Critical Conversations: Emerging BIPOC Critics Reimagine Theatre Criticism through the Digital

Abstract

Abstract: Theatre criticism in the Global North currently finds itself at a pivotal point, as the internet eclipses legacy media as the central space for critical discourse and as ongoing antiracist and anticolonial activism highlights the underrepresentation of BIPOC artists across the theatre industry. Within this context, stakeholders in the theatre community, recognizing the importance of a vibrant critical discourse, are faced with finding more sustainable and equitable models. This article considers the future of theatre reviewing through a case study of Taking on the World (TotW), a mentorship program for emerging BIPOC critics run in conjunction with Toronto's Soulpepper Theatre Company and Intermission magazine. TotW participants' innovative critical practice demonstrates that de-hierarchizing theatre criticism necessitates reimagining the form, and specifically centering conversation as a key quality of process and product. Exploiting the capabilities of the digital, TotW participants embed conversation within their work and model a mode of criticism that challenges traditional notions of expertise and is ultimately more inclusive. Applying recent scholarship on theatre criticism to examples of work produced in the program and participant interviews, this article advances new ways of practicing and teaching theatre criticism at this crucial moment.