DONATE: Critical Stages Needs You

Critical Stages

THE PRESIDENT and the secretary general of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC) have written to remind those who support critical engagement and advocacy in the arts that Critical Stages, the international web journal overseen by IATC, relies upon its readers for significant financial support. At the recent Beijing World Congress of AICT-IATC the General Assembly passed without objection a call for subsidies from national sections. The suggested minimum donation in that motion was $100 USD, though some members indicated that larger sections might be able to do more.

Since the inception of the journal, its functions have been largely supported by volunteer members of the editorial board and by the largesse provided by institutions who believed in the mission of the publication as detailed by the IATC and its former president (and former Critical Stages editor), Yun-Cheol Kim.

Illinois Theatre, the producing arm of the Department of Theatre at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, has provided significant support for the past two funding cycles through institutional advertising. Given the technological nature of a global, bilingual publication such as Critical Stages, there are fixed costs for consistent upgrades and maintenance of the website in addition to the challenges of keeping the archives easily accessible.

Please take a moment to read this message from President Margareta Sörenson and Secretary General Michel Vaïs:

Our organization, IATC, is growing. More than ever before, we are reaching out to continents beyond the Western world—a very positive direction. We are also organizing successful conferences and important seminars for young critics. And another source of pride for IATC is Critical Stages, our web journal.

Today, the media world is changing at full speed: print media and the mainstream press are both diminishing platforms for our work, so that many theatre critics around the world are urgently seeking ways to publish. As we saw at our recent Beijing conference on criticism and the internet, many of us are finding that new technologies can provide support for the work of the critic.

In this context, our own web journal, Critical Stages, is essential to us all. A journal committed to excellence, it offers readers an overview of the performing arts internationally and, at the same time, gives us a platform of our own on the web, for nurturing our profession and inviting the world to share in the excitement and challenges of theatre criticism. 

We need to secure the future of Critical Stages, by giving it a stable financial life. Since before its first issue in 2009, the journal has been produced on a shoestring budget and by volunteers. Once again we thank Yun-Cheol Kim for his initative and team-building work in creating Critical Stages, and now we thank Savas Patsalidis for taking over as an editor working with a highly qualified group of editors. The plans and some funds are already in place for 2015, and a proper bank account is now reserved for Critical Stages and its costs. But for CS’s future: any kind of sponsors or donations are more than welcome! 

Now we ask all national associations to help by making an extra contribution. We know that each country’s economic situation is very different, and as a suggestion we propose contributions between 100 EU and 500 EU. Any amount, smaller or bigger, is of course welcome. Contributions must be sent to our treasurer: 

Stéphane Gilbart
Email: stgilbar@pt.lu

or electronically, as a transfer, to this account: 

AICT – Critical Stages CIC
Iban FR76 3006 6106 8100 0200 4170 347
BIC: CMCIFRPP

Our dream, naturally, is that Critical Stages will become an independent web journal, standing on its own feet, able to compensate contributors in some way and to finance the editorial work. To make the dream come true, we are developing a clear strategy for building a sound foundation, which will lead to long-term stability.

Thank you in advance for your solidarity and help!

MEMORIAM: Andrzej Zurowski Remembered

Polish theatre critic, Andrzej Zurowski, died January 5 at the age of 68 from complications related to a long battle with leukemia. Theatre critics from around the globe mourned his passing in e-mails circulated among leaders and members of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC).

It was impossible to meet Zurowski and not be impressed with his global knowledge--in every sense--of theatre. He was at home discussing the relative merits of Shakespeare production no matter the setting, no matter the language of the performance. His many enthusiasms were well known within the Polish theatre community as well as among those who cared about the art form throughout the world.

IATC President Yun-Cheol Kim noted that Zurowski's death is a "greal loss to the Polish theatre community" but also to the international community. Zurowski served as an International Vice President of IATC who was instrumental in keeping Polish theatre and Polish theatre criticism engaged with ongoing global discourse. He was afforded the high honor of the title "Honorary Vice President" of IATC for his outstanding service to the profession and to the art form. Among many other honors, he was saluted in 2010 by the Minister of Culture in Armenia and awarded a medal for his service to Armenian theatre at a private ceremony in Yerevan. Sceretary General Michel Vaïs was among those to remark that Zurowski "served in so many ways for a long time. He always had new projects to propose."

