William Hirschman has been a professional journalist since interning during high school in 1966 in Westchester County, New York. He began reviewing theater for the South Florida Sun Sentinel in 1998 and had written about the arts and reviewed for several decades before that, especially books. His arts coverage has appeared in Variety, American Theatre magazine, Playbill.com, a&e magazine, the Sondheim Review, and the Miami Herald among many other outlets. His work as the founding critic for the South Florida Theater Review won him first place for arts criticism in the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sunshine State Awards and he received the Jack Zink Spirit Award. He serves as the chairman of the executive committee of the American Theatre Critics’ Association, past treasurer of its Foundation and past chairman of its new plays competition which presents the Steinberg/ATCA Award. This website has recently been honored by the South Florida Theatre League with its Remy Award and recently with the Silver Palm Award. He is a judge for the Carbonell Awards, the local equivalent of the Tony Award, and judges the Silver Knight competition in drama in Broward County.
A graduate of the University of Missouri School of Journalism with a theater minor, he has been involved in theater as an actor, director, producer and playwright most of his life.
He is an award-winning investigative reporter and editor who has worked for newspapers in Florida, New York, Missouri, Oklahoma and Kansas, covering local government, education, social services and crime. He is the past president of the South Florida and Kansas chapters of the Society of Professional Journalists and winner of the national First Amendment Award. He is the founder and editor of Florida Theater On Stage.
He lives in Plantation with two dogs and his wife Oline H. Cogdill who he says “makes all things possible.”
Hear what William Hirschman has to say to Lauren about theater criticism, his Carolina connection, and the South Florida theater scene.
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