What will happen to the theater when there are no more critics? With the decline of print media and the rise of online journalism, theater critics are facing hard times. As their influence fades, will the industry they cover be adversely affected or can bloggers and message boards fill the void? Can a new economic model be created for theater criticism? How can critics lucky enough to still have jobs stay relevant in the age of social media? Speaking of which, what does a theater critic really do, and how do you become one? In this book, Matt Windman, a theater critic himself, interviews more than 50 critics from New York and around the country, including Ben Brantley, Charles Isherwood, John Lahr, Terry Teachout, Linda Winer, Chris Jones, David Cote, John Simon and Peter Filichia. They discuss their long careers and the nightly process of evaluating plays and musicals, and offer their thoughts on the future of the profession.

Few are aware that the actual identity of William Shakespeare, a pseudonym, represents our culture's greatest literary mystery. Even fewer realize that William Shaksper of Stratford-on-Avon, the person annointed by most Professors of English as the Great Playwright, was an uneducated, illiterate businessman who never wrote a single word of prose or poetry. In fact, Will Shakspere was the front man of a conspiracy perpetrated by England's leading politician, Robert Cecil, who, for reasons of greed and power, forced Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford?the true genius playwright?into anonymity. The astonishing power of Conventional Wisdom has kept the ruse going since the early 1600s. Outstanding authorship research in the past century, however, has shown convincingly that de Vere was indeed Shakespeare. The best of that research is now assembled in the present anthology series, ?Building the Case for Edward de Vere as Shakespeare.? It's an exciting story, dramatically presenting powerful evidence of murder?of the name of the world's greatest writing genius, Edward de Vere?and substituting a fraudulent impostor.

"Nachman provides a three-dimensional portrait of the man and the show that were part of our national consciousness for over two decades...a detailed analysis on why Sullivan mattered; Nachman is a natural storyteller...a nuanced description of Sullivan's America. Nachman's style is always accessible...a delight for anyone interested in popular culture"—Ron Simon, Curator of Television and Radio, The Paley Center for Media "A shining gem....One of those rare books you can open anywhere...and be highly entertained. As Ed himself might have said, 'Don't miss it if you can.'"—Dick Cavett, talk show host and online columnist for NYTimes/Opinion

The Routledge Anthology of Women's Theatre Theory and Dramatic Criticism is the first wide-ranging anthology of theatre theory and dramatic criticism by women writers. Reproducing key primary documents contextualized by short essays, the collection situates women’s writing within, and also reframes the field’s male-defined and male-dominated traditions. Its collection of documents demonstrates women’s consistent and wide-ranging engagement with writing about theatre and performance and offers a more expansive understanding of the forms and locations of such theoretical and critical writing, dealing with materials that often lie outside established production and publication venues. This alternative tradition of theatre writing that emerges allows contemporary readers to form new ways of conceptualizing the field, bringing to the fore a long-neglected, vibrant, intelligent, deeply informed, and expanded canon that generates a new era of scholarship, learning, and artistry. The Routledge Anthology of Women's Theatrical Theory and Dramatic Criticism is an important intervention into the fields of Theatre and Performance Studies, Literary Studies, and Cultural History, while adding new dimensions to Feminist, Gender and Sexuality Studies.

A work of startling originality when it debuted in 1938, Thornton Wilder's Our Town evolved to be seen by some as a vintage slice of early 20th Century Americana, rather than being fully appreciated for its complex and eternal themes and its deceptively simple form. This unique and timely book shines a light on the play's continued impact in the 21st century and makes a case for the healing powers of Wilder's text to a world confronting multiple crises. Through extensive interviews with more than 100 artists about their own experience of the play and its impact on them professionally and personally – and including background on the play's early years and its pervasiveness in American culture – Another Day's Begun shows why this particular work remains so important, essential, and beloved. Every production of Our Town has a story to tell beyond Wilder's own. One year after the tragedy of 9/11, Paul Newman, in his final stage appearance, played the Stage Manager in Our Town on Broadway. Director David Cromer's 2008 Chicago interpretation would play in five more cities, ultimately becoming New York's longest-running Our Town ever. In 2013, incarcerated men at Sing Sing Correctional Facility brought Grover's Corners inside a maximum security prison. After the 2017 arena bombing in Manchester UK, the Royal Exchange Theatre chose Our Town as its offering to the stricken community. 80 years after it was written, more than 110 years after its actions take place, Our Town continues to assert itself as an essential play about how we must embrace and appreciate the value of life itself. Another Day's Begun explains how this American classic has the power to inspire, heal and endure in the modern day, onstage and beyond.

This book presents Edwardian entertainment and the Edwardian entertainment industry as parts of a vital, turbulent era whose preoccupations and paranoias echo those of our own day. Responding to recent shifts of attitude towards the Edwardians and their world, the essays in this collection take as their provinence broad patterns of theatrical production and consumption, focusing upon the economics of theatre management, the creation of new audiences, the politics of playgoing, and the meteoric rise of popular forms of mass entertainment, including musical comedy, variety theatre, and the cinema.