Not your daddy’s theatre criticism : countering white supremacy culture with inclusive possibility models

Abstract

This thesis unveils Western theatre criticism’s alignment with white supremacy culture and offers possibility models to counter it on personal and institutional levels. I take an autoethnographic approach to my experiences working as an early-career critic to showcase steep barriers to entry, industry constraints, and present pathways forward. On an individual level, I advocate for critics to exercise cultural competency and develop a reflexive practice. I apply Donald Schön’s concepts of knowledge-in-action, reflection-in-action, and reflection-on-action to a critic’s process in order to demonstrate the harm that emerges in a critical practice that is not asset-based. I utilize close reading/listening and comparative analysis of written reviews, essays, podcasts, and web series to showcase how a diversity in critical form and thought productively serve artists, audiences, and archives. I offer four possibility models that aim to make the field more inclusive and sustainable: mentorship and expanding the form; cohort and contract model; culturally competent approach; and a reflexive practice. This thesis carries with it implications for the whole of journalism and its aspirations to due diligence and, impossibly, do no harm.