theater criticism Archives

Features Theater

Remembering Joel Markowitz, founding editor of DC Metro Theater Arts

Henrik Eger November 5, 2018 5 Comments

An open letter to a theater legend.

Features Theater

10 Ways YOU Can Improve Theater Criticism

Christopher Munden October 23, 2018 4 Comments

Actions you can take since you’re upset with theater criticism in Philadelphia.

Features Reviews Theater

This Is Not A Theater Review

Christopher Munden October 30, 2017 3 Comments

Thoughts on Destiny Estimate, the American Theater Critics Association, and theater criticism.

Features Theater

Yo Philly, No More Safe Bullshit

Christopher Munden August 21, 2017 1 Comment

Excerpted from gchat conversations between Christopher Munden and John Rosenberg.

Features Review of Reviews Reviews Theater

Dear White People: TWO TRAINS RUNNING is not a play about race

Trish McFadden April 2, 2016 4 Comments

A critic evaluating TWO TRAINS RUNNING is not an anthropologist studying another culture through their artifacts.

Features Theater

Ethics for theater critics: Does an analysis by a privileged journalist have value?

Christopher Munden March 2, 2016 No Comments

Do writers get more ethical the more they are paid?

Ian Merrill Peakes as Macbeth with Ben Dibble as Banquo. Photo by Mark Garvin.

Features Theater

Critical Mass: Arden’s MACBETH introduces a new feature on Phindie

Christopher Munden March 11, 2015 No Comments

Readers of Phindie will know that I’m a big fan of William Shakespeare. Yet in the Fall, when I got an invitation to see a…

Features Theater

Code of Practice for Theater Critics

Christopher Munden January 1, 2015 1 Comment

the Code of Practice for the International Association of Theatre Critics

Features Interviews Theater

Debra Miller: An interview with Philadelphia’s most prolific theater reviewer

Henrik Eger November 21, 2014 5 Comments

Debra Miller sees a LOT of theater. Indeed, she is the most prolific theater writer in town. Henrik Eger talked to Deb about her background and writing.

Features

Why Phindie? The editor’s personal statement

Christopher Munden October 25, 2014 2 Comments

Personal statement by Phindie editor Christopher Munden. How he got into publishing and why he started Phindie.

Features Theater

“The Experiment”: ARCADIA (Lantern), Introduction to an experiment in criticism

Michael Fisher October 12, 2014 No Comments

Phindie writer Michael Fisher introduces his multi-part critical experiment, using the Lantern’s production of ARCADIA as his guinea pig subject.

Features Fringe Festival Theater

The Conversation Starter: A Fringe show, a reviewer’s word choice, and why it’s good to talk

J. Colie McClellan September 12, 2014 No Comments

Conversations are not always comfortable, but when Colie McClellan had an issue with a Phindie review, she decided to start one.

Features Fringe Festival Theater

Victor Fiorillo, A Doll’s House, and the role of the reviewer

Julius Ferraro September 23, 2013 4 Comments

A review by Victor Fiorillo of EgoPo Classic Theatre’s A Doll’s House got Phindie writer Julius Ferraro contemplating the role of reviewer. This is part of Phindie‘s…

Dance Features Interviews

An Interview with Inquirer critic Merilyn Jackson

Steven Weisz for The Dance Journal August 20, 2013 No Comments

Published by The Dance Journal, republished with kind permission. Merilyn Jackson has been writing regularly on dance for The Philadelphia Inquirer since 1996 and prior…

Features Interviews Theater

Just one asshole with an opinion: theater critic Mark Cofta on the art of reviewing and observations on Philly’s theater scene

Josh McIlvain May 29, 2013 2 Comments

Originally published on the FringeArts blog. Republished with kind permission. “I see 150 to 180 plays a year, and still always regret missing a bunch.”…

Features Theater

The Purpose of Criticism: Roger Ebert, Lester Bangs, and Psychotic Reactions

Michael Fisher May 7, 2013 No Comments

Following his much-discussed piece on Gimmickry in Theater, Michael F. Fisher considers the role of the critic, and how theater criticism in Philadelphia compares to…