A lot has happened over the past four years since I became an editor of Theatre Survey. Civil war in Syria created an ongoing refugee crisis, involving millions of children, women, and men. Terrorist attacks killed scores of people and injured hundreds more in Paris, Brussels, and Boston. The “Age of Obama” entered its final weeks. The killing of African Americans inspired a movement to remind folks that Black Lives Matter. The planet keeps getting warmer. Peyton Manning retired. Somehow, my son Zeke is now seven years old, and his little sister, Cora, is nearly the age that he was when I joined the staff of this journal. Life moves pretty fast.

This issue is my last. My term as Editor is near its end. As I prepare to stop, the journal will continue under the leadership of incoming Editor (and current Associate Editor) Nick Ridout. Over the past few years, Theatre Survey has evolved. In an effort to give the journal a more consistent tone, the core editorial team elected to suspend the practice of inviting guests to edit special sections or entire issues. Interviews with prominent theatre artists became a regular feature. Playwrights David Henry Hwang, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Thomas Bradshaw, and Young Jean Lee joined us in conversation on their artistry as well as the state of the professional theatre. Theatre Survey renewed its commitment to publishing the very best scholarship regardless of the rank or status of the author. As a result, this journal has introduced the field of theatre and performance studies to new, trailblazing critical writing penned by independent scholars and established university professors. Under my editorship, I have strived to demonstrate that diversity and inclusion matter not only onstage but also within an academic journal's table of contents. Without resorting to special issues, Theatre Survey has shown that the everyday practices of theatre making and theatre scholarship involve a wide array of folks with varying complexions, gender identities, physical abilities, and access to institutional resources.

For this send-off issue, I am throwing a party featuring thirty-one brilliant authors whose writings promise to influence the study and, perhaps, the practice of theatre making for years to come. It opens with three full-length articles by Patrick McKelvey, Soyica Diggs Colbert, and Kelly Hanson. McKelvey critically reads a keynote lecture delivered by performance artist Ron Whyte at a 1984 conference on lower-extremity prosthetics. Whyte's observation that “[d]isability itself has its theatrical aspects” is evidenced in the author's skillful reading of the performance artist's use of a “state-resourced cosmetic glove” to comment on societal efforts to mask a disability or deformity under false pretenses, such as an alleged state desire to render potential workers employable. Soyica Diggs Colbert spotlights “black rage” in the music of singer Lauryn Hill, the writings of Audre Lorde, and the dramas of Amiri Baraka and Suzan-Lori Parks. She convincingly contends, “The failure to examine articulations of rage as a clarifying force bolsters the operation of implicit forms of racism.” In spotlighting the rational nature of frustration with and anger at the everydayness of black suffering, the author provides a critical framework that applies equally to enactments occurring on- and offstage. Kelly Hanson centers Tom Stoppard's 2007 play Rock ‘n’ Roll and, more specifically, the music of the Czechoslovakian rock band Plastic People of the Universe. She explores the intermixture of the play's dramatic narrative and the real history evoked by the music featured within it. Hanson notes how “rock music served as the medium that transported the audience across time and space” and urges her reader to “listen back through the performance genealogy Stoppard invokes.”

In addition, this issue includes three special sections. The first consists of essays that I commissioned in celebration of the American Society for Theatre Research's sixtieth anniversary. Ten years ago, Theatre Survey marked ASTR's fiftieth by publishing a history of the society. On this anniversary, the journal looks toward the future. Faedra Carpenter, Kate Duffly, Brian Herrera, Doug Jones, Suk-Young Kim, Ric Knowles, Scott Magelssen, Ana Puga, and Laurence Senelick offer their thoughtful responses to the following questions: What are the issues, concerns, and/or topics that we, as theatre researchers, need to address over the next decade? What would you like us to talk about, debate, consider, publish, or otherwise place a spotlight on?

The second special section comprises essays that capture the spirit of a symposium on theatre and social change that was held at Northwestern University in March 2016. Organized by Dassia Posner, Laura Feldmeyer, and myself, the event brought leading theatre practitioners together to talk about the overlaps as well as the fault lines existing among theatre for social change, pedagogy of the oppressed, and civic engagement initiatives. The conversation, sponsored by Northwestern's Center for Global Culture and Communication, included John Bell, Aaron Carter, Michelle Hensley, Kelly Howe, Jim Lasko, Sonja Kuftinec, and Dani Snyder-Young, among others. These participants reappear here as authors whose essays respond to the following prompt: How can theatre change lives and impact underserved communities? Their essays vary in style: from reflections on their own past practices, to homages to the inspiring work of others, to manifestos on what needs to be done.

Last year, Christopher Balme and Tracy Davis penned an article in which they introduced A Cultural History of Theatre. At the time, they had outlined their ambitions for the six-volume project and invited authors to write chapters for it. In the third special section of this issue, Balme and Davis return with chapters in hand and reflect on what they believe to be the successes and contributions of A Cultural History of Theatre. By publishing both their earlier “prospectus” and their present “desideratum,” my hope is to reveal the process through which history gets written.

In closing, it has been an honor to serve as editor of Theatre Survey. I consider myself lucky to have been mentored in the art of journal editing by Esther Kim Lee and Gina Bloom. Thanks to the eagle-eyed Michael Gnat, I have become a better copy editor. I appreciate the many contributions (and general good will) provided by Theatre Survey's Editorial Board members; my graduate assistants, Christy Simonian Bean and Grace Overbeke; Cambridge University Press editor Holly Buttimore; Cambridge UP production manager Jonathan Geffner; ASTR's Vice President for Publications, Catherine Cole; Assistant Editor Kate Babbitt; and scores of manuscript reviewers. Having had the privilege of working with so many great authors over the past four years, I find myself reenergized by their brilliance and excited to return to my own writing projects. Before switching gears, I will take a short break and catch a Cubs game or two. Life moves pretty fast.