American Theatre Critics Association
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The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) is the only nationwide professional association of theatre critics in the United States. The ATCA membership consists of theatre critics who write reviews and critiques of live theatre for print, broadcast, and digital media. The organization is best known for its annual Steinberg/ATCA New play Award recognizing work developed and premiered in regional theaters. It also makes the recommendation for the
Regional Theatre Tony Award The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special recognition Tony Award given annually to a regional theater company in the United States. The winner is recommended by a committee of drama critics. Background Initially presented in 1948 to Robert ...
. ATCA is an affiliate organization of the International Association of Theatre Critics. The current chair of ATCA's Executive Committee is David John Chávez, a San Francisco-based theatre critic. The vice chair is Cameron Kelsall, a freelance theatre critic in Philadelphia.


History

ATCA was founded on August 3, 1974, at the
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut, is a 501(c)(3) non-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. It is commonly referred to as The O'Neill. The center has received two Tony Awards, the 1979 Special Awa ...
in Waterford, Connecticut. The organization was created to provide a professional home for theatre critics outside of the
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
metropolitan area, who were not eligible for membership in the
New York Drama Critics' Circle The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 22 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization is best known for its annual awards for excellence in theater.Jone ...
.''Under the Copper Beech: Conversations with American Theater Critics'', edited by Jeffrey Eric Jenkins. Foundation ATCA, 2004, p. 52-53. Then-Critics' Circle president Henry Hewes organized the meeting, which 26 critics attended. As of July 2016 ATCA had over 225 members.


Awards

ATCA administers several awards as part of its mission to strengthen American theatre nationwide. Three of these are awards for administered solely by ATCA, while two are awards for other theatre artists that are administered in conjunction with other organizations.


Jointly administered awards


Regional Theatre Tony Award

The most prominent prize that ATCA has a role in is the
Regional Theatre Tony Award The Regional Theatre Tony Award is a special recognition Tony Award given annually to a regional theater company in the United States. The winner is recommended by a committee of drama critics. Background Initially presented in 1948 to Robert ...
. Each year ATCA members confidentially vote for this
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
, and the organization's choice is presented to the
Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...
committee. ATCA's vote is solely advisory: the Tony Awards committee makes the decision of which company to give the award to. However, to date (2014), ATCA's recommendation has been accepted every year, even in 1987, with the then-controversial San Francisco Mime Troupe. The first theatre company to win the award was
Arena Stage Arena Stage is a not-for-profit regional theater based in Southwest, Washington, D.C. Established in 1950, it was the first racially integrated theater in Washington, D.C. and its founders helped start the U.S. regional theater movement. It is ...
in 1976. From 1976 to 2013 only theatre companies outside of New York City were eligible; in 2013 the Tony Awards committee announced that non-profit theatre companies within the five boroughs of New York City would be eligible, although Broadway companies would still be ineligible for this particular Tony Award. After this change was made Signature Theatre was the first New York City company to win the award in 2014.


Theater Hall of Fame

The
American Theater Hall of Fame The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the ...
is located in the lobby of the
Gershwin Theatre The Gershwin Theatre (originally the Uris Theatre) is a Broadway theatre, Broadway theater at 222 West 51st Street (Manhattan), 51st Street, on the second floor of the Paramount Plaza office building, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New ...
in New York City (current home of the musical ''
Wicked Wicked may refer to: Books * Wicked, a minor character in the ''X-Men'' universe * '' Wicked'', a 1995 novel by Gregory Maguire that inspired the musical of the same name * ''Wicked'', the fifth novel in Sara Shepard's ''Pretty Little Liars'' s ...
''). ATCA members form an overwhelming percentage of the voters each year to decide new inductees, though the voting and award are administered by the Hall of Fame itself. The annual induction ceremony of (in recent years) eight new members takes place at the end of January.


