Patsygirl

So I've been taking a drama class in my high school, and as part of the course we have to write two theatre reviews a marking period. I just gave in both of mine this week, and my teacher LOVED them. I have honestly never been praised so genuinely by a teacher for my writing before, which was cool. And I actually enjoyed writing the reviews, whereas I thought I would hate them. My question is, how exactly does one go about becoming a theatre critic? I applied as a 'theatre' or 'drama' major to all of my colleges, but when I go, should I look into writing or journalism courses too? I'm not fixated on this as a career, but it's definitely a new theatre-related job to add to my long list

NotMamaRose

Patsygirl, you might consider taking some journalism and newswriting courses along with your acting/musical theater/drama classes at whatever college you end up at. (Ugh, sorry for the lousy sentence structure!) In addition, it would not hurt to see if you could also take some dramaturgy classes, just as an extra. If you decided to really dedicate yourself to theater criticism, however, the most important thing to take is journalism (print) courses, as most theater critics don't start as actors; they begin as newspaper reporters who know a lot about theater and then write about it. Hope that makes sense.

KatMT

You may consider double majoring in English or creative writing.

Also to note -- the KCACTF (Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival) has a Critics institute as part of their regional and national conference. (I never really knew about it before -- but this year the winner and first runner up in our region were from JMU where I teach, and they were both telling me about it). The winners from each region go to the national conference in Washington DC. You may want to look and see which of the colleges to which you are accepted participate in the KCACTF.