Longtime Washington Post theatre critic Peter Marks has taken a voluntary buyout and will no longer be with the outlet as of December 31. Marks shared the news on Facebook, writing "I leave with gratitude to everyone who has read my work—and with exhilaration about what comes next!"

But those next steps remain unclear, particularly for the Washington Post, which serves one of the larger theatre markets in the country outside of New York City. The buyout offers follow recent financial struggles at the Jeff Bezos-owned publication. Leadership hopes the buyouts—which will cut their staff by 240—will avoid the need for layoffs. But that also means that a replacement hire is unlikely. 

Playbill has reached out to Post representatives to ask about their plans around theatre reviews going forward and will update this piece when and if we hear back.

If this does indicate a shift away from theatre criticism, the Post would be among the first major national publications to do so, though similar cuts have affected smaller publications nationwide in recent years. Several larger publications, including The New York Times, have also chosen to reduce the amount and scope of their theatre criticism. The Times now has only one full-time theatre critic; a string of freelancers supplements the coverage. In short, this is all part of a troubling downward trend in theatrical news media more generally.

Marks became the Post's chief drama critic in 2002, which followed a tenure at the New York Times as a drama critic, theatre reporter, metro reporter, and national correspondent. He's also held positions at Newsday, New Brunswick Home News, Star-Ledger, and Bergen Record. He was on the team that won a Pulitzer Prize for spot news reporting in 1992.