Barbara Gabriel Wins 2022 Major Nathan Cohen theatre Critics Award

The Canadian Theatre Critics Association has announced the 2022 winners of the Nathan Cohen Awards for excellence in Critical Writing.

Nathan Cohen is widely regarded as Canada’s pre-eminent theatre critic and widely credited with playing a key role in raising professional standards for Canadian Theatre in the postwar era. This year’s awards were adjudicated by well-known Chicago Tribune theatre critic Chris Jones, who is also director of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center’s National Critics institute. The highly regarded British – American critic and theatre journalist has also twice served on the drama committee for the Pulitzer Prize.

Gabriel’s prize was in the first category of outstanding achievement in a written or verbal review of a particular production or productions by a Canada-based writer. Her win  was for her review of “Cottagers and Indians“ by Drew Hayden Taylor,  entitled “Haunted History in Cottage Country.” It was first published by Capital Critics Circle  and then  re-published by  the international  The Theatre Times.

Chris Jones writes of her prize winning review:

“My winner is the review of  “Cottagers and Indians,” which I think really captures the commitment and the sardonic humour of the piece under review. I’ve long been fascinated by this kind of experimental lede that draws in readers and then makes a transition to a more traditional voice  so the piece can do  what reviews need to do. This difficult linkage is seamless in this piece and quite beautifully achieved. I’m with every word and I go  exactly where  the critic wants me to go.”

Under the direction of Gil Garratt,  the Blyth Festival theatre continues to break new ground in Canadian theatre by both revisiting  canonical Canadian plays (James Reaney’s trilogy “The Donnellys” will headline the ambitious 2023 season) and encouraging a rich diversity of voices, sensitive to a changing social and cultural national landscape. In keeping  with his reputation as an inventive latter-day trickster, Hayden Taylor’s play mines the dark comedy  of the never-ending Aboriginal tragedy  in Canada.  Directed by Dene director Deneh’Cho Thompson, its set design by Beth Kates and Anishinaabe  artist Moses Lunham extended the space visually in an iconographic rendering of the plays central dramatic tensions.

Gabriel has elected to donate her prize money to Water First Education and Training, a charity which supports Indigenous Communities in addressing critical water challenges.

The  winner for outstanding critical writing  outside the traditional review format is J.Kelly Nestruck for his essay, “Shaw vs Shaw: Why the theatre festival isn’t cancelling the anti-vaccer playwright,”published by the Globe and Mail. Jones praised the essay as both a fresh and worthwhile reading of Shaw, “an audacious idea, making a very serious point.”

Runner up in both categories was Martin Morrow, first for his review of Chekhov’s  “Uncle Vanya” and then for his essay ,  “Playwright Sharon Pollock brought Canadian stories to the stage and loved underdogs,”  both published by the Globe and Mail.   He shared the latter award  with Signy Lynch for her essay “Performing at Home in the Pandemic: Boca del Lupo’s PLays2Perform@ Home Collection,”published in the Canadian Theatre Review.

It was a bumper crop of submissions for the all-important third category of Outstanding Emerging Critic, which celebrates outstanding achievement  by a Canadian-based writer who has been practising theatre criticism for less than three years, either professionally, or in a training context. The award includes an internship at Intermission Magazine under the mentorship of Senior Editor Aisling Murphy.

The Award-winning adjudicator,  dance critic, Globe and Mail writer and author, Deirdre Kelly commented:

“There were many contenders for the top prize but Sophy Bouey’s review of Antoinette Nwandu’s  Pass Over – a filmed version of the original Steppenwolf Theatre Company – Production, won out for its concision, clarity, and contagious enthusiasm for its subject. Runners- up Shalon T. Weber Heffernan and Liam Donovan also  deserve recognition  for their use of descriptive language and multi-layered theme…”

In encouraging emerging theatre critics and through them, informed new audiences, the growing success of this category augurs  well for the future of Canadian theatre.