Featured Writing
Criticism
Theater Production Reviews (〜500 words)
District Fringe Review: ‘The H Twins’ - DC Theater Arts, 2025
District Fringe Review: ‘Hey Pamela? Yes Pamela?’ - DC Theater Arts, 2025
Capital Fringe Review: ‘Badar Tareen Presents: Why Are You Brown?’ - DC Theater Arts, 2024
Capital Fringe Review: ‘Nasty White Folx…and other filth’ - DC Theater Arts, 2023
See Or Skip: Three Shows We Saw at D.C. Theaters in January - DCist, 2023
See or Skip: Two Shows We Saw at D.C. Theaters in Early November - DCist, 2022
Theater Production Reviews (〜1500 words)
On the Red Pitch, Young Athletes Say Goodbye to Their Gentrifying Neighborhood - Washington City Paper, 2025
With a Woman Protagonist, Cyrano Feels Both Subversive and Traditional - Washington City Paper, 2025
With a Deaf protagonist, ‘A Strange Loop’ finds more resonance and dissonance - DC Theater Arts, 2025
‘A Wrinkle in Time’ encourages you to get lost in space and music - 3Views on Theater, 2025
Jordan E. Cooper Rewrites Salvation in OH HAPPY DAY! - Theatrely, 2024
‘Exception to the Rule’ at Studio Theatre: a fierce dissection of racial uplift - DC Theater Arts, 2024
BULRUSHER Stages the Dangers of Identification - Theatrely, 2023
Politics, Generational Change, and Community in Pearl Cleage’s Something Moving: A Meditation on Maynard - 3Views, 2023, co-written with Mekala Sridhar and Divinia Shorter
In GOOD BONES, James Ijames Carefully Approaches the Ugliness of Displacement - Theatrely, 2023
The Stunning Reconsiderations of FAIRVIEW at the Wilma Theater - Theatrely, 2022
Heroes are Toppled and Reborn in Studio Theatre’s JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN - Theatrely, 2022
A STRANGE LOOP Stages an Endless Spiral of Identity, and the Rupture my Hometown Needs - Theatrely, 2021
Opinions and Cultural Essays
Can queer theater ever be true to queer life? - DC Theater Arts, 2025
Why I Left the Kennedy Center - American Theatre magazine, 2025
‘The Brothers Size’ in NYC continues the exploration of ‘We Are Gathered’ at Arena - DC Theater Arts, 2025
My queer coming of age with Tarell Alvin McCraney - DC Theater Arts, 2025
A theater nerd confronts ‘theater for boys’ - DC Theater Arts, 2025
Signature Theatre’s ‘Soft Power’ and the sucker-punch Asian American musical - DC Theater Arts, 2024
Anonymous Essays: Unnecessary - 3Views on Theater, 2023
Why did the Tonys Reward A STRANGE LOOP This Year, But Not SLAVE PLAY Last Year? - Theatrely, 2022
DRIVE MY CAR is the Definitive Theatre Film of 2021 - Theatrely, 2022
To Celebrate SLAVE PLAY, Honor its Black Predecessors that Haven’t Been on Broadway - Theatrely, 2021
Journalism
Playwright Profiles
Playwright Doug Robinson believes ‘imagination is the only way forward’ - DC Theater Arts, 2025
Choosing to be Asian American, in conversation with David Henry Hwang - 3Views on Theater, 2024
Playwright Dave Harris hopes ‘we can language our way through this’ - DC Theater Arts, 2024
Benjamin Benne on queer love and Christian faith in Mosaic’s ‘In His Hands’ - DC Theater Arts, 2022
Lydia R. Diamond on Arena Stage’s TONI STONE and Contradictions in Black Performance - Theatrely, 2021
Q&A Interviews
How ‘A Strange Loop’ fits into Black theater legacies - NPR, 2022
“I’ve been doggedly avoiding reading any reviews, pans or raves of A Strange Loop but I thought this one was pretty thoughtful and hit on some things that haven’t been said before.” -Michael R. Jackson, Putlizer Prize-winning playwright of A Strange Loop, on Twitter.
