By Brian Laubscher
July 23, 2026

Stephanie Sandberg, associate professor of theater at Washington and Lee University, recently served as co-editor for a special section of the June 2026 edition of Critical Stages, a peer-reviewed theater journal published by the International Association of Theatre Critics (IATC).

Sandberg and her co-editor, Nelson Barre from Roanoke College, introduced four essays about modern theater with a distinct progression through contemporary theater scholarship. Read together, Sandberg and Barre contend that the four essays suggest today's theater is less about a single author telling a story and more about how weaving together different elements, even in fragmented form, gives audiences a genuine path toward meaning in a technologically saturated and fragmented modern existence.

The first essay, "Towards a Meta-Technological Ecocritical Dramaturgy," focuses on automata, a show that critiques our technology-dependent future ironically, using the same digital devices it criticizes as part of the performance. The article contends that mixing these elements with human actors creates a contrast that sharpens the critique's impact on audiences.

The second essay, "Beckettian Dramaturgy and the Translation of Fragmentary Greek Tragedies," theorizes that fragmentation is a viable approach rather than trying to fill in the gaps to complete a story. It suggests that leaving the gaps open allows the audience to imagine the missing pieces themselves.

The third essay, "Technological Weavings" looks at "The Good, The God and the Guillotine," a multimedia adaptation of Albert Camus' "The Stranger." Instead of smoothly blending art forms together, the creators build in a deliberate messiness that gives the show a powerful and unsettling effect, transporting the audience into the same alienated state of mind as the novel's themes.

The fourth essay, "Digital Dramaturgy as Composite-Body Making," contends that when stage shows use technology to bring characters to life, the real skill is in how seamlessly they blend the actors, machines and images together. This blending can directly affect how much the audience believes and cares about the characters, and it should be seen as a real creative art form and not just a technical trick.

Sandberg joined the W&L faculty in 2016 after 19 years at Calvin College. She is a founding member of the New Views Theatre Company and is the creator of the documentary "Intimate Violence." Her scholarship and practice span contemporary American drama and global theatrical traditions, examining how performance across cultures interrogates race, history and identity. Sandberg holds a Bachelor of Arts in theater from Westmont College as well as a Master of Arts in dramatic art and a Ph.D. in theater history from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

IATC is a global professional organization, founded in Paris in 1956, that unites theater critics, journalists and academics from national sections worldwide. It organizes biennial congresses, symposia and training seminars for critics, publishes the web journal Critical Stages and awards the Thalia Prize to influential critical voices. Recognized as a UNESCO partner organization, IATC has grown from its European origins into a truly international body, spanning Asia, the Americas, Africa and Oceania.

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