Zurowski's Polish colleague Tomasz Milkowski, who organized the 2012 Warsaw Congress for IATC, celebrated the late critic as a man full of energy, wit, and wisdom. Iran's Katayoun Hosseinzadeh Salmasi said "words cannot express the heartache" felt internationally by this loss. Don Rubin of the Canadian Theatre Critics Association wrote that Zurowski was a "man of vision as well as of action. He made important things happen in the worlds of scholarship and criticism." Lawrence DeVine, an emeritus member of the American Theatre Critics Association and continuing International Committee member, wrote "he was my oldest friend in IATC. We met in Tel Aviv in 1981" and had many wonderful times "around the world in the years since."

Zurowski's prolific career included 23 published books, ten of which were focused on the work of Shakespeare. He also lectured in the Theatre Department of the Polish Studies Institute at Pomeranian University. His most recent research centered on Helena Modjeska, which took him to the United States where he had planned to visit in the near future.

Critical Stages: Publishes Volume Seven

Yun-Cheol Kim, president of the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC), announces the latest edition of Critical Stages has been posted. For this seventh volume of critical perspective from around the world, editor Patrice Pavis focused the Special Topic section on performance theory, which offers work regarding the nature of spectatorship from such scholars as Pavis, Matthew Reason, Peter M. Boenisch, Christopher Balme, Rachel Fensham, Hans-Thies Lehmann.

The Performance Review section, edited by Matti Linnavuori, features seventeen reviews from across the globe including a fascinating piece by Mihail Baykov on a Swedish production of Strindberg's Miss Julie presented in Bulgaria last summer. Baykov's discourse on Anna Pettersson's self-directed performance is appropriately titled "Beyond the Cliches of Miss Julie" and features a few arresting images of Pettersson's multimedia exploration in which "all characters merge—not only those of Julie, Jean and Christine, but also that of Anna Pettersson herself, who comments on the other roles."

The Essay section, edited by Maria Helena Serôdio, continues its mission of enhancing critical discourse by providing essays and reviews by five established authors, who are encouraged to move freely from essay to review, and from review to essay, often with relevant references to cultural theory. The Critics on Criticism section presents essays by critics Mark Brown and Andrea Tompa. Sections highlighting Interviews, Book Reviews, and Conference Papers are also filled with insight on international performance and performers.

PUBLICATIONS: New Critical Stages Available

The latest edition of Critical Stages, the web journal from the International Assoication of Theatre Critics / Association internationale des critiques de théâtre (IATC-AICT), is now online for your perusal. New editor-in-chief Yun-Cheol Kim sent along the following announcement letter, which has been edited for length:

The fourth issue of Critical Stages is finally posted. We am very proud that each issue of the journal has been visited by more than 50,000 readers. Please visit the IATC web journal at http://www.criticalstages.org/, and invite your colleagues, students, and your entire theatre community to visit and make use of it.

Starting with this issue, three major changes have been implemented. New editions of Critical Stages will be posted every June and December. This scheduling adjustment allows writers to address more theatre-oriented events, and provides more time for pieces to be written. A second change, and a rather painful one, was imposed upon us: Maria Helena Serôdio stepped down from her position as editor-in-chief, after having orchestrated the first three issues. Her expertise, competence, and sacrifices have been crucial to the birth of this journal. Critical Stages might well not have been possible without her leadership. As a result of Serôdio’s return to the editorial board, I have taken on the editorship myself; however, I think of myself only as an interim editor-in-chief, serving until we find a replacement.

In my role as the new editor, I have brought about a third set of changes. I have created a section called Special Topics that will accommodate articles or statements on current issues surrounding aesthetic or thematic approaches to the theatre; regional or global theatre arts policies; or other interesting phenomena of social significance to the contemporary theatre. I have also designated Section Editors, who will take the initiative to keep their respective sections dynamic. These changes have worked well, and that can be seen in this issue.

The special topic for this issue is “Censorship in Disguise.” Recently, there have been reports of unfortunate and anachronistic occurrences of political intervention into cultural policies, particularly in Central and Eastern Europe. As President of IATC, I publicized my letters of protest on the cases of Hungary, Belarus, and Serbia, to protect the rights of our colleagues and their freedom of speech in theatre criticism; two of these letters are posted on the IATC website: www.aict-iatc.org. In this time of “Jasmine Revolutions,” censorship of any kind is pure nonsense. Andrea Tompa and Ivan Medenica let us know, through their reviews of Hungarian and Serbian performances respectively, how theatre artists have responded to these actions. Randy Gener has been keeping a keen watch on the agonies of the Belarus Free Theatre and gives us vivid reportage on the censorship and persecution of this courageous political theatre group.

