Mary Shen Barnidge is a freelance theatre critic for Windy City Times (1993-present) and The Chicago Reader (1989-present). She is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association; Poets & Writers, Inc.; and is a friend of the Society of American Fight Directors. Previus to her career as a freelance journalist, she authored two poetry collections—Parties and Poets in Whitewater, Milwaukee, DeKalb, Philadelphia, Okinawa and Chicago (1977, Bloody Mac’s Commandos Press) and Piano Player at The Dionysia (1984, Thompson Hill), in addition to pioneeering the Performance Poetry movement during the 1980s.
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