American Theatre magazine

American Theatre magazine
Title	American Theatre
Category	Performing arts
Frequency	Monthly
Publisher	Theatre Communications Group
Firstdate	1984
Country	United States
Based	New York City
Language	English

American Theatre magazine is a monthly periodical devoted to coverage of the professional theatre in the United States, providing reportage, criticism, analysis, and practical resources for practitioners and audiences. Founded in the mid-1980s, it has chronicled developments across Broadway, regional theatre, off-Broadway, nonprofit companies, festivals, and educational institutions. The magazine serves a readership that includes artistic directors, playwrights, actors, designers, producers, dramaturgs, and administrators.

History

The magazine was established in 1984 amid shifting landscapes in Broadway (Manhattan), regional theatre, and the nonprofit theatre sector, following momentum generated by organizations such as Theatre Communications Group and festivals like the Humana Festival of New American Plays. Early coverage intersected with landmark institutions including Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Public Theater, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Over the decades the magazine reported on major events and debates involving entities such as American Conservatory Theater, Arena Stage, Seattle Repertory Theatre, and national conversations sparked by productions at Geffen Playhouse and Long Wharf Theatre. It documented the careers and controversies of figures associated with Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, August Wilson, and contemporaries emerging from programs at Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, and New York University Tisch School of the Arts.

Editorial profile and content

Editorially the periodical blends longform journalism, critical reviews, feature interviews, production profiles, and backstage how‑to coverage exploring directing, playwriting, acting, design, and management. Its coverage routinely centers productions at venues such as Almeida Theatre (in translated discourse), Guthrie Theater, Roundabout Theatre Company, and The Old Globe, while contextualizing trends linked to playwrights like Tony Kushner, Suzan-Lori Parks, Lynn Nottage, David Mamet, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. The magazine runs dossiers on commissioning models practiced by companies such as La Jolla Playhouse, Arena Stage, and Goodman Theatre, and investigations into institutional practices at organizations including American Conservatory Theater and Dallas Theater Center. Regular departments address awards seasons involving the Tony Award, the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and the Obie Awards; professional development pieces reference programs at Sundance Institute, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and O'Neill National Playwrights Conference.

Publication and circulation

Published by Theatre Communications Group and based in New York City, the magazine has been issued on a monthly schedule with special issues aligned to seasonal programming in New York City and touring cycles across regions such as the Midwest, the West Coast, and the Southeast. Its readership historically included subscribers among staff at second-city institutions like Steppenwolf Theatre Company and houses like Arena Stage, alongside individual subscribers who are members of unions and associations including Actors' Equity Association and Stage Directors and Choreographers Society. Circulation metrics have reflected print subscribers, institutional library copies in systems such as the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, and digital readership among registrants of conferences like the TPG National Conference and the SDCF Conference.

Awards and recognition

The magazine and its contributors have been recognized within the field for reportage and criticism, intersecting with awards and honors such as the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism and fellowships from organizations including National Endowment for the Arts and MacDowell. Coverage has been cited in archival collections at institutions like Library of Congress and has been referenced in scholarship appearing in journals tied to Association for Theatre in Higher Education and monographs published by presses associated with Yale University Press and Routledge.

Notable contributors and interviews

Contributors have included critics, journalists, and practitioners connected to notable institutions and creators: critics with ties to The New York Times and The New Yorker; playwrights and essayists associated with Arena Stage, Playwrights Horizons, and Lincoln Center Theater; and interviews with artists linked to productions at Broadway (Manhattan), Off-Broadway venues, and regional houses. Profiles and interviews have featured figures connected to landmark works and institutions including Stephen Sondheim, Eugene O'Neill Theatre, Harold Pinter–linked productions, August Wilson-cycle interpreters, directors from Steppenwolf Theatre Company, and composers associated with Hamilton (musical)-era conversations, as well as emerging voices nurtured by O'Neill National Playwrights Conference and New Dramatists.

Influence and relationship with American theatre community

The magazine functions as a forum linking producers, funders, critics, and creators across networks centered on institutions such as Theatre Communications Group, American Conservatory Theater, Public Theater, and regional hubs like Guthrie Theater and Goodman Theatre. Its reporting has influenced programming decisions at venues including La Jolla Playhouse and Steppenwolf Theatre Company, shaped discourse around labor and equity invoked in conversations with Actors' Equity Association and advocacy groups, and provided source material for course syllabi at schools like Juilliard School, Yale School of Drama, and NYU Tisch School of the Arts. The magazine’s role in chronicling festival circuits—such as the Humana Festival of New American Plays, Williamstown Theatre Festival, and Edinburgh Festival Fringe when relevant to American productions—has made it a resource for historians, dramaturgs, and producers planning national and international collaborations.

Category:Theatre magazines