Theatre Journal
Author Guidelines

The primary aim of Theatre Journal is to provide an outlet for scholarship and criticism in the theatre arts. We welcome articles of varying subject matter and approach.

A double-spaced MS Word article file, 6,000 to 9,000 words in length, should be submitted as an e-mail attachment. A separate file should contain a cover letter with author’s name, address, e-mail address, telephone number, and professional affiliation. (The article title only should appear at the head of the article file. The author’s name and/or institution should not appear in the article file itself.) Illustrations, when available, are encouraged. Article submissions should use endnotes. For other stylistic matters, follow Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition; style sheets for each section are also available from the editors. Submissions that fall short of or exceed the stated word limit and/or do not follow journal style and format will not be read. Simultaneous submissions are not accepted.

Submissions should be e-mailed to the Managing Editor, Bob Kowkabany, at doriclay@aol.com (165 Perry Street, Suite 3B, New York, NY 10014).

Inquiries concerning performance reviews should be addressed to the Performance Review Editor: Judith A. Sebesta, Department of Theatre and Dance, 101 Theatre Arts Building, Lamar University, Beaumont, TX 77710; e-mail: Judy.Sebesta@lamar.edu.

Inquiries concerning book reviews should be addressed to the Book Review Editor: Melissa Gibson, Department of Theatre Arts, M/S SA 46, California State University, Fresno, 5201 North Maple Avenue, Fresno, CA 93740-8027; e-mail: mgibson@csufresno.edu.

Guidelines for Review

Theatre Journal: For Performance Review Authors

(Submission considerations for 2008-10)

Reminder to Reviewers

Please be certain that you are familiar with Theatre Journal and its performance review section before you submit your materials. Published reviews are reliable models for the type and range of reviews in which we are interested. They are also documented according to the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th edition. Please consult this source on your own and submit materials that conform to its requirements.

Checklist for a complete submission package (all components of the package MUST be submitted together)

• One version of your review as a Microsoft Word attachment or on CD. Included on this electronic record should be a file listing the author's address and that of the theatre company(s) or performer reviewed (for the mailing of complimentary copies of the journal). Microsoft Word is the review editor's preferred program.
• At least one production image (PHOTOGRAPH, JPEG) must accompany your review. Production images for your review must be properly captioned, and a return address for the images included, if needed. The caption and credit should be assembled together on a separate sheet of paper or file.
• All necessary permissions for images. These can be in the form of an e-mail from the company, or documentation that you have procured the images from an official web-site.
• An attachment listing the author's (your) address, phone number, and e-mail and that of the theatre company(s) or performer reviewed (for the mailing of complimentary copies of the journal).
• One hard copy of your review on plain white paper with any diacritical marks circled.
• Completed JHUP Author Publishing Agreement. All questions must be answered.

Guidelines

Inquiries and Commissions: Inquiries to the Performance Review Editor in advance of submission are required to avoid duplication of reviews already published or in process. If needed, the Performance Review Editor can provide a letter to help the reviewer obtain tickets or production photos. It is best to contact the press agents for a production in order to try to obtain a "reviewer" comp.; also, make sure to ask for a press kit. Please note that the Journal does not accept reviews of student or university productions.

Style and Content: ALL submissions are expected to conform to the format, style, word limitation (i.e., length of review) and spelling requirements when they are submitted. This is the reviewer's responsibility. Theatre Journal performance reviews should be written in clear, effective prose. NO citations (example: footnotes, bibliography) are to be included in the review. Reviews should emphasize analysis of the production with a minimum of plot summary (no plot summary is necessary for often produced, well-known plays). The review might address the significance of production vis-a-vis its historical moment, performers, director, design, author, style, or its constituent audience. A review might consider a play's production values or emphasize the importance of a performance event with regard to its cultural, political, or historical context. Once again: Please consult previous issues of Theatre Journal for sample reviews. It is expected that the author will be familiar with both the journal and its readership when submitting a review.

Length: We generally publish reviews of individual productions, which should run 800-1000 words in length. Combined reviews of more than one production also can be submitted. Such multiple production reviews should run 1600-2000 words in length. Reviews covering two or more productions may be edited to achieve overall copy balance. A word count should be provided at the top of the first page of the copy. Reviews exceeding these word counts will generally be returned to the author for revision. This can delay the publication of the review.