Solely administered awards


Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award

The Harold and Mimi Steinberg/ATCA New Play Award is a prize awarded for a play that has had its premiere in the previous calendar year and which did not play in New York City in that same year. Currently the award total is $25,000, with two additional awards of $7,500 each for plays worthy of citation. Past winners include important works, such as ''All the Way'' (which later won the 2014
Tony Award for Best Play The Tony Award for Best Play (formally, the Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre) is an annual award given to the best new (non- musical) play on Broadway, as determined by Tony Award voters. There was no award in the Tonys' first year ...
), '' 33 Variations'', and ''
The Piano Lesson ''The Piano Lesson'' is a 1987 play by American playwright August Wilson. It is the fourth play in Wilson's ''The Pittsburgh Cycle''. Wilson began writing this play by playing with the various answers regarding the possibility of "acquir nga se ...
''. Four playwrights have won the award multiple times: Jane Martin has won the award four times (for ''Talking With,'' ''Keely and Du'', ''Jack and Jill,'' and ''Anton in Show Business'').
August Wilson August Wilson ( Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of ten plays, collectively called ' (or ...
has won three times (for ''
Fences A fence is a barrier enclosing or bordering a field, yard, etc., usually made of posts and wire or wood, used to prevent entrance, to confine, or to mark a boundary. Fence or fences may also refer to: Entertainment Music * Fences (band), an Amer ...
'', ''
The Piano Lesson ''The Piano Lesson'' is a 1987 play by American playwright August Wilson. It is the fourth play in Wilson's ''The Pittsburgh Cycle''. Wilson began writing this play by playing with the various answers regarding the possibility of "acquir nga se ...
'', and ''
Two Trains Running ''Two Trains Running'' is a 1990 play by American playwright August Wilson, the sixth in his ten-part series ''The Pittsburgh Cycle''. The play takes place in 1968 in the Hill District, an African-American neighborhood in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. ...
'').
Lee Blessing Lee Knowlton Blessing (born October 4, 1949) is an American playwright best known for his 1988 work, '' A Walk in the Woods''. A lifelong Midwesterner, Blessing continued to work in regional theaters in and around his hometown of Minneapolis thro ...
and
Bill Cain Bill Cain, SJ (c. 1947–) is an American playwright and Jesuit priest. He founded a Shakespeare company in Boston, and ''The New York Times'' has praised him for his "impish humor". Works Cain wrote the play ''Stand Up Tragedy'' and the play ...
have each won twice; Blessing won for ''A Walk in the Woods'' and ''A Body of Water'', and Cain won for ''Equivocation'' and ''Nine Circles''. Blessing is the only playwright to win in consecutive years (2010 and 2011). Wilson is the playwright with the most citations (five). Blessing also has one citation.


Francesca Primus Prize for an Emerging Woman Playwright

The Francesca Primus Prize for an Emerging Woman Playwright is a $10,000 prize for female playwrights who have made contributions to American theatre but who have not yet achieved substantial nationwide recognition. ATCA started awarding the Primus Prize in 2004.


M. Elizabeth Osborn Award

The M. Elizabeth Osborn Award is a prize given to a playwright who merits recognition, but whose works have not received a major award or any
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...
or
Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
productions. The award comes with $1,000 and recognition in the ''Best Plays'' yearbook.


Online presence

ATCA's principal online presence is through its website. The site contains information about ATCA news, prizes, history, and members. ATCA also uses the site to further the discussion of theatre criticism in the United States by posted links to controversies and discussions relevant to members, theatre artists, and the general public. The organization also has a
Twitter account Twitter is an online social media and social networking service owned and operated by American company Twitter, Inc., on which users post and interact with 280-character-long messages known as "tweets". Registered users can post, like, and ...
and a
Facebook page Facebook is a social-network service website launched on February 4, 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg. The following is a list of software and technology features that can be found on the Facebook website and mobile app and are available to users of ...
. Many ATCA members maintain their own online presence, and ATCA maintains a separate Twitter account that retweets links to members' theatre reviews.


Foundation ATCA

Foundation ATCA is a legally separate non-profit organization that exists to support ATCA's goals. All ATCA members also belong to the foundation, and some ATCA members serve as governing officers of both organizations. The current president of the Foundation board is Jay Handleman, longtime critic of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.


External links


Official site of the American Theatre Critics Association


References

{{Authority control American theater awards American theater critics Professional associations based in the United States 1974 establishments in the United States Arts organizations established in 1974