New Criticism Project

Simply put, we are working theatre artists who want to nurture a new model of criticism in the United States.

For now, we remain anonymous for two reasons: (1) To protect ourselves and all the people who work on our plays, productions, and publications. (2) To keep the focus on what a new model of criticism might look like and not on our reputations, work, or personalities.

We are Directors, Playwrights, Artistic Directors, Managing Directors, Producers, Actors, Designers, Dramaturgs, Literary Managers, Academics, Agents and Stage Management from all over the United States. We create Broadway shows, Off-Broadway, Regional productions; we create musicals, plays, TYA, movies, and TV. We are award winners, “Critic’s Picks,” published authors, union members, guild members, rave receivers and slam survivors.

We want to collaborate and create a new model for a critical ecosystem that centers diverse voices and supports the widest community of audiences and theatre makers. At minimum this means that every production reviewed by major papers of note should be from two respondents.

• Everyone gets an opinion. No one opinion should rule.
• We believe in an artist-critic ecology that unites both communities in a generous, purposeful dialogue.
• We believe this will stimulate artists, critics, and audiences alike. We believe this ecology, at its healthiest, will foster mutual respect, curiosity, and honesty.
• We believe it will resist the suffocating tendencies of power-hoarding and gatekeeping that define an unhealthy system that underserves creativity and artistic risk taking.
• We believe criticism and theatre must and can be antiracist, anti-sexist, anti-ableist, anti-homophobic, anti-agist, anti-transphobic, anti-fat-phobic, etc.

We know that for some critics, the goal is consumer advocacy – describing to theatregoers what they will experience if they spend their limited time and money on a production.

We know that some hope to advocate for undiscovered artists.

Some hope to make theatre more comprehensible and approachable.

Some hope to define the taste of the moment, or to put it in an illuminating historical or literary context.

Some hope to hold theatre accountable.

Some hope to inspire. 

Some hope to connect.

And some are driven by ideals we haven’t mentioned here.  

But again, we know that many critics are forced to practice their work in a system that thwarts these ideals. Whether they are fighting for a living wage, a meaningful word count, or even the basic opportunity to write, many critics are in a position that serves no one and wounds all.  

 And we know  that as much as it hurts criticism, the current model threatens the theatre itself. 

In its current form, American theatre criticism is often harming the very artform it’s meant to explore. Currently, there are just a few critics, who are demographically very similar, who have the necessary resources to rigorously practice their craft. This means that a handful of people lead the conversation around the theatre. Their judgments, no matter how reasoned, become almost the sole arbiters on what is “worthy,” on what and who should succeed, and on which artists should work.

We know this wasn’t how the system started. Decades ago, when cities had multiple major newspapers, there were three, four, or even more critics in every city who could contribute to a robust conversation. But now, as publications dwindle, we are often reduced to a feudal system in which the one remaining “major paper” has a single “big reviewer”. That critic speaks with outsized volume, and that degrades everyone. When one voice is that dominant in a critical community, it inevitably hurts the creativity and financial livelihood of the artists being discussed. When one outlet has the lion’s share of resources to support criticism in a community, then that outlet inevitably impedes the critics who aren’t lucky enough to sit in the feudal seat. When one critic has that much weight placed on their words, it inevitably distorts what they say.

But it does not have to be this way.

As so many theatre communities reevaluate how, why, and for whom they make work,  it is essential that critics be included in the reckoning. Critics are a necessary and valued part of the theatre community.

We cannot move forward until we overhaul the practices that are warping their work. The New Criticism Project calls for this much-needed change.