Bringing further breadth to this topic elsewhere in the issue, Jean-Pierre Han’s review of the Iranian theatre and Alvina Ruprecht’s essay on the Cuban theatre are also written with reference to the notion of “censorship in disguise.” Taken all together, we have such a rich cluster of articles on the first special topic, both within and without the section itself, that they serve as a mandate for us to fight together against this evil practice, with vehemence and commitment.

The sections devoted to Interviews, Essays, Conference Papers, Performance Reviews, Book Reviews, and Critics on Criticism feature a broad and diverse collection of global perspectives on theatre and theatre criticism.

We are proud to present this fourth issue of the journal, which contains so much interesting work. Unfortunately, we live in a time when theatre criticism is being radically and rapidly reduced in stature. Let’s set aside, though, any pessimism, or even defeatism. Instead, we should raise our voices and speak up for the sake of theatre criticism and theatre art. Critical Stages proves, for the fourth time, that it serves this crucial cause very well.

Yun-Cheol Kim,
President, IATC
Editor in Chief, Critical Stages/Scènes critiques

CALL: Contributions to Critical Stages

Critical Stages Invites

Submissions for Consideration

Web Journal

of the
International Association of Theatre Critics

SPECIAL TOPIC:
“CENSORSHIP IN DISGUISE”



Critical Stages announces its fourth issue with a call for critical articles, essays, interviews, and reviews that contribute to cutting-edge, international discourse on the theatre.

Critical Stages aims to document, celebrate, challenge and foster internationally the discipline and the art of theatre criticism, with theatre broadly defined; to employ theatre criticism as a springboard for opening communication between theatre practitioners, theoreticians and the general public; to create “critical space” for the theatre critic to develop and thrive; to increase the general readership for theatre criticism by providing international readers with a source for information and dynamic discussion of themes and trends in contemporary international theatre.

Each submission should be sent as an e-mail attachment, double-spaced in MS Word. Articles will typically range from 1,500 to 3,500 words. Please check with the Section Editor if the length is not specified below.

The journal publishes articles (not interviews or reviews) with an abstract, of no more that 200 words, in the alternate language. When possible, please submit English articles with an abstract in French; if this is not possible, the abstract should submitted in English and it will be translated. (For articles written in French, the reverse process should be undertaken.)

Submission Guidelines may be accessed here

Issue No. 4 Publication Schedule (2011)

• Proposal Period: Now Open
• Full Draft Submission Deadline: April 30
• Writer Notification Following Readers' Reviews: The second week of May
• Writer Revisions and Formatting: The third week of May
• Publication: By mid-June 2011

JOURNAL SECTIONS

Please contact the individual Section Editor
to which your proposal relates

Performance Reviews welcomes critical appraisals of important, controversial, bizarre or simply good performances. The section hopes to report from as many different countries, cultures and languages as possible. The submissions must not exceed 1,300 words and must be accompanied by photographs of the performance. Section Editor: Matti Linnavuori (matti.linnavuori@welho.org)

Essays should offer a critical view on a particular topic. An essay might give an overview of an artist’s work—the journal recently printed two “in memoriam” pieces—but an essay might also celebrate a living artist. Alternatively, it could take a historical or analytical approach to a theatre venue, a theme—a recent theme was “painful memories,” for example—or a special questioning, such as previous essays regarding cultural identity and immigrant communities. Section Editor: Maria Helena Serodio (m.h.serodio@netcabo.pt)

Conference Papers. International theatre symposia and seminars play a vital role in the discussion of live drama throughout the world. The IATC is proud to play its part in this important area of critical work. The “Conference Papers” section will seek to offer an international platform for many of the most interesting and provocative papers presented in these public arenas. Section Editor: Mark Brown (mark.brown@strath.ac.uk)

Special Topics. This section invites three or four authors each to contribute an article or statement on current issues surrounding aesthetic or thematic approaches to theatre; regional or global theatre arts policies; or other interesting phenomena of social significance to the contemporary theatre. The editorial board may also consider unsolicited pieces. Each article will be more or less 15,000 characters (2,500-3,000 words).

