For me, 2016 was a mixed bag of a year. While as an American citizen, 2016 was a shitty year (I would like to give a big middle finger to everyone who voted for Trump), as a journalist, 2016 was a banner year for me. If I could sum it up in one word, 2016 would be the year that people paid me to yell at them.
How so you ask?
Well, I started off the year by giving the keynote address at the American Theatre Critics Association’s annual conference. The full text is here.
Then I ended the year in Pittsburgh (what’s with me and Pennsylvania) leading a town hall about colorblind casting, where I gave another speech to an audience of about 150 people. The write-up of the event here.
In the middle were numerous panels and post-show talkbacks, which are all fairly new occurrences for me.
For 2017, I’ve already been confirmed to give the keynote address for the Mid-America Theatre Conference’s annual gathering in Houston in March 2017. Then there are couple of panels and gatherings I have been invited to that I have not confirmed yet. But suffice to say, I’m getting more comfortable with this whole speaking in public thing.
Other highlights of 2016:
I became a regular contributor to the Maxamoo theater review podcasting, and the year ended with me giving a pretty great rant on the state of the American theater, which you can listen to here.
I started a monthly column at American Theatre about Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. You can read the entries here.
Speaking of columns, shoutout to my friends Mark Peikert and Jack Smart, who let me contribute twice a month to a column about the largest regional theaters in America. It started in September 2016 and the final column will end in February 2017. My contributions to it are here.
I’m currently at work on a few projects both at American Theatre and freelance that I’m excited to see light in 2017. It’s never dull when you’re a journalist.
Diep Tran 