Jay Handelman

Department: Entertainment

Phone: (941) 361-4931

Email: jay.handelman@heraldtribune.com

Beat/Position: Theater and television critic

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Jay Handelman is the theater and television critic and arts writer for the Sarasota Herald-Tribune. He reviews most of the professional and amateur theaters in Southwest Florida and covers the business of arts in the Sarasota area.

He joined the Herald-Tribune in November 1984 as Assistant City Editor, working on local news stories, editing and assigning. He was hired as theater critic when the paper established a full-time position in March 1986. He added television to his beat in December 1994, and was TV Editor from 2000 through 2006.

Before joining the Herald-Tribune, he spent nearly five years as a reporter and editor for United Press International’s local news bureau in Washington, D.C., including one year as D.C. NewsCenter Editor.

He is the chairman of the American Theatre Critics Association, the national organization of professional theater critics, and serves on the board of the Foundation of the American Theatre Critics Association. He also is a member of the Television Critics Association.

He has served as a faculty member at the National Critics Institute in Waterford, Conn., and was the American representative to the International Young Critics Seminar in Rotterdam in 1990. In 1996, he was an American delegate to the International Association of Theatre Critics World Congress in Helsinki, Finland. In 2012, he will be an American delegate to the IATC World Congress in Warsaw, Poland.

He graduated from the American University in Washington, D.C., with a bachelor’s degree in communication. He was raised in River Edge, N.J.

Related Articles - Jay Handelman

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  Tommy Tune stops at Asolo in Sarasota

  Published June 17, 2013
  The Tony Award-winning actor stopped by for the final performance of "Noah Racey's Pulse" at Asolo Repertory Theatre, where the song and dance show had its world premiere run.
  
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  Review: Harris shines at Tony Awards

  Published June 10, 2013
  Theater critic Jay Handelman says Neil Patrick Harris deserves a special Tony Award for making the annual awards ceremony so special.
  
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  'Big Bang Theory' actress visits Sarasota

  Published June 4, 2013
  Mayim Bialik says she's a lot more like her science-loving, socially awkward character Amy Farrah Fowler than most people think.
  
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  'Lucky 6' team gets first look at trailer

  Published May 31, 2013
  Ringling and FSU/Asolo Conservatory cast and crew get to view the movie they have been filming in and around Sarasota for the past few weeks.
  
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  Sarasota's Kevin Biegel gets new Fox TV show

  Published May 13, 2013
  Riverview High grad and co-creator of "Cougar Town" will debut "Enlisted" in the fall.
  
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  NBC makes makes major changes for fall season

  Published May 13, 2013
  Michael J. Fox returns, playing a popular TV anchor who puts his career on hold when he learns he has Parkinson's disease.
  
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  Sarasota arts groups face lower state support

  Published May 2, 2013
  County's organizations see $45,000 cut in state funding.
  

• FSU/Asolo Conservatory students seek new stages

  Published April 29, 2013
  The 12 acting students are ready to pursue their careers.
  
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  Review: 'Side Show' twins have heart

  Published April 26, 2013
  Stars of the Players Theatre musical shine bright enough to compensate for some shortcomings elsewhere
  
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  'All My Children' tribute coming to Sarasota

  Published April 24, 2013
  "Tribute to Pine Valley" coincides with the online-only resurrection of the long-running soap opera.
  
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  Review: It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues

  Published April 13, 2013
  No one really wanted it to end. After the final song and the performers had taken their bows at Friday's opening of Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe's production of "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues," the band kept playing and the audience stayed put.
  
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  NEW: Sarasota Film Fest's best are lauded

  Published April 13, 2013
  Canadian filmmaker Xavier Dolan took the top narrative feature prize at the 2013 Sarasota Film Festival for his third film "Laurence Anyways" about the the relationship between a man and his girlfriend after he decides to live his life as a...
  
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  Festival honors actors, filmmaker at luncheon

  Published April 12, 2013
  Winners include actors Mariel Hemingway, Lili Taylor, Griffin Dunne, Mickey Sumner and Suzanne Clemente and filmmaker Barbara Kopple.
  
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  Cheryl Hines steps up to challenges

  Published April 11, 2013
  Actress Cheryl Hines never looks for the easy way out in the roles she takes on. Maybe it's the training and work she did with the Los Angeles improv troupe The Groundlings, which gave birth to Pee-wee Herman and dozens of future TV and film stars.
  
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  SFF: Carlos Puga ventures into fiction with 'Burma'

  Published April 8, 2013
  After eight years directing MTV's "True Life," Puga's fictional offering is one of the spotlight films at the 2013 Sarasota Film Festival.
  

More Jay Handelman articles from our archives