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Theater critics to converge on Ashland By Bill Varble Theater critics from around the nation will descend on Southern Oregon for the American Theatre Critics Association�s conference July 10-15. Critics from New York, Los Angeles and elsewhere are expected to take in eight plays at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland and a performance of Jim Giancarlo�s "EAT-TV" at the Oregon Cabaret Theatre, also in Ashland. Critics will blast down the Rogue River in a jet boat, soak up the old-time ambiance of Jacksonville and visit the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford. Al Reiss, of Jacksonville, a former reporter and theater critic with the Mail Tribune, says Shakespeare Festival officials approached him more than three years ago and asked how to get the critics to Ashland. "Invite them," he said. Reiss writes free-lance reviews and a column for Back Stage, a New York City theater magazine. More than 70 critics from as far as Florida and Alaska have already anted up $135 each ($160 after May 15) to attend. Reiss, the event�s host critic, had one inquiry from a critic in Croatia. The ATCA is the only national association for critics working in newspapers, magazines and television. Reiss estimates the readership/audience of critics so far planning to attend the conference at about 2 million. Attendees will hear former San Francisco Examiner critic Robert Hurwitt talk about journalism and the state of theater criticism July 12 at the Jacksonville Inn. A side trip to Portland the 15th and 16th will provide a chance to see even more plays. When the conference was held in Ashland in 1985, William A. Henry III, of Time magazine, came in its wake and "discovered" the Ashland theater scene. Several critics have asked if the jetboat trip, a popular tourist attraction, is dangerous. "I said the most obvious hazard is the danger of getting wet," Reiss says. The ATCA was founded in 1974 by Dan Sullivan of the Los Angeles Times, Henry Hewes of the Saturday Review, Richard L. Coe of the Washington Post and others. Its conference was held last year in Louisville, Ky., which was also serving as the home of the Humana Festival of New American Plays. The year before that it was in Philadelphia. The 2002 conference will be held in Chicago. Critics in Ashland are to pick a site for the 2003 conference. Conferences are positioned to soak up nearby attractions. Critics in Louisville saw new American plays at the Humana festival there. "Anton in Show Business," by the mysterious Jane Martin, got an ATCA/Steinberg Award for new plays. Martin is so reclusive nobody knows who she or he is. Critics won�t pick a winner of the award this summer, although they will hear a report on some of the new plays out there. The ATCA holds two meetings a year, the first a mini-meeting in New York City, the second a national meeting at a regional theater. Sponsors include the Ashland Chamber of Commerce, the Medford Visitors and Convention Bureau and others. For more information: [email protected] or americantheatrecritics.org. Reach reporter Bill Varble at 776-4478 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. | Dow Jones & Co., Inc. | Privacy | Contact Us Copyright � 2001 Mail Tribune, Inc.