NEW YORK CITY: The Public Theater has announced that Critical Minded will sponsor the 2025-26 cohort of cultural critic Jose Solís’ BIPOC Critics Lab, beginning a new partnership and continuing Solís’s commitment to creating an educational space for BIPOC writers in cultural criticism. Applications are now open for the upcoming cohort in the third year of this residency at the Public, and due on Monday, July 7.
“Critical Minded is honored for the opportunity to support the 2025-26 cohort of cultural critic Jose Solís’s BIPOC Critics Lab hosted at the legendary Public Theater,” Critical Minded executive director rashid shabazz said in a statement. “Since 2020, the Lab under Solís’s guidance and leadership has created a nurturing space, giving rise to a new generation of theatre critics who now write for a range of publications from The New York Times to 3Views on Theater.”
Like the BIPOC Critics Lab, Critical Minded has long been committed to removing barriers and expanding opportunities for critics of color through reporting, funding, and bringing creators together. Hosting the BIPOC Critics Lab at the Public for a third season directly aligns with goals outlined in the Public’s Cultural Transformation Plan, acknowledging that the field of arts journalism and the theatre industry have historically upheld white supremacy, and, as a result, critics of color have far too often been left out of the conversation.
The 2025-26 sessions for the Lab will span the course of the Public’s upcoming season. Those chosen will receive offers to join the cohort in August, with the cohort officially beginning in mid-September. This iteration of the cohort will be a hybrid model of online sessions and optional in-person activities.
With this announcement, the Public also shared that 12 members have completed their BIPOC Critics Lab training: Amanda L. Andrei, Shanaé Burch, Lindsley Howard, Regina Madanguit, Zoe Marín, e.jin O’Malley, Miranda Purcell, Katsuto Sakogashira, Ciaran Short, Angie Shin, Soumya Tadepalli, and Dezi Tibbs. These cohort members come from more than six different cities and four different countries, bringing unique perspectives, backgrounds, and voices.
“I’m still in awe of how brilliant our most recent cohort was—each of them brought such heart, insight, and boldness to the Lab,” program founder Jose Solís shared in a statement. “Returning to the Public Theater truly feels like coming home, and I’m so grateful to continue this journey with their support and the unwavering backing of Critical Minded. Every time we do this work, I’m reminded just how vital and urgent it is to carve out space for BIPOC critics to thrive, dream, and lead. I can’t wait to meet the next group and see how they’ll challenge, expand, and reimagine what criticism can be.”
To further the movement initiated by Solís and to expand both past and present cohorts’ networks, the Public welcomed NYC theatres, arts and cultural press agencies, and regional theatres internationally to collaborate with the Lab’s early-career BIPOC journalists for future commissioning opportunities. Institutions are also invited to host their own cohorts of the BIPOC Critics Lab to expand the number of opportunities. They encouraged organizations to reach out to BIPOCCriticsLab@publictheater.org.
The BIPOC Critics Lab was founded in 2020 by Jose Solís as a first-of-its-kind program designed to train and create work by emerging BIPOC theatre journalists. Alumni have gone on to write and work as editors for outlets such as The Los Angeles Times, Andscape, Elle, Glamour, American Theatre, Broadway News, 3Views, Brooklyn Rail, and Token Theatre Friends. Following the tenets of dialogue, compassion, and nurturing one’s unique voice, future critics who participate in the cohort will contribute to the creation of a custom program that fits their specific needs and encourages them to pursue the path of criticism that best serves them.
Critical Minded is a grantmaking and learning initiative whose work is focused on resourcing and raising the visibility of critics of color and cultural writers through direct support to publications and individuals, research, and convening.
Meet the 2024-25 cohort:
Amanda L. Andrei is a playwright, literary translator, and theatre critic/journalist residing in L.A. by way of Virginia/Washington D.C. Her play Mama, I wish I were silver won the 2022 Jane Chambers Award for Feminist Playwriting. She co-translates from Romanian to English with her father, and their translations of Tatiana Niculescu and Oana Hodade appear in Asymptote Journal and Another Chicago Magazine. She was named a Rising Leader of Color by Theatre Communications Group in 2023. MFA: University of Southern California.
Dr. Shanaé Burch is an arts in public health liberation scholar who resides in Brooklyn with her service dog, Dodger. She serves as a Deacon of Double Love Experience Church, board member of Community Conversations: Sister 2 Sister and co-associate editor of Poetry for The Public’s Health (Health Promotion Practice). She is a proud union member of Rutgers Adjunct Faculty Union and Actors Equity Association, and has run three world-major marathons.
Lindsley Howard is a Texas-born, Brooklyn-based actor, storyteller, and cultural observer. Select artistic credits include collaborations and developmental work with Ensemble Studio Theatre, the Huntington, The Lark, and Studio Theatre. She holds a BFA in Acting from St. Edward’s University.
Regina Mandaguit is a multimedia storyteller, born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, where she met her first love: video. She has created a number of short films and competed in local festivals. She studied people and place at the University of California, Berkeley, earning degrees in American Studies and Environmental Design. She is currently based in the Philippines, exploring the island her parents left behind.
Zoe Marín is an Argentine American theatre artist and comedian based in Toronto. She has a BFA in Theatre from York University. Recent credits include: GRINGAS, Internet Sensation, and Do You Think You’re Better Than Me? She is First Born Theatre Company’s artistic producer and the co-creator of sketch-comedy troupe Small Friend Tall Friend.
e.jin O’Malley is an adoptee writer based in New York. They have received nominations for a Pushcart Prize, Best of the Net, and Best New Poets, and their work has appeared or is forthcoming in The Nashville Review, The Margins, TriQuarterly, and others.
Miranda Purcell is a Puerto Rican actress and writer who earned her BFA in Theatre Arts from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University and furthered her craft with studies in Shakespearean acting at the Globe Theatre in London. After graduating, she worked as a screenwriter for The Writer’s Gang, as a reporter at Puerto Rico’s leading newspaper El Nuevo Día, and as a content creator for Caribbean Cinemas, the fourth-largest movie theatre franchise in Latin America.
Katsuto Sakogashira is a writer and actor from Amakusa, Japan, based in Providence, R.I. He holds a BA in Theatre and a BS in Biology with a minor in Music from Albright College, where he received the Leach Prize in theater making and the Gold A Award for outstanding leadership.
Angie Shin is a civil rights activist, theatre critic, and dramaturg originally from Los Angeles. Trained in Shakespearean theatre starting at age 9 with the Hobart Shakespeareans, they dramaturged for the Hyperion Shakespeare Company’s 2022 production of King John at Harvard College. They currently work as a paralegal at the NAACP Legal Defense Fund and organize with the nonprofit Nodutdol for Korean Community Development.
Ciaran Short is an interdisciplinary artist, writer, and activist born and raised in NYC. He co-founded All Street, an art collective and protest group utilizing art to raise visibility and support social movements in NY. He holds a master’s degree in Media Studies from The New School.
Soumya Tadepalli is a theatremaker, comedian, and administrator based in New York City. Soumya has worked as the public relations fellow for the two-time Tony Award-winning musical Hell’s Kitchen on Broadway; as the development operations and database coordinator at Oregon Ballet Theatre; as an administrative intern at The Tank NYC; and as an artistic intern at Syracuse Stage.
Dezi Tibbs is a New York-based dramaturg and writer who created the blog “Dezi’s Thought Bubble” to engage with the theatre scene critically and encourage audiences to view the theatre as a place that challenges their mind and opens their hearts. They’ve also written for the Media Theater, the Wilma Theater, and the Civilians’ Extended Play.
