May 6, 2003
Contact: Leslee Caul (e-mail: caull@cwu.edu)
ELLENSBURG, Wash. - Theatre critic Bob Hicks of The
Oregonian, a daily newspaper in Portland, Ore, will conduct a lecture
discussion on the role of the theatre critic and careers in arts
journalism on Friday, May 16 from 1-3 p.m. in Central Washington
University’s Tower Theatre. Sponsored by the CWU theatre arts
department, the event is free and open to the public.
“The theatre arts department frequently brings in guest
artists in various theatre disciplines to work with students,” says
Brenda Hubbard, CWU’s producing artistic director. “We are so pleased
to host such an accomplished critic and to offer programming that will
be of interest to a wide range of students in other majors.”
Hicks, the newspaper’s senior critic, has worked for The
Oregonian for 21 years as an arts editor and writer. Before that, he
spent eight years at the Oregon Journal as a copy editor, assistant
news editor, movie critic and entertainment editor. Earlier
journalistic stops included the Binghamton (N.Y.) Sun-Bulletin,
Bellingham Metropolitan, Ferndale Record and the alternative magazine
Northwest Passage. He’s also written for national publications,
including Biblio magazine.
At The Oregonian, he has spent 10 years as full-time theatre
critic and has edited the Friday entertainment supplement and Sunday
arts section. In that capacity, he has written about a variety of
topics including visual arts, opera, classical music, movies, books,
dance, performance art, arts politics and food. He’s twice been
nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism; a feat that he says has
“impressed my wife and 24-year-old daughter but not my 8- and
5-year-old sons or two cats.”
For more information about Hicks’ presentation, or for
persons of disability to arrange for reasonable accommodation, call
(509) 963-1750, or (for the hearing impaired) TDD (509) 963-2143.
