Brian Eugenio Herrera, assistant professor in the Lewis Center for the Arts’ Program in Theater at Princeton University, has received the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for his book, Latin Numbers: Playing Latino in Twentieth-Century U.S. Popular Performance, which examines Latino representation and Latino artists in American theater and culture. The Nathan Committee took particular note of the analysis of the success and impact of the 1957 musical West Side Story.

The Nathan Award, administered by Cornell University’s Department of English, has been given annually since 1959 for “the best piece of drama criticism during the theatrical year.” Named for theater critic George Jean Nathan, the award realizes his “object and desire to encourage and assist in developing the art of drama criticism and the stimulation of intelligent playgoing.” Awardees are selected by a majority vote of the heads of the English departments of Cornell, Princeton, and Yale universities. The award carries a $10,000 prize and is considered one of the most generous and distinguished in the American theater.

“I still can’t imagine my name among that august list of Nathan honorees,” said Mr. Herrera. “It’s humbling, really. But I am just so unapologetically proud that this year’s Nathan award recognizes a Latino writer writing about the long history of Latina/o performance in this country.”

Mr. Herrera joined the Princeton faculty in 2012. His work examines the formation of gender, sexual, and racial identities in and through U.S. popular performance and has been published in many journals, including Theatre Journal, Modern Drama, The Journal of Dramatic Theory and Criticism, and TDR: The Drama Review. His scholarly work has also been recognized by the Ford Foundation, the Smithsonian Institute, and the John Randolph & Dora Haynes Foundation. He is currently at work on two other book projects: Starring Miss Virginia Calhoun and Casting: A History.
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