The Special Topic for the coming issue will be “Censorship in Disguise.” See the Open Letter on the Oppression of International Artists of January 22, 2011, which is also posted on the AICT-IATC website. Section Editor: Yun-Cheol Kim (yunckim911@yahoo.com)

Interviews. Interviews are intended to compare and contrast the views of significant theatre artists from around the world. To this end, the section editor will provide interviewers with four previously formulated questions to pose. Interviewers are encouraged to ask additional questions to further illuminate or deepen the conversation. All articles are in a question-and-answer format, preceded by a critical introduction describing—not merely listing—the artist’s contributions or offering an explanation of why this person deserves recognition in an international journal. Submissions must include interviewee portrait and photographs of performances discussed in the interview. Section Editor: Randy Gener (rndygener@aol.com)

Book Reviews. Book Reviews will to review for each issue of the journal a selection of recently published books—generally not older than 24 months—that are considered to be of national and/or international significance for theatre workers generally and theatre critics and scholars in particular. Each issue should have a lead review of a major book that has been published in either English or French and should have an additional three to five reviews of books published across a range of languages (with particular emphasis on—though certainly not limited to—new books in German and Spanish). Reviews of important books in other languages will normally be published in either English or French. Section Editor: Don Rubin (drubin@yorku.ca)

Critics on Criticism. Critics on Criticism seeks:

• 1) In-depth profiles of, and interviews with, well-known senior critics: their careers and work, relationships to theatre audiences, conflicts and dilemmas, teaching experience, work in other theatre fields and art forms; and
• 2) Reflections, interviews or surveys on the teaching of criticism; the methodologies, theories and practices of criticism; comparison of courses given in different countries; theatre criticism’s relationship to other art disciplines; practical and theoretical dialogue between critics, scholars and others. Every submission should include basic information on the critic, including major publications, photograph, etc.

Section Editor: Andrea Tompa (tompa.andrea@gmail.com)

THE EDITORS

Yun-Cheol Kim (yunckim911@yahoo.com), Korea

Editor-in-Chief and IATC President

Lissa Tyler Renaud (English) (ltrenaud@gmail.com), U.S.A.

Michel Vaïs (French) (vais@ca.inter.net), Canada/Quebec

Co-Editors

Patrice Pavis (patricepavis@hotmail.com), France

Contributing Editor

 Editorial Board Members

Mark Brown (mark.brown@strath.ac.uk), U.K.

Randy Gener (rndygener@aol.com), U.S.A.

Hervé Guay (rvguay@mlink.net), Canada/Quebec

Matti Linnavuori (matti.linnavuori@welho.org), Finland

Tomasz Milkowski (tomasz.milkowski@gmail.com), Poland

Manabu Noda (noda@kisc.meiji.ac.jp), Japan

Rodolfo Obregón (pasofranco@att.net.mx), Mexico

Ludmila Patlanjoglu (lpatlanjoglu@yahoo.com), Romania

Don Rubin (drubin@yorku.ca), Canada

Maria Helena Serôdio (m.h.serodio@netcabo.pt), Portugal

Maria Shevtsova (m.shevtsova@gold.ac.uk), U.K.

Halima Tahan (revista@teatroalsur.com.ar), Argentina

Andrea Tompa (tompa.andrea@gmail.com), Hungary

OPEN LETTER: Oppression of International Artists

From Association internationale des critiques de théâtre / International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC)

AN OPEN LETTER ON THE OPPRESSION OF INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS

In the wake of governmental repression of theater artists in Hungary and, more recently, in Belarus, the International Association of Theatre Critics (AICT-IATC) adds its voice to the global chorus calling for greater freedom on the pages of publications and on the stages of oppressed theatre companies.

As a non-profit, Non-Govermental Organization recognized under Statute B of UNESCO, the purpose of the IATC is to promote international cooperation through international engagement and advocacy for building bridges among cultures. In the recent repression and imprisonment of theatre artists, Aleksandr G. Lukashenko gives credence to critics who have called Belarus “the last true remaining dictatorship in the heart of Europe.” According to the New York Times, the deeply contentious election of December 19, 2010, after which Lukashenko claimed to have received 79 percent of the vote, led to the leader's announcement that more than 600 “bandits and saboteurs,” including several of his opponents, had been arrested.

The leadership of the IATC is deeply disturbed by the rising international tide of oppression of the arts and literature, especially of theatres and theatre artists. We deplore the conviction and brief imprisonment of Belarus Free Theatre's company manager Artiom Zhelezniak on charges of "illegal assembly." We celebrate the departure from Belarus of company members Nikolai Khalezin, Natalia Kolyada and others, who have been recognized internationally and were honored with a "Special Mention" by the Europe Theatre Prize.

Members of the IATC are theatre critics, but we are also theatre advocates and we will resist all governmental attempts to censor or otherwise marginalize the important work of our global theatre artists. When some artists and writers are not free to think, work, and create in an unrestricted manner, we all suffer a loss of freedom and of human possibility.

