explore contemporary social issues.

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