TheaterMatters

TheaterMatters is a unique live-theater-review series created and moderated by Hunter College Theater Professor Jonathan Kalb. It takes place every two to three months at HERE.

A one-of-a-kind event in NYC, TheaterMatters brings together professional critics and practicing theater artists for incomparably smart, passionate, in-depth discussions of current New York City theater productions in front of a live audience. TheaterMatters is the only forum where critics and artists collaborate on serious critique of new work, and the only vehicle for criticism practiced as a live, communal event. The panels include Q&A with the audience and are preserved as recordings. They also include professionally edited video clips with narratives introducing the plays under discussion, so audience members who haven’t seen the plays can easily follow along. A communal gathering over drinks follows each panel, where panelists and audience may continue the conversation informally. See and hear the complete archive on the TheaterMatters website.

TheaterMatters events are FREE and open and accessible to the general public.

RECENT
Monday, February 10, 2020
Panel:
Charles Mee (playwright—author of Big Love, True Love, First Love, bobrauschenbergamerica, Iphigenia 2.0, Trojan Women 2.0 and many other plays)
Soraya Nadia McDonald (Culture critic for The Undefeated)
Tom Sellar (Editor, Theater magazine, Professor Yale School of Drama)

These panelists discussed these plays:
Medea, written and directed by Simon Stone, after Euripides – at BAM Harvey Theater
and
A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller – a Roundabout production at American Airlines Theater

Monday, October 21
Panel:
Jonathan Kalb, host and moderator
Jose Solis (theater critic for The New York Times and other publications)
Sarah Ruhl (MacArthur-winning playwright of Eurydice, The Clean House and many other plays)
Charles Isherwood (theater critic for Broadway News)

These panelists discussed these plays:
Soft Power, a new musical with book and lyrics by David Henry Hwang, music and additional lyrics by Jeanine Tesori, directed by Leigh Silverman at the Public Theater
and
Heroes of the Fourth Turning, by Will Arbery, directed by Danya Taymor at Playwrights Horizons

Monday, December 9
These Panelists:
Vinson Cunningham (Theater Critic for The New Yorker)
Caridad Svich (Obie-winning playwright of Twelve Ophelias, The House of the Spirits, Iphigenia Crash Land Falls … and many other plays)
Robert Hofler (Theater Critic for The Wrap)

These panelists discussed these plays:
The Inheritance, by Matthew Lopez – a Broadway production at the Barrymore Theater
and
The Underlying Chris, by Will Eno – an Off-Broadway production at Second Stage