[NEohioPAL] Interview with local theater critic Christine Howey

[Bob Abelman via NEohioPAL]

What Were They Thinking: The Critic As Playwright


Bob Abelman

Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal

Member, International Association of Theatre Critics 

 

 Q:   How many theater critics does it take to screw in a light bulb?                                    

A:   All of them.  One to be highly critical of the design element, one to critique the performance of the bulb itself, and all to suggest that they could build a better light bulb in their sleep. 

 While many theater critics believe that they can write a better play in their sleep than the ones they review for a living, very few have actually done so and fewer still have turned it into a going concern.  Among the more renowned are The Saturday Review's George Bernard Shaw, the New Republic's Eric Bentley, and the Bristol Evening World's Tom Stoppard.

 Perhaps Cleveland's own Christine Howey will be added to this list.  A clever, caustic award-winning critic for the Cleveland Scene, she is also a former actor and director, a published poet and competitive Poetry Slam participant, and - with last year's staging of her one-woman play "Exact Change" by the Cleveland Public Theatre - a produced playwright.  

 

The autobiographical play, performed by Howey herself, takes us on her arduous transgender journey from Dick to Christine and does so through her personal poetry and powerful prose.  "Exact Change" received rave reviews from local critics, including this one, and is undergoing a major revision for a limited engagement at Akron's None Too Fragile Theatre on Dec. 12 and 13.  

 

The Cleveland Jewish News caught up with Howey during out of town previews.  



CJN:  The notorious life of British theater critic Kenneth Tynan was the subject of a one-person play that premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company in London in 2004.  But unlike your play, Tynan didn't write the piece and he certainly didn't perform it in.  


Howey:  Well, he was dead.  And, reportedly, not much of a performer when he wasn't.

For more of this review, go to:  http://www.clevelandjewishnews.com/features/article_bf07afe2-7438-11e4-a7c3-2b8156029fb9.html
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