{"id":16747,"date":"2018-02-02T10:30:59","date_gmt":"2018-02-02T16:30:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.robertfeder.com\/?p=16747"},"modified":"2018-02-02T11:22:25","modified_gmt":"2018-02-02T17:22:25","slug":"sun-times-drops-theater-critic-hedy-weiss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/2018\/02\/02\/sun-times-drops-theater-critic-hedy-weiss\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun-Times drops theater critic Hedy Weiss"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a> Hedy Weiss (Photo: Rich Hein\/Sun-Times)<\/p><\/div>\n

Eight months after the Chicago Sun-Times<\/a> ran an editorial<\/a> declaring \u201cWe support our theater critic, Hedy Weiss,\u201d the paper is dropping the curtain on her.<\/p>\n

\"Today is Hedy Weiss\u2019s last day as a Sun-Times employee,\" editor-in-chief Chris Fusco said Friday. \"She's had a remarkable 33-year career covering the theater and arts scene in Chicago, and we wish her well. The Sun-Times is excited about Chicago's burgeoning arts community, and we look forward to rolling out new coverage plans in the future.\"<\/p>\n

Weiss did not respond to a request for comment, but she told friends she was notified weeks ago that her position was being eliminated.\u00a0Weiss had been covering theater and dance for the Sun-Times since 1984 (which actually makes it 34 years).<\/p>\n

Weiss became embroiled in controversy last year when a group called the Chicago Theater Accountability Coalition gathered more than 2,000 signatures on an online petition protesting alleged \u201cracism, homophobia and body shaming found in [Weiss\u2019s] reviews.\u201d The petition asked local theater companies not to invite her to their productions. The complaint was sparked by a review of Steppenwolf Theatre\u2019s \u201cPass Over.\u201d<\/p>\n

In response the Sun-Times came to the defense of Weiss, publishing an editorial<\/a> headlined: \u201cWe stand by our critic and a vital Chicago theater\u00a0scene.\u201d The opening paragraph stated: \u201cLet\u2019s begin by making one point clear: We support our theater critic, Hedy Weiss. She will continue to be a valued critic for the Sun-Times.\u201d<\/p>\n

One month later, new ownership of the Sun-Times under a group led by Edwin Eisendrath took over the paper.<\/p>\n

Since 2002 Weiss also has served as theater and dance critic for \u201cChicago Tonight,\u201d the nightly news magazine on WTTW-Channel 11.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Eight months after the Chicago Sun-Times ran an editorial declaring \u201cWe support our theater critic, Hedy Weiss,\u201d the paper is dropping the curtain on her. \"Today is Hedy Weiss\u2019s last day as a Sun-Times employee,\" editor-in-chief Chris Fusco said Friday. \"She's had a remarkable 33-year career covering the theater and arts scene in Chicago, and... Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16747"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16756,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16747\/revisions\/16756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/robertfeder.dailyherald.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}