We call on all who love freedom—artists, audience members, governments—to rally against these specific oppressions, to agitate for greater creative freedom, and to join our voices in support of those who cannot, or may not, speak for themselves. We encourage our members to shine a bright light on these events and to keep these matters in the forefront of our global artistic discourse.

If we join together in this struggle, we shall prevail.

Sincerely,

Yun-Cheol Kim, President (Korea)
Michel Vaïs, Secretary General (Canada)

International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC)

Association internationale des critiques de théâtre (AICT)

REPORT: Criticism Conference in Caen

Members of the AICT-IATC gathered December 14 and 15 in Caen, France, to interrogate the shifting role of dramatic criticism in the cultural discourse of various countries. Representatives traveled from China, Finland, Korea, Quebec and the United States to discuss how criticism may influence theatrical production in their respective countries—and how theatrical production may affect theatre criticism.

Primoz Jesenko (Slovenia), Jean-Pierre Han (France),
Yun-Cheol Kim (Korea) and Qing-Yan Zhang (China)

In addition to presentations by outstanding international critics such as Jean-Pierre Han (France), Primoz Jesenko (Slovenia), Yun-Cheol Kim (Korea), Matti Linnavuori (Finland), Brigitte Purkhardt (Québec), Michel Vaïs (Québec), Julie York Coppens (USA), and Qing-Yan Zhang (China), those who attended the conference were given opportunities to see thought-provoking productions from the Avignon Festival.

Dream state: The beast and the blind (from La Mort d'Adam).
Photo: Tristan Jeanne-Valès

Jean Lambert-wild, artistic director of Comédie de Caen and co-host of the conference, presented his multimedia piece La Mort d'Adam, which employs live action—overlapped by projected film—and a female narrator who sits to one side of the action as she provides context for Lambert-wild's layered images. Anyone familiar with Western philosophy and religion might easily see parallels between La Mort d'Adam and tales from the bible, from Arabian Nights, from Greek myth, from Shakespeare. In a conversation with the assembled critics the next day, Lambert-wild shared the very specific influences from his own life that led to the piece. Some critics felt that the French text (and its English surtitles) confused Lambert-wild's tale, while others thought the spoken French provided a sonic score that enhanced the director's other elements of spectacle. Facing the critics, eager for a conversation on what may or may not have worked, Lambert-wild bravely demonstrated the possibilities for which Peter Brook argued in The Empty Space (1968):

I see nothing but good in a critic plunging into our lives, meeting actors, talking, discussing, watching, intervening. I would welcome his putting his hands on the medium and attempting to work it himself. Certainly, there is a tiny social problem—how does a critic talk to someone whom he has just damned in print? . . . The criticism that theater people make of one another is usually of devastating severity—but absolutely precise. (32-33)

Art Macht Frei? Silke Mansholt in Wolfstunde.
Photo: Tristan Jeanne-Valès

When all of the papers had been presented and the critical roundtable of Lambert-wild's piece had concluded, the participants were invited to see Silke Mansholt's Wolfstunde (Wolf Lesson). Mansholt's performance piece employs minimal technical elements and ritualized manipulations of the actor's physical body—Mansholt performs with collaborator Clara Garcia Fraile—in an exploration of the internal battles of darkness and light that comprise human experience. Where Mansholt differs from many other examinations of this type is in her use of imagery that speaks specifically to her heritage as a German—and to the echoes of guilt that resonate for many of those in the post-World War II, post-Holocaust generations. Her use of the famous Auschwitz sign, "Arbeit Macht Frei" (Work Will Make You Free), strikes chords of memory in the minds of her audience and asks an open question regarding the relationship between art and power. Ultimately, the piece seems to ask if the "power of art" is any power at all.

Throughout the four days, participants enjoyed marvelous French cuisine and wine as they engaged in ongoing discussions on theatre, criticism, culture, and politics. There were tours to sites commemorating the 1944 invasion of Normandy by Allied military forces and to a remarkable archive, in an abbey outside of Caen, that contains the works of many well known writers.

In remarks made during a discussion period following one set of papers, Lambert-wild argued strongly for an international federation of theatre-related groups dedicated to keeping the art form in the forefront of global cultural discourse. In the work generated (and seen) in Caen recently, it is safe to say that a good start has been made on getting that discourse underway.

LETTER: Response to Hungary Media Law

Andrea Tompa, President
Hungarian Section
International Association of Theatre Critics

Dear Andrea,

The International Association of Theatre Critics fully supports your section’s fight for freedom of expression in theatre and arts. The new media law of your government is dangerous, anti-cultural and anti-intellectual, which obviously attempts to go back to that archaic practice of censorship.

