APPLY FOR MEMBERSHIP

Membership is open to all who review theatre professionally, regularly and with substance for print, electronic or digital media.

ATCA understands “professional” normally to mean you are paid for your reviews and there is some editorial or other supervision of your criticism – e.g., it is not disseminated only on a personal, unsupervised website. But even such websites may qualify you for membership upon further review by the membership committee, considering such measures as substance, reputation and track record. Normally, any applicant must have been a published critic for at least a year.

There are three classes of membership, Full, Associate and Emeritus. All three classes participate fully in the life of the organization, but only full members may be elected to the executive committee.

How to join

You may join only as a full member, supplying eight reviews from the past 12 months as evidence that you are a currently practicing critic; full members then submit three recent reviews each time they renew. 

Associate members are those full members who notify the organization that they no longer meet this condition of entry but wish to continue their affiliation. (To repeat: you may not join as an associate member; you can only transition to associate from full membership in good standing when your active reviewing ends.)

Emeritus status is conferred by the executive committee to honor distinguished service to the theater and/or to ATCA, generally on those who are no longer actively reviewing.

The membership year runs from June 1 to May 31 but you may join at any time. Those who join in the last five months of the membership year (e.g. after Jan. 1), will be considered paid up through the following year. (This does not apply to members who renew late.) Introductory dues are $45 for the first year of membership. Regular dues are $55.

Each applicant should, if possible, be sponsored by a current member and must submit an application (link below) accompanied by eight reviews from the previous 12 months. Applicants who do not know an ATCA member should contact Barry Gaines, Administrator, at the address listed below; membership chair Pam Harbaugh; or ATCA chair Chris Rawson.

Download application

For information and membership inquiries contact Barry Gaines, ATCA Administrator:

ATCA email

ATCA, 12809 Northern Sky NE, Albuquerque NM 87111-8089

(505-856-2101; bjgaines@unm.edu)