NOTED: American Theatre Critics Association Re-Elected to International Governing Body

Members of the AICT-IATC Executive Committee meet in the shadow
of Anton Chekhov's bust at Дом Актера (Actor's House) in St. Petersburg

The American Theatre Critics Association, the United States national section of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC), was re-elected to the Executive Committee of IATC at the General Assembly during the association’s World Congress in St. Petersburg, Russia, on November 15. The congress was held in conjunction with the 17th Europe Theatre Prize/Premio Europa per Il Teatro. Attending the congress were Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, IATC Vice President and Chair of ATCA’s International Committee, and Brad Hathaway, immediate past Vice Chair of the ATCA Executive Committee.

Prior to the General Assembly, members from across the globe were invited to address the congress on the topic of "Performing Arts Today: Freedom and (In)tolerance." Presenters included representatives from Serbia, Russia, Québec, the United States, Slovakia, Hong Kong, Japan, and Korea. Following the conference, AICT-IATC honored the esteemed German scholar Hans-Thies Lehmann with the 2018 Thalia Prize, presented to a critic, scholar and/or practitioner whose work has had a profound impact on the nature of the field. Lehmann was honored for his groundbreaking work, Postdramatic Theatre. 

The General Assembly re-elected Margareta Sörenson (Sweden) to her final term as President. Michel Vaïs (Canada) was re-elected Secretary General, marking twenty years in that position. Further, the General Assembly confirmed that the 30th AICT-IATC World Congress will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia in early May 2020. The vote in the General Assembly resulted in the selection of ten national sections that will serve as the voting Executive Committee for the next two years: China, France, Georgia, India, Japan, Nigeria, Serbia, Slovakia, Turkey and the United States.

The USA section received 85 percent of the possible votes, which caused Jenkins to note, “It is deeply gratifying that our international colleagues are so supportive of keeping our section engaged in this time of global uncertainty for the arts and for humanity.”

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