What Are Critics For?

With the closing of the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program earlier this year, the O’Neill is now one of the only professional-development avenues for working critics. Some entities — like the Goodman Theatre, which has a young critics’ program for girls, and the Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival, whose winners are given spots at the O’Neill — host education-based initiatives for aspiring journalists.

But the O’Neill’s focus is on those already working in the field. Writers — including, this past July, yours truly — come to the O’Neill for two weeks to work on their craft.

This year, NCI received a makeover courtesy of Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones, who took the helm of the institute following in the footsteps of long-retired Los Angeles Times critic Dan Sullivan, who ran the institute since 1999. With critics losing their jobs around the country and the world, and peer-review sites such as Yelp and TripAdvisor supplanting professional critiques in other fields, Jones maintains that the necessity for professional criticism only increases.

“I don’t feel downbeat about it. People really want critics,” Jones argues. “To some degree it will survive. There is still a place for someone writing thoughtfully about the theatre.” Still, Jones recognizes that the industry is evolving and the role of the critic is expanding.