Editor-In-Chief
Member, SFBATCC

Barry David Horwitz is a longtime theater teacher, critic, actor, and producer. He founded and served as Artistic Director of The Quixotic Players, producing works from Greek classics to contemporary plays, and has also acted and dramaturged with Shotgun Players in Berkeley. A former English and Drama professor at Saint Mary’s College, UC Berkeley, and the Universities of Paris and Montpellier, Barry has always linked theater to political and social movements. Now retired, he writes reviews as a member of the San Francisco Theater Critics’ Circle and Theatre Bay Area adjudicator. His essay “The American Dream Conspiracy” was published in Conspiracy and Consent (PULM, 2017).

(Archived Reviews)

Managing Editor
Member, SFBATCC

Isa S. Chu (she/her) is a Bay Area performer, teacher, and creative entrepreneur. Born in Hong Kong and raised in Oakland, she brings an intersectional lens to theater, music, coaching, and critique. Isa has performed with Tri-Valley Theater Company, Masquers Playhouse, and Pinole Community Players, with recent highlights in City of Angels and Calendar Girls, and reviews for Theatrius.com. Dedicated to cultivating young artists, she teaches at A.C.T.’s Young Conservatory, serves as vocal director for Pinole Young Actors, adjudicates the Sara Bareilles Awards, and runs The Music Box, an arts-based preschool and music school.

CONNECT:
• isaschu.com
• @icdiva

(Archived Reviews)

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Whether you're a seasoned writer or just beginning your journey, Theatrius invites you to share your voice.

We’re not just looking for technical analysis; we want your insight, your voice, your connection to the work onstage.

We offer editorial support, feedback, and a chance to engage with a growing community of writers who care about the arts and the world around them. Ready to get started?

Reviewer
Member, SFBATCC

Joanne Engelhardt is a former newspaper reporter who transitioned into corporate communications before returning to her first love: theater. Encouraged by her late husband, a drama teacher and community theater actor, she began performing and soon discovered a passion for acting. Combining her backgrounds in writing and performance, Joanne became a theater critic, first for the San Mateo County Times, later for the Palo Alto Daily News/Mercury News, and for eight years with the Santa Cruz Sentinel. She has also written for Aisle Seat Review and now contributes reviews to Theatrius.

(Archived Reviews)

Reviewer
Member, SFBATCC

Robert M. Gardner, a native of North Dakota, is trained as an archaeologist, with a life-long love of the arts. He taught for many years at Saint Mary’s College of California, teaching courses including Exploring Museums and Music Around the Bay. In these courses, he enjoyed taking students to discover art and music. Grandson of a frontier newspaper editor, he comes from a family of writers. He loves to explore cultures, especially Native American, South American, and the Bay Area. He plays guitar and sings in a choir, and he enjoys studying a wide range of musical styles.

(Archived Reviews)

Reviewer / Editor
Member, SFBATCC

Jenyth Jo Gearhart has enjoyed a long career as a public high school teacher, where her students wrote and performed eight original “dramatic-pathetic-tragic-comedic“ musicals. These plays raised thousands of dollars for arts education. She served as Poet Laureate of San Ramon from 2018-2024, and is currently a St. Mary’s College Writing Studies adjunct professor. Jenyth received an athletics scholarship to Stanford University, where she majored in Creative Writing. Her memoir about her days as a student-athlete, Go-to Girl: Digs, Dives, and a Golden Spike, was published in 2023.

(Archive Reviews)

Reviewer

In a previous life, John-Thomas Hanson programmed robots at a large biotech company. After escaping in 2015, he returned to school to earn his MFA in Musical Theater from Notre Dame de Namur University and trained at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco. He has entertained many audiences in San Francisco and along the peninsula.

He has a special fondness for musicals, but enjoys creative, diverse, quality productions. When not being dramatic, John-Thomas is a certified yoga and meditation instructor, an uncertified hippie, an adventurous world traveler, a decent cruciverbalist, a multi-disciplined volunteer, and a master at the art of coddiwompling.

