American Theatre Wing

Description

Dedicated to celebrating excellence and supporting education in the theatre, the American Theatre Wing has been an integral and influential part of the theatrical community for the better part of seven decades. Adapting its activities for each successive theatrical generation, ATW focuses today on programs and activities which help students, audiences and members of the theatrical community itself to learn more about what makes theatre tick from the people who make it so vital.


Best known for creating The Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards, now presented with The Broadway League, ATW has developed the best-known national platform for the recognition of theatrical achievement on Broadway. Yet ATW's reach extends beyond Broadway and beyond New York, with educational and media work that offers the very best in theatre to people around the world.

Current Programs Include:

• Working in the Theatre brings together the theatre's top performers, producers, playwrights, directors, choreographers and designers to discuss the rewards and realities of working in the theatre. Over 30 years, more than 850 different guests have been featured in more than 225 revealing and entertaining programs. "Working in the Theatre" is available five times weekly on CUNY-TV and on the American Theatre Wing website; it also provides the basis for a new series of theatre books from Continuum Publishing: Acting, Writing and Producing and the Theatre Business.
  
  
• Downstage Center, a collaboration of the American Theatre Wing and XM Satellite Radio, is a weekly theatre interview show offering in-depth conversation with top theatre artists both on stage and behind the scenes. Now in its fifth year, having produced over 200 interviews, Downstage Center sets a national standard for sustained conversation about theatre.
  
  
• AmericanTheatreWing.org, ATW's website has become the premier site for free online audio and video about the making of theatre -- in the words of people who make theatre. AmericanTheatreWing.org offers free, on-demand access to the ATW archive of the Working in the Theatre and Downstage Center programs, as well as the Guides to Careers in Theatre, making the work of ATW available internationally. More than 500 hours of material is available as both streaming media and downloadable podcast, with new material added weekly. The site has more than 40,000 unique visitors each month and as of July 2008, ATW programs have been downloaded more than 1.5 million times.
  
  
• SpringboardNYC is a two week concentrated pre-professional training course for college students planning careers in the theatre. The curriculum includes a series of workshops, seminars and master classes, placing participants in the center of New York's theatrical community, with access to influential working artists. Students from around the country learn job-seeking skills and urban survival tools to translate their academic training into productive careers. SpringboardNYC alumscan be found successfully working in many areas of theatre such as Director of Training for Blue Man Group; playing Tracy in the National Tour of Hairspray; and in the casting office of Manhattan Theatre Club.
  
  
• The Theatre Intern Group, a networking and professional development group for young people beginning their careers in theatre administration and management. Theatre Intern Group creates social and professional development opportunities for the young people who work in theatrical offices, enabling them to build contacts with their peers immediately upon starting work in the theatrical community. TIG Members are invited to attend monthly panel discussions on the many varied facets of the theatre industry. More than 100 interns participate in the program on an annual basis.
  
  
• The Theatre Company Grants Program provides funding to New York City's institutional theatre companies for their continuing commitment to quality in the theatre. Annually some 50 New York not-for-profit theatres receive general operating grants enabling them to continue their creative endeavors in classical, contemporary and experimental forms. To date, the American Theatre Wing has awarded nearly $3 million in support.
  
  
• The American Theatre Wing is the new home for the Jonathan Larson Grants, begun 12 years ago to recognize and support composers, lyricists and book writers at the beginning of their careers, honoring the memory of Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize recipient Jonathan Larson. Established with the resources of the Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation and gifts from the Larson Family, a restricted endowment at the Wing will sustain these awards in perpetuity.
  
  
• The American Theatre Wing's Henry Hewes Design Awards recognize excellence in scenic, costume and lighting design, as well as noteworthy effects on the Broadway, Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway stages.