Richard Christensen is a member of the Carleton Class of 1953, and the Emeritus Chief Critic of the Chicago Tribune. He is a nationally significant force in regional theater.
In more than 40 years of writing theater criticism, Richard Christiansen ’53 witnessed some remarkable moments on the Chicago stage: the debut of playwright David Mamet’s first full-length play, William Petersen’s performance in the drama In the Belly of the Beast, the advent of Steppenwolf Theater, and the formative years of actors John Malkovich, Gary Sinise, Joan Allen, and William H. Macy.
Richard saw the growth and increasing excellence of local theater, and was an intimate contributor to it. He broke boundaries by reviewing not just the major productions downtown, but productions in the suburbs – and he brought audiences with him. Christiansen started with the Chicago Daily News in 1963, staying with that paper until it closed in 1978. Less than a week later, he was on the staff of the Chicago Tribune where he was theater critic until he retired in 2002. He still contributes regularly to the Tribune as well as writing about the Chicago theater scene for the London Guardian. He wrote A Theater of Our Own: A History and Memoir of 1001 Nights in Chicago, published by Northwestern University Press in 2004.