CONNECT:
• john.thomas.hanson@gmail.com

(Archived Reviews)

Reviewer
Member, SFBATCC

Mary Lou Herlihy believes in the magic of live theater. A Chorus Line, Hair, Hot-L Baltimore, The Wiz are among her favorite childhood memories. Bay Area favorites include Shimmer, The Miser, True West, Angels in America, The Vibrator Play, Cult of Love. Truth be told, she can find something to love about any thoughtful theatrical production. As an Interpretive Media Specialist for the National Park Service, Mary Lou collaborated with creative teams to seek out and share the untold stories. She loves the vibrant Arts of the Bay Area and is beyond excited that the stars aligned to provide this exciting opportunity to combine two of her passions- theater and writing.

(Archive Reviews)

Reviewer
Member, SFBATCC

Philippa Kelly is Resident Dramaturg for the California Shakespeare Theater, Resident Dramaturg for Remote Theater, and production dramaturg for many regional theaters. She serves on the board of TheaterFirst and is professor and chair of English at the California Jazz Conservatory.

Philippa’s Arden book, The King and I, illuminates King Lear through the lens of Australia’s history of outcasting. Her “Run the Canon” series at Cal Shakes presents original 12-minute video talks on Shakespeare’s canon.

(Archived Reviews)

Reviewer

Kheven Lee LaGrone is a playwright, essayist and curator. He was a 2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalist for his play Pillow Talk (which premiered at Theater Rhinoceros). In 2024, he curated “Black Theatre—Go Home! The Black Arts theater Movement in San Francisco” at the San Francisco Main Public Library which included the panel discussion “The San Francisco Black Theater Movement.” In 2023, LaGrone wrote the biographical liner notes for Peter Barclay’s posthumous album “I’m Not Your Toy.” He also edited a collection of academic and scholarly essays on Alice Walker’s “The Color Purple.” LaGrone is a San Francisco Bay Area native.

(Archive Reviews)

Reviewer
New York, NY

Andrea Libresco is professor of Social Studies Education and directs both the Doctoral Program in Learning and Teaching and the Minor in Civic Engagement at Hofstra University in New York. She believes in the importance of live theater in a democracy to provoke critical thinking, empathy, discussion, community, and civic engagement. She loves the experience of attending a thrilling show and discovering that, halfway through, her mouth is hanging open in awe.

Reviewer

Emily S. Mendel, writer and photographer, has contributed regularly to culturevulture, Theatrius, and Berkeleyside, where she concentrates her reviews on Bay Area theater and art. As a native New Yorker,although now a long time San Francisco Bay Area resident, Emily grew up loving and studying theater. Ending her 30-year law practice has given Ms. Mendel the time to indulge in her love of travel and the arts.

(Archived Reviews)

Reviewer

Zack Rogow’s coauthored play “Colette Uncensored” was launched with a staged reading at the Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and ran in London, Indonesia, Catalonia, San Francisco, Berkeley, and Portland. The play was nominated for Best Solo Show by Theatre Bay Area. Rogow’s translation and adaptation of the play “Marius” by Marcel Pagnol was produced by the Storm Theatre in New York and by the Aurora Theatre in Berkeley. He serves as dramaturg for the Yiddish Theatre Ensemble. www.zackrogow.com

CONNECT:
• zackrogow.com

(Archive Reviews)

Reviewer
Member, SFBATCC

Lynne Stevens became enthralled with theater after her fourth grade teacher showed a Royal Canadian Theater production of Oedipus Rex. She gained further respect for the theater by getting in over her head when she volunteered to do costumes for a review at the long defunct The Playhouse at Beach and Hyde in San Francisco back in the 60s. She is an administrator at a private women’s club by day and remains firmly on the dark side of the footlights as an appreciator.

(Archive Reviews)

Reviewer

Kristian Stovall is a Bay Area-based writer, performer, and cultural truth-teller. She is the founder of FAIRE (The Foundation for American Indian Restoration and Education), where her work focuses on historical truth, identity reclamation, and Indigenous American advocacy. A classically trained actress with a B.A. in Theater from CSU East Bay, Kristian blends poetic critique with cultural insight to highlight stories often erased or overlooked. Her work explores legacy, liberation, and the power of storytelling to restore what’s been stolen. Kristian is passionate about bringing untold stories to the stage and believes in the transformative power of theater to foster understanding and change.

(Archive Reviews)