Marc Robinson, professor of English and theater studies at Yale University, is the winner of this year's George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, administered by Cornell's Department of English.

The award was endowed by Nathan (1882-1958), the theater critic who graduated in 1904 from Cornell, where he was an editor of both the Cornell Daily Sun and humor magazine the Cornell Widow. Nathan went on to write for and co-edit (with H.L. Mencken) two influential magazines, The Smart Set and The American Mercury, and to publish 34 books on the theater. He also was the inspiration for Addison DeWitt, the critic played by George Sanders in the film "All About Eve."

In establishing the award, Nathan's will mandated that the winner for "the best piece of drama criticism during the theatrical year" be chosen "by a majority vote of the ... heads of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton and Yale Universities."

Robinson, who is also on Yale School of Drama faculty, has written widely on American theater and is the author of "The Other American Drama" and editor of "The Theater of Maria Irene Fornes" and "Altogether Elsewhere: Writers in Exile."

He won the Nathan Award for his most recent book, "The American Play 1787-2000," a re-evaluation of American drama as script and as literary text. Robinson's study demonstrates why American theater works continue to fascinate and engage us, while addressing our history, culture and our lives as Americans. The award committee identified "The American Play" as "an exemplary text that not only reveals the subtle and varied connections within a complex national dramaturgy, but does so seemingly effortlessly."

The Nathan Award has been given annually since 1959. Previous winners include Walter Kerr, Jack Kroll, Charles Isherwood, Michael Feingold, Ben Brantley, Cornell professor H. Scott McMillin, and last year's winner, American Theatre editor Randy Gener. The award consists of $10,000 and a statuette, to be presented to Robinson by English department chair Ellis Hanson in March at an event in New York City. For more information, see http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/awards/nathan/.