TheaterMania's Michael Feingold Wins the George Jean Nathan Award for His "Thinking About Theater" Columns

TheaterMania is pleased to announce that Michael Feingold, writer of its monthly "Thinking About Theater" column, has won the 2013-2014 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. The Nathan Award, the only prize given solely for theater criticism, is presented by Cornell University, Nathan's alma mater. In accordance with the terms of the great critic's will, winners are selected by the heads of the English faculties of Cornell, Princeton, and Yale Universities.

Feingold joined TheaterMania in June 2013 after having served as a theater critic for The Village Voice for over 40 years, 30 of them as its chief critic. His monthly two-part TheaterMania columns have been popular for their ability to tie current trends in theater to its history and to the changing world outside it.

"TheaterMania congratulates Michael Feingold on this honor," said Gretchen Shugart, TheaterMania's CEO. "We are pleased that his collaboration with us has yielded a body of work that merits such recognition."

"Michael's extensive knowledge and relatable nature has brought an added dimension to TheaterMania's editorial landscape," said Andy Lefkowitz, managing editor of TheaterMania. "I tip my hat to him in receiving the George Jean Nathan Award. I look forward to our continued work on his column."

Feingold previously received the 1995-1996 Nathan Award for his Voice reviews. He is now among a small and distinguished group of theater writers who have won the award twice.

"I am as astonished and humbly grateful as I am delighted," said Feingold. "To explore the theater from a new angle every month, as I have in these essays, has been a constant joy and challenge to me. I am truly thankful for my TheaterMania editors' enthusiastic supportiveness, and deeply honored that the Nathan committee saw fit to choose me."

Feingold is a graduate of Columbia University and the Yale School of Drama. In addition to his two Nathan Awards, he has twice been a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Criticism. He has also had a notable career in the theater as a playwright, translator, and dramaturg. He is particularly noted as a translator of the Brecht-Weill works Happy End, Threepenny Opera, and Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny. The first two were seen on Broadway: Happy End in a production starring Meryl Streep and Christopher Lloyd, and Threepenny in a John Dexter mounting starring Sting and Maureen McGovern.

Feingold's translation of Mahagonny can be heard on DVDs of the Madrid Opera and LA Opera productions. The latter, which starred Audra McDonald and Patti LuPone under the direction of John Doyle, won Classical Grammy Awards for Best Classical Recording and Best Opera Recording — the first time either award has been given to a work sung in translation. His most recent translation, of Eugène Ionesco's The Killer, received an acclaimed production by Darko Tresnjak last year as part of Theatre for a New Audience's inaugural season at the Polonsky Shakespeare Center, in Brooklyn.

To view all of Feingold's "Thinking About Theater" columns, click here. His most recent two-part "Thinking About Theater" column appeared on TheaterMania.com on Friday, February 20, and Friday, February 27.

Feingold will be honored with the George Jean Nathan Award at a celebratory event this spring. The date will be announced soon.

Feingold's next two-part "Thinking About Theater" column will appear on Fridays March 13 and 20.