Featured Writing
Criticism
Play/Performance Reviews
Jordan E. Cooper Rewrites Salvation in OH HAPPY DAY! - Theatrely, 2024
‘Exception to the Rule’ at Studio Theatre: a fierce dissection of racial uplift - DC Theater Arts, 2024
BULRUSHER Stages the Dangers of Identification - Theatrely, 2023
Politics, Generational Change, and Community in Pearl Cleage’s Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard - 3Views, 2023, co-written with Mekala Sridhar and Divinia Shorter
In Woolly Mammoth’s INCENDIARY, Dave Harris Doesn’t Pull Any Punches - Theatrely, 2023
“Nathan I cannot thank you enough for the rigor and perception with which you wrote this review. It's one of the best pieces of writing about my work that I've ever encountered, and I've felt so invigorated each time I've reread it.” —Dave Harris, Incendiary playwright, on Twitter.
In GOOD BONES, James Ijames Carefully Approaches the Ugliness of Displacement - Theatrely, 2023
In Woolly Mammoth’s THERE’S ALWAYS THE HUDSON, Two Survivors Ruthlessly Confront their Pasts - Theatrely, 2022
The Stunning Reconsiderations of FAIRVIEW at the Wilma Theater - Theatrely, 2022
Heroes are Toppled and Reborn in Studio Theatre’s JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN - Theatrely, 2022
Shakespeare Theatre Company’s OUR TOWN is a Transfixing Production of a Well-Worn Classic - Theatrely, 2022
Studio Theatre’s WHITE NOISE is a Blunt Tragedy for Our Times - Theatrely, 2022
A STRANGE LOOP Stages an Endless Spiral of Identity, and the Rupture my Hometown Needs - Theatrely, 2021
Featured A Strange Loop’s Broadway website during previews in April of 2022.
Opinions & Cultural Essays
A theater nerd confronts ‘theater for boys’ - DC Theater Arts, 2025
Signature Theatre’s ‘Soft Power’ and the sucker-punch Asian American musical - DC Theater Arts, 2024
Anonymous Essays: Unnecessary - 3Views on Theater, 2023
Why did the Tonys Reward A STRANGE LOOP This Year, But Not SLAVE PLAY Last Year? - Theatrely, 2022
DRIVE MY CAR is the Definitive Theatre Film of 2021 - Theatrely, 2022
To Celebrate SLAVE PLAY, Honor its Black Predecessors that Haven’t Been on Broadway - Theatrely, 2021
Shared on Twitter by Slave Play Broadway producer Greg Nobile
No Matter How You Frame It, Your Vaccine Selfie Might Make Someone Uncomfortable - The Wesleyan Argus, 2021
Journalism
Playwright Profiles
Playwright Doug Robinson believes ‘imagination is the only way forward’ - DC Theater Arts, 2025
Choosing to be Asian American, in conversation with David Henry Hwang - 3Views on Theater, 2024
Playwright Dave Harris hopes ‘we can language our way through this’ - DC Theater Arts, 2024
Benjamin Benne on queer love and Christian faith in Mosaic’s ‘In His Hands’ - DC Theater Arts, 2022
Lydia R. Diamond on Arena Stage’s TONI STONE and Contradictions in Black Performance - Theatrely, 2021
Q&A Interviews
How ‘A Strange Loop’ fits into Black theater legacies - NPR, 2022
“I’ve been doggedly avoiding reading any reviews, pans or raves of A Strange Loop but I thought this one was pretty thoughtful and hit on some things that haven’t been said before.” -Michael R. Jackson, Putlizer Prize-winning playwright of A Strange Loop, on Twitter.
Featured on Brian Eugenio Herrera’s #TheatreClique newsletter on June 19, 2022.
Ethan Heard on directing ‘Pacific Overtures’ with an Asian American lens - DC Theater Arts, 2023
Playwright Martyna Majok on finding hope in impossible situations - DC Theater Arts, 2022
How Black Women-Led Outdoor Productions of Shakespeare Took NYC by Storm This Summer - Theatrely, 2022
Featuring playwright-director Robert O’Hara and professor-director Carl Cofield
Artist Profiles/Features
See the Groundbreaking Work of 20th-Century Printmakers Who Formed an Innovative Arts Society in Japan - Smithsonian Magazine, 2024
From Candy to Lightbulbs, Felix Gonzalez-Torres Showed Life and Loss Through Everyday Objects - Smithsonian Magazine, 2024
Explore James Baldwin Alongside His Friends, His Contemporaries and the Queer Artists Inspired by His Writing - Smithsonian Magazine, 2024
Eric Ruffin, Tina Fabrique, and Kim Bey on Mosaic’s MARYS SEACOLE and Black Women Care Work - Theatrely, 2022
SLAVE PLAY’s Devin Kawaoka on Bringing an Asian American Perspective - Theatrely, 2022
At the Lincoln Memorial, COME FROM AWAY Commemorates the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 with Triumph and Tears - Theatrely, 2021
Mentioned in Brian Eugenio Herrera’s #TheatreClique Round Up Newsletter
Editing and Other Writing
3Views on Theater Guest Curating
In February of 2024, Pugh guest curated an issue of 3Views on Theater, covering Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s world premiere production of The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes.
As the site’s inaugural guest curator, Pugh selected the show, hired three contributing writers, edited the writers’ articles, and wrote an editor’s note.
Find all articles published as part of this issue below:
D.C. as a Home for Artists and Writers: An Editor’s Note - Nathan Pugh
Editor’s Note: Introducing Guest Curators - 3Views Team
She Ain’t No Diva: “Class, Bougie, Ratchet” & Exhausted - Tariq O’Meally
The Duality of Homecoming Dreams and Dread - Kayla Randall
Sippin’ on Sea Mink-ettes - Sidney Williams
Institutional Storytelling
As a copywriter/coordinator for the Kennedy Center, Pugh has interviewed leadings artists of the performing arts for the CENTER’s bimonthly magazine.
EARTH to SPACE: This spring, artists and scientists look up to discover new possibilities - Preview of the international festival EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky. Mar.–Apr. 2025 Issue.
Where ballet, theater, and literature meet - Interview with American Ballet Theatre’s Helen Pickett and James Bonas. Jan.–Feb. 2025 Issue
No script, no rehearsal, no problem! - Interview with Improvised Shakespeare Co.’s Blaine Swen. Nov.–Dec. 2024 Issue.
Designing the Future - Interview with Back to the Future: The Musical designers Chris Fisher and Finn Ross. July–Aug. 2024 Issue.
Fun in the sun - Program director Thérèse LaGamma previews the lineup of free Millennium Stage summer events. May–June. 2024 Issue.
Just joking around - Produced and edited conversations between Director of Comedy Programming Kate Villa and comedians Karen Chee and Eugene Mirman. Mar.–Apr. 2024 Issue.
A conversation with Malavika Sarrukai - Nov.–Dec. 2023 Issue.
Personal Essays
Tender Soil, Quiet Graves: “Minari” and the Growing Canon of Asian American Requiems - The Wesleyan Argus, 2021
To the Top of the World: How “The Chicks” Helped Me Grieve and Define Home - The Wesleyan Argus, 2020