Billy McEntee is a Brooklyn-based writer. He is Theater Editor of The Brooklyn Rail, a publication that has been free and independent for 25 years, where Billy commissions essays and Rail Shorts (short scripts from playwrights) while also contributing monthly essays, often on experimental plays with shorter runs that receive less coverage. These responses aim to crack open a play to reveal its dramaturgy, rigor, and intention. As a freelance arts journalist, Billy has contributed to outlets including Time Out New York, The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Interview, Vanity Fair, The Nation, and Hyperallergic. Billy is the winner of the 2024-25 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism, a 2025 Silvers Grant, and the inaugural Helbing Fellowship for the American Theatre Critics Association.
Billy is also a site-specific theatermaker; his plays The Voices in Your Head, staged in 2024 at St. Lydia’s, and Slanted Floors, staged in 2025 and 2026 in his Greenpoint apartment, were both Drama Desk Award nominees for Unique Theatrical Experience. Billy has also taught with The School of The New York Times and the American College Theater Festival. Billy graduated from Boston College and is originally from New Jersey.