TACT/The Actors Company Theatre Announces Grants for Upcoming Season

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris and Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors) today announced that it has been given a $50,000 matching grant from arts philanthropist Adrienne Arsht to be used to subsidize actors salaries for the upcoming 2012/13 season.

“We are proud to say that when we were a fledgling company scarcely on the radar of New York theatre, Adrienne chaired our first Board of Directors and proved instrumental in the launch of the company,” explained Cynthia Harris, one of TACT’s Co-Artistic Directors. “This significant contribution is a wonderful boost to our efforts and means a great deal to us.”

In addition, TACT is being awarded a $50,000 grant from the Agnes Varis Trust to be used for their 2012/2013 Ticket Access Program, which offers free or discounted tickets to seniors, students, and artists. This generous grant will make it possible for TACT to offer over 1,000 free or discounted tickets over the course of their upcoming season.

“The Ticket Access Program focuses on something about which Dr. Agnes Varis was quite passionate: broad community access to the arts, regardless of financial ability. We at TACT's are honored to be furthering her vision," enthused TACT Co-Artistic Director Scott Alan Evans.

Earlier this week, TACT announced its 2012-2013 season and its 20th Anniversary. On the heels of its first ever Drama Desk nomination, the critically-acclaimed company dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit will offer two very different plays in two very distinct styles: Lovers, a darkly poetic comedy by Brian Friel (September 18 – October 20, 2012), and Anita Loos’ Happy Birthday, a brash American comedy from the golden age of Broadway (March 12 – April 13, 2013). Both productions will take place at The Beckett Theatre (410 West 42nd Street) at Theatre Row.

Lovers and Happy Birthday will both play the following performance schedule: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday at 8:00 p.m., Saturday at 2:00 & 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 2:00 p.m. Tickets are $20 - $59.25 and will be available by visiting www.telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-6200. Tickets will also be available at the Theatre Row box office (410 West 42nd Street (between 9th & 10th Avenues) between 12:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. daily.

To learn about the benefits of TACT membership, please visit www.tactnyc.org or call (212) 645-8228.

TACT/The Actors Company Theatre (Scott Alan Evans, Cynthia Harris, and Jenn Thompson, Co-Artistic Directors) is dedicated to presenting neglected or rarely produced plays of literary merit, with a focus on creating theatre from its essence: the text and the actor's ability to bring it to life.

TACT’s celebrated company of actors was drawn together in 1992 by a love of the literature of the theatre. Since that time, they have grown to become a true ensemble: a group that has developed a common vocabulary and a technique based on their specific artistic vision and collective body of work. TACT company members, whose cumulative experience includes scores of significant roles on and off Broadway, in the country’s finest regional theatres and in many films and television shows, have received Emmy, Obie, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards, in addition to several Tony nominations.

After presenting thirteen seasons of “in-concert” performances, the company took a leap with its 2006-07 season by presenting fully staged productions of David Storey’s Home and The Sea by Edward Bond at The Beckett Theatre on Theatre Row. TACT became a resident company on Theatre Row with its 2007-08 season when they presented critically-acclaimed productions of The Runner Stumbles by Milan Stitt and The Eccentricities of a Nightingale, by Tennessee Williams, which The New York Times included in its “Top 10 Theatre Picks for 2008.” The company’s productions of Alan Ayckbourn’s Bedroom Farce, Arthur Miller’s Incident at Vichy, Sidney Howard’s The Late Christopher Bean and last season’s productions of Children by A.R. Gurney and Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers became instant hits and enjoyed successful runs. Lost in Yonkers also received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Revival.

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