Masi Asare of Northwestern University and arts journalist Billy McEntee have been named winners of the 2024-25 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism.

Credit: Provided

The Nathan Award committee comprises the heads of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton and Yale Universities and is administered by Cornell’s Department of Literatures in English.

Asare is a Tony-nominated songwriter (“Paradise Square”), voice teacher and scholar. An associate professor of theatre and performance studies at Northwestern, she directs its American Musical Theatre Project and holds the McCormick Professorship for teaching excellence. Her book also received the Judy Tsou Critical Race Studies Award from the American Musicological Society, and she has been honored as a woman composer with the Ziegfeld Award.

Credit: Amanda Mustard

McEntee is theater editor at Brooklyn Rail, where he writes essays on new works, often experimental-leaning ones with shorter runs. He has freelanced for The Boston Globe, American Theatre, Vanity Fair, and many other publications that have limited their arts coverage. McEntee is also a site-specific theater maker; “The Voices in Your Head” was a 2025 Drama Desk Award nominee for Unique Theatrical Experience, and “Slanted Floors” made Vulture's list of Best Theater of 2025. He teaches at The School of The New York Times and the American College Theater Festival.  

Read the full story on the College of Arts and Sciences website.