Charles Isherwood wins the Nathan Award

Charles Isherwood wins the Nathan Award

Drama critic Charles Isherwood wins the Nathan Award, administered by Cornell University

ITHACA, N.Y. -- New York Times drama critic Charles Isherwood has been named the winner of the Nathan Award for the theater year 2005-06. The award was endowed by the great theater critic George Jean Nathan (1882-1958), who wrote for and co-edited with H.L. Mencken the magazines Smart Set and The American Mercury. Because Nathan was an alumnus of Cornell University, the Cornell Department of English administers the prize. Nathan's will mandated that the winner be chosen "by a majority vote of the & heads of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton and Yale Universities."

Isherwood has been writing for the Times since 2004. A Stanford graduate, he began his career at L.A. Style but soon went to Variety and Daily Variety, where he was senior editor and Los Angeles theater critic, before moving to New York, where he was Variety's chief theater critic. He was also a contributing editor for the Advocate magazine from 1993-1998 and has written about Broadway for the London Times.

The Nathan committee was particularly impressed with Isherwood's willingness to voice strong opinions and take sometimes unpopular stands during the last theater season. For instance, he wrote of the Sydney Theater Company's production of Hedda Gabler with Cate Blanchette, which had been a popular success (and applauded by the Times' other drama reviewer), that the "audience & didn't seem to notice (or care) that a classic play was being publicly kneecapped." The committee also applauded Isherwood's range of knowledge and willingness to educate theater-goers, as when in a review of a performance of classic commedia dell'arte he noted a range of "comic archetypes whose influence cannot be overstated, stretching as they do from Shakespeare to Homer Simpson." And they admired his sense of New York theatrical trends, as in the summer review where he plaintively raised the "burning question," "Who's afraid of 'Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'"

The award consists of $10,000 and a statuette, which will be presented to Isherwood by Molly Hite, chair of the Cornell Department of English, in a February party at the Players' Club. More information about the Nathan Award, including a list of previous winners, can be found online at

http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/nathan/.

For additional information Contact: Nicola PytellPhone: (607)254-6236Cell: (607)351-3548 nwp2@cornell.edu