Alisa Solomon

Alisa Solomon directs the Arts & Culture concentration in the M.A. program, teaching its core seminar as well as an array of M.S. courses; among them, Ethics, Reporting, Criticism workshop. She began her journalism career in the early 1980s as a theater critic at the Village Voice and, while continuing in that role in her 21 years on staff at the Voice, also covered such areas as U.S. immigration policy, LGTB issues, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, electoral politics, and women’s sports. Nowadays, she contributes regularly to The Nation, covering live performance and scripted TV. As a freelancer, she has contributed to magazines, newspapers, and radio stations ranging from Glamour and Poz to the Guardian, New York Times and WNYC.

Trained academically in theater history and dramatic literature, Alisa stays connected to the field, contributing to journals like The Drama Review and America Theater. Her books include Re-Dressing the Canon: Essays on Theater and Gender (winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism) and Wonder of Wonders: A Cultural History of ‘Fiddler on the Roof’ (winner of the Kurt Weill Prize, the Jewish Journal Prize, and the Theatre Library Association’s George Freedley Memorial Award). Alisa also has an arts practice as a dramaturg. Most recently, she has been working with Anna Deavere Smith on her Pipeline to Prison Project.

Alisa believes that to write about the arts is to write about the world: Covering the field involves not only aesthetic considerations, but also politics, law, social issues, economics, trade policy – you name it. A cultural journalist gets to do everything.

Though born and raised in the Midwest, Alisa considers herself a thorough New Yorker. In good weather, you can find her commuting from downtown to campus on two wheels via the Hudson River bike path.

Alisa received her B.A. at the University of Michigan’s Residential College, and her MFA and doctorate in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism at the Yale School of Drama.