Revisions: Often there is insufficient time for authors to revise their own work. We reserve the right to make final editorial decisions.

Final Acceptance and Duplicate Submissions: There is no guarantee, even in the case of a commissioned review, that the piece will be accepted for publication. In addition, please understand that Theatre Journal can provide only provisional acceptance until just before your review is actually published. In particular, it very infrequently happens that reviews accepted by the Review Editor are later struck by the journal's Editor because of space limitations.

NB: publishing ethics require us to insist that you not submit your review to any other publication until it has been rejected by Theatre Journal.

Publication Timetable: The Performance Review Editor cannot always specify the issue of Theatre Journal in which the review will appear. Every effort will be made to insure that an accepted review is published as soon as possible. In general, one year is the maximum interval allowed between the date of viewing a production and the review's appearance in print. Consult the deadlines below to be sure your review will be eligible for the next available issue. The Performance Review Editor will confirm by email the issue in which your review will appear once the section has been approved by the journal’s editors (which is usually within three months following a specific deadline for submissions to reach the Performance Review Editor).

Deadlines: for the March issue, August 1; for the May issue, November 1; for the October issue, April 1; for the December issue, June 1. Note that Theatre Journal has a policy of publishing only one review per author in a twelve-month period.

Proofing and Author Agreement Form: Reviewers will not receive either page proofs or first pages to correct. Authors will receive an offprint order form from JHUP before final publication.

NB: The attached Author Agreement Form MUST accompany your submission to the Performance Review Editor, and should not be sent to JHUP. In case your review is not accepted for publication, the signed form will be returned to the author.

1. Hard copies of reviews should be double-spaced, on 8 1/2" x 11" paper with fifteen-space margins. Indent paragraphs five spaces. Do not use letterhead or erasable paper.
2. Review Headings: Type heading double-spaced. Type the play title in BOLDFACE CAPS, followed by the author's name, and the name of the director. Next, type the production company's name, name of the theatre, city, state or country (if necessary--not needed for major cities), and the date the production was seen (date, month, year).

NB: All information in the heading is run-on; do not start a fresh line with either production company or date; however, if information runs onto a second line, indent that line five spaces, as shown. Please observe punctuation, capitalization, and placement of entries exactly as follows:

UNCLE VANYA. By Anton Chekhov. Directed by Janis Benny. Oregon Shakespeare Festival,

Angus Bowmer Theatre, Ashland. 12 August 1998.

3. Review Signatures: Type your name in BOLDFACE CAPS at the end of the review, with your institution, position, or place of residence italicized below. Set these two lines against the right-hand margin, thus:

MARY ELIZABETH GALVIN
Johns Hopkins University

4. Stylistic Matters: Italicize play titles throughout the text. Refer to yourself in the first person, not as "the reviewer" or "this writer." Avoid quotation marks and italics except where absolutely necessary. Remain as consistent in tense as good sense permits, remembering that the production may be closed by the time your review appears. Proofread your draft carefully, paying special attention to correct spelling of proper names and titles. Submit a clean original and a duplicate copy.
5. Production images are required: Among acceptable images are sharp, high-contrast, black and white or color production shots (rather than head shots or close-ups or promotional shots). The journal accepts conventional photographic prints as well as images formatted as slides, on CD, and as jpeg files with a resolution of 300 dpi.

Affix a typed label to the back of each photo with: actors' and characters' names, act, scene, play, etc.; photographer's name; permission to reprint (if the photograph was previously published); and the name and address of the party to whom the photo(s) should be returned. Do not write directly on the photographs. Please contact the Performance Review Editor with any questions regarding production images as a part of your submission.

6. Photo captions: On a separate page, authors should prepare a caption for each photograph submitted to accompany a review. The preferred formats for photo caption follow. Note that in a large group scene, actors do not need to be individually named.
1. Informative description related to review.
2. Actor x (character) and Actor y (character) [and any additional actors up to 4 or 5] in Show Title. Photo: Name of photographer. OR
3. Actor x (character) and Actor y (character) [and any additional actors up to 4 or 5] in Show Title. Photo: Name of photographer

Additional information about the production such as venue, director, or author is unnecessary since this will be available to readers in the review itself. Exceptions are made in the case of multiple productions of the same play in different venues or if the permission grantor specifies such language as a condition for using the photo.

