The Independent Reviewers of New England, a collective of 14 members who have presented the Boston-based IRNE Awards annually since 1995, has disbanded. The committee’s final awards ceremony was held earlier this year in April.
In a Facebook post, the group of theatre critics stated that the decision, determined by a majority vote, is due to the increasing number of new theatre companies in the Greater Boston Area, which complicates the volunteer-based group’s ability to “adequately cover the field.”
“We do not wish to diminish our legacy by trying to do the impossible,” they continued.The statement does not directly respond to a open letter, collectively penned by 13 New England–based theatre artists on the day of this year’s IRNE Awards and subsequently co-signed by over 600 others, calling for the committee to focus solely on New England–born work (over national tours and commercial pre-Broadway engagements), strengthen the diversity of its body and the works it chooses to cover, and take steps toward making its criteria for coverage more transparent.
