Appraisals of the art of theatre made by critic Gordon Rogoff over the past four decades have been collected in "Vanishing Acts," a new volume recently published by Yale University Press. The book is the first compilation of Rogoff's writings since 1987's "Theatre Is Not Safe" (Northwestern), one of the more insightful and cogent critical works in recent years. Most of the pieces in "Vanishing Acts" were drawn from The Village Voice, where Rogoff wrote regularly until the late '80s, and American Theatre. Rogoff has won the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism. He is currently a professor of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at the Yale School of Drama and professor emeritus of Brooklyn College and the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

"Vanishing Acts" covers theatre from the '60s to the present. Among the figures considered are directors Anne Bogart, Robert Wilson, Joseph Chaikin and Peter Brook; playwrights Tennessee Williams, Mac Wellman, Heiner Muller, Neil Simon, Arthur Miller, Lee Blessing, Charles Ludlum and Tina Howe; and the actors Campbell Scott, Judi Dench, Dustin Hoffman and Al Pacino.

—By Robert Simonson