American Theatre Critics Association

The American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA) is the only nationwide professional association of theatre critics in the United States. The ATCA membership consists of theatre critics who write reviews and critiques of live theatre for print, broadcast, and digital media. The organization is best known for its annual Steinberg/ATCA New play Award recognizing work developed and premiered in regional theaters. It also makes the recommendation for the Regional Theatre Tony Award. ATCA is an affiliate organization of the International Theatre Critics Association. The current chair of ATCA's Executive Committee is Bill Hirschman of floridatheateronstage.com.

ATCA was founded on August 3, 1974, at the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut. The organization was created to provide a professional home for theatre critics outside of the New York City metropolitan area, who were not eligible for membership in the New York Drama Critics' Circle. Then-Critics' Circle president Henry Hewes organized the meeting, which 26 critics attended. As of July 2016 ATCA had over 225 members.

ATCA administers several awards as part of its mission to strengthen American theatre nationwide. Three of these are awards for administered solely by ATCA, while two are awards for other theatre artists that are administered in conjunction with other organizations.

The most prominent prize that ATCA has a role in is the Regional Theatre Tony Award. Each year ATCA members confidentially vote for this Tony Award, and the organization's choice is presented to the Tony Award committee. ATCA's vote is solely advisory: the Tony Awards committee makes the decision of which company to give the award to. However, to date (2014), ATCA's recommendation has been accepted every year, even in 1987, with the then-controversial San Francisco Mime Troupe. The first theatre company to win the award was Arena Stage in 1976. From 1976 to 2013 only theatre companies outside of New York City were eligible; in 2013 the Tony Awards committee announced that non-profit theatre companies within the five boroughs of New York City would be eligible, although Broadway companies would still be ineligible for this particular Tony Award. After this change was made Signature Theatre was the first New York City company to win the award in 2014.

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