Ethan Heard on directing ‘Pacific Overtures’ with an Asian American lens - DC Theater Arts, 2023
Playwright Martyna Majok on finding hope in impossible situations - DC Theater Arts, 2022
How Black Women-Led Outdoor Productions of Shakespeare Took NYC by Storm This Summer - Theatrely, 2022
Theater Artist Features
This Fall, Local Theaters Stage Forgotten Histories for Americans of Color - Washington City Paper, 2025
Eric Ruffin, Tina Fabrique, and Kim Bey on Mosaic’s MARYS SEACOLE and Black Women Care Work - Theatrely, 2022
SLAVE PLAY’s Devin Kawaoka on Bringing an Asian American Perspective - Theatrely, 2022
At the Lincoln Memorial, COME FROM AWAY Commemorates the 20th Anniversary of 9/11 with Triumph and Tears - Theatrely, 2021
Exhibition Features
A Batch of Undelivered WWII Letters Intended for Japanese Soldiers Ended Up in an Oregon Museum Decades Later. Now, Experts Are Returning the Lost Correspondence to Their Families - Smithsonian magazine, 2025
See the Stunning Archival Photographs That Tell the Stories of Everyday Native Life and Communities - Smithsonian magazine, 2025
Discover the Centuries-Old Japanese Matcha Tea Ceremonies That Last for Hours and Require Beautiful Utensils - Smithsonian magazine, 2025
See the Groundbreaking Work of 20th-Century Printmakers Who Formed an Innovative Arts Society in Japan - Smithsonian magazine, 2024
From Candy to Lightbulbs, Felix Gonzalez-Torres Showed Life and Loss Through Everyday Objects - Smithsonian magazine, 2024
Explore James Baldwin Alongside His Friends, His Contemporaries and the Queer Artists Inspired by His Writing - Smithsonian magazine, 2024
Editing and Other Writing
3Views on Theater Guest Curating
In February of 2024, Pugh guest curated an issue of 3Views on Theater, covering Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company’s world premiere production of The Sensational Sea Mink-ettes.
As the site’s inaugural guest curator, Pugh selected the show, hired three contributing writers, edited the writers’ articles, and wrote an editor’s note.
Find all articles published as part of this issue below:
D.C. as a Home for Artists and Writers: An Editor’s Note - Nathan Pugh
Editor’s Note: Introducing Guest Curators - 3Views Team
She Ain’t No Diva: “Class, Bougie, Ratchet” & Exhausted - Tariq O’Meally
The Duality of Homecoming Dreams and Dread - Kayla Randall
Sippin’ on Sea Mink-ettes - Sidney Williams
Institutional Storytelling
As a freelance writer for Actors’ Equity Association, Pugh has interviewed Equity members and theatre leaders for Equity News magazine.
Theatre Spotlight: Studio Tenn - Profile of Tennessee theatre company
As a copywriter/coordinator for the Kennedy Center, Pugh has interviewed leadings artists of the performing arts for the CENTER’s bimonthly magazine.
Silver Dreams: Classical music plays a leading role in Hollywood history - Preview of the National Symphony Orchestra’s Notes & Frames festival, featuring interviews with film music journalist Tim Greiving, Oscar-winning filmmaker/composer Kris Bowers, and more. May–June 2025 Issue.
EARTH to SPACE: This spring, artists and scientists look up to discover new possibilities - Preview of the international festival EARTH to SPACE: Arts Breaking the Sky. Mar.–Apr. 2025 Issue.
Where ballet, theater, and literature meet - Interview with American Ballet Theatre’s Helen Pickett and James Bonas. Jan.–Feb. 2025 Issue
No script, no rehearsal, no problem! - Interview with Improvised Shakespeare Co.’s Blaine Swen. Nov.–Dec. 2024 Issue.
Designing the Future - Interview with Back to the Future: The Musical designers Chris Fisher and Finn Ross. July–Aug. 2024 Issue.
Fun in the sun - Program director Thérèse LaGamma previews the lineup of free Millennium Stage summer events. May–June. 2024 Issue.
Just joking around - Produced and edited conversations between Director of Comedy Programming Kate Villa and comedians Karen Chee and Eugene Mirman. Mar.–Apr. 2024 Issue.
A conversation with Malavika Sarrukai - Nov.–Dec. 2023 Issue.
Personal Essays
Tender Soil, Quiet Graves: “Minari” and the Growing Canon of Asian American Requiems - The Wesleyan Argus, 2021
To the Top of the World: How “The Chicks” Helped Me Grieve and Define Home - The Wesleyan Argus, 2020