Her Story
5th Row Center: Your Best Seat in the House
Roma spends many evenings in a critic’s seat. Next time you’re at a show, glance over at 5th Row Center. That might be her! Her knowledge of the stage helps you decide what deserves your time and ticket money—and through live conversations, you can ask questions and join in.
- Roma’s Reviews — The 5th Row Center team pairs Roma’s analysis with clips from the show. Watch them on the full show 5th Row Center, on YouTube, and in clips on social media.
- Celebrity interviews — Roma asks theater artists what’s on their minds beyond the role they’re playing. Sometimes it’s a cause they care about. Sometimes it’s a story they’ve been waiting to tell.
- Theater makers — Roma challenges directors, designers, and backstage artists to share the thinking behind their choices. Their stories help paint the full picture of what audiences see onstage.
- BROADWAY unScripted — The centerpiece of 5th Row Center is a live conversation led by Roma about questions that matter to the people who make theater and the people who go. Roma brings artists, producers, playwrights, and journalists together to talk it through. And if you have a question of your own, you can call in and ask it yourself. A shorter version of the live conversation is edited into the television broadcast.
Context makes the difference
Here, Roma is in her element. Her interviewing skills, knowledge of theater, and journalist’s curiosity put the work in context: the history, the creative choices, and what it means to you.
BROADWAY unScripted: Examples from Season One
1st Draft to Final Curtain
Producers Rose Caiola and Lamar Richardson join Roma to discuss developing theater and bringing it to production, including the challenges facing Broadway.
Watch Rose and Lamar’s conversation ↗Women Over 50: Where Are Their Stories?
Playwrights Jacquelyn Reingold and Cheryl L. Davis of Honor Roll! discuss opportunities for women playwrights over 50 and whose stories reach the stage.
Watch the Honor Roll! conversation ↗
Reviews
New York Stage Review
Roma is a theater critic for New York Stage Review, where she writes long-form reviews of Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.
In four decades of covering theater, Roma has produced more than 4,000 reviews.
5th Row Center
Watch Roma’s Reviews and Theater News segments from the 5th Row Center television series.
Schmigadoon!
The Lost Boys
The Outsiders
Ragtime
Operation Mincemeat
More Roma’s Reviews at 5thRowCenter.com ↗
Theater News
How Do You Choose What to See This Fall?
Max Garfin · Season 2
Max Garfin Takes Over the Theater News Beat
Max Garfin · Season 2 debut
Roma’s August 25 Theater Report
Roma Torre · Season 1
Awards & Honors
In 2026, 5th Row Center received a Telly Award for Television Series Interview and Talk Show, adding to Roma’s honors in news and the arts. Roma’s three Emmy honors span her work in news and theater. She received Emmy Awards for her coverage of the Avianca plane crash in 1991 and for her theater criticism in 2019. Also in 2019, the New York Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences inducted her into its Silver Circle. Together, these distinctions reflect the range of a career that has earned more than 30 broadcasting awards.
Among her other honors is the Newswomen’s Club of New York’s 2003 Peggy Award for Broadcasting, awarded for her review of Big River. In 1993, New York magazine’s “Best Of” edition recognized Roma among the best news anchors in New York.
A Life in Broadcasting
Roma began her television career as a news writer and producer at WCBS-TV, CBS’s flagship station in New York. She was among the early reporters hired at News 12 Long Island, where she reported, anchored, hosted a weekly news program, and began reviewing stage and film productions in 1987. Her reviews also appeared in Total TV.
In 1992, she joined NY1 at its founding and went on to spend 28 years as a news anchor and chief theater critic. Her work included News All Day, the political and public affairs program Inside City Hall, and contributions to NY1 On Stage. She covered the city’s daily life and defining events, from elections and public affairs to major celebrations, while maintaining a sustained commitment to theater criticism.
Privilege: Bringing Marie Torre’s Story to the Stage
Roma was just eight months old when her mother, legendary journalist Marie Torre, spent ten days in jail for refusing to reveal a confidential source in a dispute involving CBS and Judy Garland.
Roma is co-writing Privilege, a stage play about her mother’s extraordinary life, with Adam Friedman.
A syndicated columnist and amusements editor for the New York Herald Tribune, Marie’s story brings together the public responsibilities of journalism and the deeply personal consequences of standing by a principle.
Read the original newspaper page
A mother’s legacy
In Privilege, Roma brings a daughter’s perspective to the story of a journalist whose commitment to protecting a source carried a deeply personal cost.
Bringing the story to the stage
At a reading of Privilege, Roma shares the stage with images from her mother’s life—including a photograph of Marie holding her as a baby.
Beyond the Newsroom
Born in New York and raised in Pittsburgh, Roma first imagined a life as an actress. She graduated from Tufts University and, while in Boston, founded a theater company with fellow student Ed Lopez. The company lasted three years; their partnership continued. They married in 1991 and have two children. Before moving into television journalism, Roma performed in soap operas and Off-Broadway productions, experience that continues to inform the way she sees and writes about performance.
Her work beyond the newsroom includes co-producing Shout Gladi Gladi, the documentary narrated by Meryl Streep about efforts to improve the lives of women and children in Africa. A colon cancer survivor, Roma has spoken extensively about early screening, awareness, and prevention. She has also served on the board of the National Association of Women Artists, founded in 1889 to support and showcase women in the visual arts.
Across broadcasting, criticism, playwriting, and public conversation, Roma’s work reflects a continuing belief in the value of listening closely, asking meaningful questions, and sharing stories that deserve to be heard. She brings that spirit to her collaboration with series creator and executive producer Karin C. Garfin on Broadway Broadcasting’s 5th Row Center.
Select Projects
Roma considers occasional hosting, moderating, and special projects as her schedule allows.
Project inquiries