Theatre has always reflected human societies and one of its essential functions is to criticize social complacency to better recognize and understand the world and the humanity. IATC deplores strongly any governmental attempts to control the arts, culture and media, whose critical performance has become even more important in this 21st century of globalized culture.

It is a great pity that such a culturally advanced country like Hungary is trying to implement its control over the arts, artists, and the media. IATC strongly demands that the Hungarian parliament and government withdraw this shameful media law and guarantee its artists freedom and independence.

Otherwise, we will make this issue big and global so that the world may know the danger and corruption in this new media law and its implementation in the form of replacing legally appointed, competent and ambitious artists with docile figures.

Sincerely,
Yun-Cheol Kim
President, International Association of Theatre Critics
Dean, School of Drama, Korea National University of Arts

FESTIVAL: 45th Maribor Theatre Festival

From MARK BROWN (UK), member of the AICT-IATC Executive Committee

Slovene National Theatre

Members of IATC were in the beautiful city of Maribor, Slovenia (October 20-24, 2010) as guests of the annual Borštnik festival of Slovene theatre, which celebrated its 45th edition. Delegates saw a wide array of performances in the splendid Slovene National Theatre. In addition, IATC colleagues from Slovenia and around the world participated in an excellent international symposium at Maribor University on the subject of “Intercriticism.” Many rich papers were given and an energetic debate was held.
 


What He Does for Art:
Marko Mandic in Viva Mandic



The festival kindly hosted the meeting of the IATC Executive Committee at the Slovene National Theatre. IATC President, Professor Yun-Cheol Kim, and the entire excom offer their warmest thanks to Alja Predan, artistic director of the Borštnik festival, Mojca Planšak, guest manager of the festival, and the festival team for their tremendous organization and hospitality.



Alja Predan, Artistic Director

 



International Theatre Critics Association Launches a Web Journal

The International Theatre Critics Association (IATC) has founded a new web journal, called Critical Stages, which debuted in November at www.criticalstages.org.

Published in English and French, the biennial web journal is a collaborative and international effort whose primary aim is to provide an outlet for articles about the art of criticism in the theatre.

Critical Stages contains not only theatre criticism but also interviews and other articles about theatre seen from a critic's point of view.

Says Critical Stages publisher Yun-Cheol Kim, who is also the president of IATC, "There are abundant reasons and motivations for creating the journal, among which two are the most important. First, the theatre is in a real crisis. There is no time in history when the theatre has lost its social function as much as it has in our time. In Europe, people have already begun to speak of the death, not the crisis, of the theatre. In response, a journal on theatre criticism can help make theatre matter in society."

Kim continues: "Second, theatre criticism itself is in critical condition. A journal such as this one may help theatre criticism to recover its vitality, so it can serve the theatre arts and the society. I firmly believe that the most important function of theatre criticism is, and should remain, to generate interest in the theatre arts in society."

The inaugural issue delves into the Polish guru Jerzy Grotowski; the dramatist Eugene Ionesco; and the first IATC Thalia Prize winner, the playwright/critic Eric Bentley. It also contains a penetrating review of the Swedish dramatist Lars Noren's Diary as well as performances in various countries.

The contributors in the first issue cover countries from all continents: South Korea, India, Japan, Israel, France, United Kingdom, Hungary, Poland, Portugal, Greece, Finland, the United States, Mexico, Canada, Cuba and South Africa.

The editor-in-chief is Maria Helena Serodio, an academic and critic from Portugal.  The co-editors are Lissa Tyler Renaud (English language), a theatre director and scholar from the United States; and Michel Vais (French language), a critic from Quebec, Canada.

In addition to Yun-Cheol Kim, the members of the editorial board of Critical Stages consist of Randy Gener, a critic and editor from the United States; Herve Guay, an academic and critic from Quebec, Canada; Temple Hauptfleisch, a critic from South Africa; Matti Linnavuori, a critic from Finland; Tomasz Milkowski, a critic from Poland; Manabu Noda, an academic and critic from Japan; Rodolfo Obregon, a critic from Mexico; Ludmila Patlanjoglu, an academic and critic from Romania; Patrice Pavis, a theoretician from France; Maria Shevtsova, an academic from the United Kingdom; Don Rubin, an academic and critic from Canada; Halima Tahan, a critic from Argentina.

IATC, established in 1956, operates through its national sections in some 50 countries.   [Gener]