Signature Theatre announced today that John and Amy Griffin have donated $5 million in support of Signature Center, the Company's new, permanent home opening in February 2012. Spanning an entire city block at 42nd Street between Dyer and 10th Avenue, the Frank Gehry-designed Signature Center is the largest non-profit performing arts center to be built in New York City since Lincoln Center opened more than 50 years ago. Featuring three intimate theatres, a Studio Theatre, rehearsal studio, and a public café and bookstore, the Center will be both a theatre community hub and a neighborhood destination, and has been designed to foster interaction among playwrights, artistic collaborators, and the public.
The gift is in honor of
John Griffin's mother, Alice Griffin, 87, a prolific scholar and noted educator who is the author of Shakespeare's Women in Love, among many other books, including one featuring former Signature Playwright-in-Residence
Arthur Miller. In recognition of this gift, one of Signature Center's new theatres-a 199-seat proscenium space with a single balcony modeled after a traditional opera house-will bear Mrs. Griffin's name.
"My mother's passion is the theatre and she has devoted the last sixty years to sharing this love with her students and through her writing about some of the world's great playwrights," noted donor
John Griffin. "Amy and I are very happy to make this gift to
Signature Theatre to support its essential work with playwrights and the exciting opportunities Signature Center offers the greater theatre community."
Signature Theatre is distinguished for its pioneering programs that celebrate the playwright's body of work. Signature Center will enable the 20-year old Company to expand its programming, introduce new initiatives, and build audiences. The Company will present up to nine plays each season at the Center, which will serve as the artistic home for as many as 11 playwrights at any one time, allowing Signature to expand its commitment to playwrights and foster a creative community that brings together audiences and theatre artists.
"On behalf of the playwrights and audiences who will benefit from this gift for generations to come, I'd like to thank John and
Amy Griffin for their extraordinary generosity and vision," noted Signature's Founding Artistic Director
James Houghton. "We are particularly thrilled to be naming this wonderful new theatre in honor of Alice Griffin who has fiercely advocated on behalf of playwrights and the theatre all of her life. We eagerly await dedicating the ‘Alice Griffin Jewel Box Theatre' when Signature Center opens in February, and welcoming the Griffins into the Signature family."
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