Permissions. We will always credit photographers, who retain copyrights of their individual photos. If a venue granting permission asks to be acknowledged we will do so. Our preferred format for such acknowledgement is "courtesy of x."

7. Send performance reviews to:
   Judith A. Sebesta
   Performance Review Editor
   Theatre Journal
   Department of Theatre and Dance
   101 Theatre Arts Building
   Lamar University
   Beaumont, TX 77710

Inquiries and correspondence can be emailed to Judith Sebesta at Judy.Sebesta@lamar.edu.

Particularities of CD submission (Note that the Editor prefers attachments):

The Theatre Journal Performance Review Editor works with Microsoft Word. If you use a different word-processing program, please arrange to have a version made in Microsoft Word.

If you have any questions about program formatting contact the editor immediately.

1. Please name your file using your last name and a word from the play title reviewed.
2. Label your CD with your name, the names of your files, and the software used, including the version.
3. Do not include any extraneous files on your CD, just your review, address file, and images, if appropriate.

Considerations common to CD and hard copy:

Use 1" margins (approximately 15 spaces). However, if you are using DIN A-4 (European) paper, leave at least 2" at the bottom so the manuscript can be photocopied onto 8 -1/2 x 11" paper without cutting off the bottom of the text.

Indent new paragraphs and block quotations one tab space.

Type only one space after periods, questions marks, or other terminal punctuation marks.

Number all pages sequentially.

Double-space everything. Don’t add an extra line between paragraphs.

Circle all foreign accents, symbols, etc. in pencil on your hard copy. This is particularly important, since accents and symbols (particularly unusual ones, as in éódã) are frequently lost during translation from disk at the typesetters.

In general, your hard copy should look like it was produced by a typewriter. In particular:

1. Use a typewriter-style font (we prefer Times Roman). Use 12-point font throughout the review. Don't use drop-caps or other ornamentation.
2. Use ragged right margins; don't use your word-processor's justification or kerning features.
3. Don't use automatic hyphenation and don't manually hyphenate words at the ends of lines. Put hyphens in the text only where you intend them to be kept (e.g., ten-mile hike).
4. Use a regular hyphen for both hyphens and en dashes. To indicate an em dash, use two consecutive hyphens, no space. Do not use formatting features that create en or em dashes. Thus,"dash between here--and here"; not "dash between here—and here."
5. Use hard returns only at the ends of paragraphs, headings, list entries, etc.
6. You may use Boldface and Italics. Underline ONLY if your software does NOT have italics. Do not use any other styles. Use italics in place of underlining wherever possible; otherwise, use underlining to indicate italics.
7. Use single or double quotation marks. Do not use what your word-processing program may call "typesetter's," or "smart" quotes: Thus, "quotation"; not 'quotation.' Do not use the accent character as a single quotation mark: Thus, 'quotation'; not 'quotation.'

Quotations:

Performance reviews should avoid quotation of any kind, with the possible exception of dialogue. If you do use quoted material (which should be minimally, if at all), you should document your quote in a parenthetical note after the first citation. For subsequent quotes, supply page numbers in parentheses at the end of the quotation. Position the reference: "here" (23). Or "here" (1.1.11). If the page reference follows an ellipsis, position the period after the in-line citation: Thus, "the end..." (23).

Treat dialogue quoted from one character like prose, but be sure to provide the character's name in your text prior to the quotation. Such a quotation need not be set off from the text unless it runs to more than five lines. On the other hand, dialogue involving two or more characters always should be extracted, no matter how long quotation runs.

Extracted quotations of dialogue from two or more characters should use hanging indents, with each name in small caps, then a colon, a single space, and then dialogue, running prose to the right-hand margin.

HAMLET: I start here.
ROSENCRANTZ (angrily): I start here, too. Anyone else who would be speaking would start from this same place as well. [1.1.1.]

Note that the in-line documentation for extracted quotation is positioned flush-right and is put into square brackets rather than parentheses.