The curtain has come down on Christine Howey’s tenure as Scene’s theater critic, and as the best theater critic in Cleveland, as she retires to move out of state to be closer to her family.

There will be no more raves, no more pans, no more blunt assessments of success and failures, and we will all be worse off.

It’s a well-earned respite after decades of chronicling Northeast Ohio’s stages, shining a light on the directors, writers, actors, production staff and theater crews that go perpetually under-recognized in local outlets despite serving as the backbone for the city’s cultural scene.

“For the many years I’ve written theater reviews for Scene, everyone has been monumentally supportive and I can’t thank them enough,” she said. “As for the theaters and the theater people I’ve written about, please know I love you all—even if a particular critique seemed to indicate otherwise. You have all made my life a total joy and I will miss you.”

Howey was an actor and director at Dobama from 1968 to 1984, and after years in advertising and PR endeavored into criticism. But her time on the stage wasn’t done, as most know: In the early 2010s, she wrote and performed her moving, honest, and quite funny one-woman show Exact Change, about her gender transition at the age of 45, to wide acclaim.

That she dearly loves the art is clear. And it’s why she can both bring a fresh perspective to reviewing a show and be trusted to tell us when something doesn’t quite work.

Cleveland’s a small town with fragile egos, and dinging someone you know by name or run in the same social/professional circles with can lead to tense feelings. But Howey felt like directness was the only recourse.

“I am aware how much a bad review can sting, but I owe it to my readers to be as honest as possible,” she said. “If I don’t indicate where I believe a production falls short, the times when I praise a production (which I do a lot) become less credible and meaningful.”

The pandemic brought some local theater closures, but the scene has always been vibrant and remains so. Howey’s attention to productions large and small for the last 27 years has been a blessing to this paper and the city. (If anyone from the Press Club of Cleveland is reading and wants to finally and deservingly nominate her for the Hall of Fame, that would be great.)

“There are more small theaters in operation now than when I began as a critic. This area is blessed with many professional and amateur theaters—along with talented actors, directors and designers— who turn out high quality productions,” she told me. “I enjoy seeing how theaters grow and prosper. It is enormously difficult to run a theater these days, and I celebrated their successes whenever possible.”

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