The Drama Desk sponsored a panel discussion Everyone’s A Critic at BroadwayCon 2017. Chris Jones, the Chief Critic of the Chicago Tribune served as moderator and speakers included playwrights David Lindsay-Abaire, Matthew Lombardo, and Sharr White along with James Morgan, the Artistic Director of the York Theater, press agent Susan L. Schulman, and critics Linda Armstrong, Elysa Gardner, Peter Marks, and Helen Shaw.

As a growing number of news outlets have cut their arts coverage along with criticism, and the number of reviews, who feel they are critics, is only rising as anyone with an internet connection is now able to share their thoughts with the world. The panel discussed how in our world today barriers to being published have all but disappeared, allowing many people to call themselves critics. How are their relationships with artists changing?

Photography: Barry Gordin
January 27-29, 2017