Toronto/CMEDIA: The reported winners of the 2024 Nathan Cohen Awards for Excellence in Critical Writing have been announced by The Canadian Theatre Critics Association (CTCA).
Administered by the CTCA and named after legendary Canadian theatre critic Nathan Cohen, the annual awards are presented in three categories: Outstanding Review, Outstanding Critical Essay and Outstanding Emerging Critic.
Outstanding Review and Outstanding Critical Essay were decided this year by guest judge Peter Marks, retired chief theatre critic for The Washington Post and past chair of the Pulitzer Prize drama jury.
He has given the Review award to the Toronto Star’s Joshua Chong for his review headlined “‘The Last Timbit.’ and the Critical Essay to Intermission Magazine contributor Stephanie Fung for “The spectacle of suffering: Toronto theatre’s addiction to trauma porn,” was published by Intermission Magazine on June 19, 2024.
Fung’s essay was a standout in a field of strong entries, Marks said, and added,
It “does what criticism is supposed to do…analyzes it, cites examples…writer sends up a warning flare to the theater world, advocating a course correction in provocatively convincing terms.”
Having previously been named Outstanding Emerging Critic in 2023, this is Fung’s second Nathan Cohen Award.
Outstanding Emerging Critic award for 2024 goes to Haley Sarfeld for “TK Fringe brings a strong mélange of summer shows to Kingston,” published by Intermission on Aug. 10, 2024.
Previous year’s winners of the Review and Critical Essay categories have chosen the award for 2024, with the awards being given to Ilana Lucas and Jamie Robinson.
“Haley Sarfeld’s poetic, precise, at times harsh, and beautifully diverse range of show options made me want to run, not walk, to next summer’s event. Their advocacy for all the hard work…was a wonderful blend of storytelling and criticism…Sarfeld’s unique play on words and respect for all five shows…creating a narrative inclusive of all aspects of the theatre-making process, from performers to designers to even the vocal director,” Robinson said.
“Haley Sarfeld’s collection of reviews for the Kingston Fringe, focusing on Kingston-based artists…detailed observations that clearly describe…the experience of attending it…Each review is bite-sized (well, maybe two or three bites),but, as she writes in one of her capsule reviews, ‘it’s a voracious, mouth-watering bite’!, added Lucas.
Established by the Toronto Drama Bench in 1981, The Nathan Cohen Awards honours Cohen (1923-1971), the influential critic of rigorous and insightful arts criticism.
The awards have been presented since 1990 by the Drama Bench’s successor, the Canadian Theatre Critics Association.
