TCG Hosts Conversation With Nilo Cruz 12/5

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, and The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space at WNYC and WQXR, announce the second event in the series TCG Playwrights in Conversation: Discussions and Readings. In celebration of TCG's 50th anniversary, four events featuring conversations with TCG authors and featured artists will be presented at The Greene Space, WNYC and WQXR's innovative broadcast studio and performance venue.

On Monday, December 5 at 7pm, the series continues with An Evening with Nilo Cruz. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Anna in the Tropics, Nilo Cruz will read and discuss selections from his work with Janice Paran, an Artistic Associate of The Sundance Institute Theatre Program. The evening will also feature actress Daphne Rubin-Vega, Tony Award nominee for Anna in the Tropics and Rent. A scene from Repertorio Español's current production of Cruz's El Color del Deseo (The Color of Desire) featuring actors Hannia Guillén and Ed Trucco will also be presented. The evening will conclude with Cruz signing copies of his work. The event will be available online as a live video webcast at http://www.tcg.org/fifty/playwrights.cfm and at www.thegreenespace.org.

"TCG is dedicated to raising public awareness of important voices in theatre, and TCG Playwrights in Conversation gives us the opportunity to hear directly from the playwrights themselves. Our collaboration with The Greene Space allows us to share this conversation with a wider audience," said Teresa Eyring, executive director of TCG. "Nilo Cruz's lyrical, poignant writing is rooted in the specifics of the Cuban-American experience while sounding universal truths of home, love and longing. Reading from four plays, this event will journey through his body of work, focusing on the theme of escape."

"The Greene Space was built on the ethos of a kind of hothouse for artists and thinkers to cultivate new ways to tell stories - stories that reflect the exquisite diversity of New York City and to reach audiences across the globe with our live video webcasts," said Indira Etwaroo, Executive Producer, The Greene Space. "We are delighted to celebrate TCG's 50th Anniversary with them by presenting this dynamic and exciting conversation series."

For more information, videos of past events and to purchase tickets for An Evening With Nilo Cruz on Monday, December 5, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at The Greene Space (44 Charlton Street, New York, NY 10014), visit: http://www.tcg.org/fifty/playwrights.cfm. Tickets are $15. The price of admission includes a complimentary copy of The Color of Desire/Hurricane published by TCG Books.

For a video archive of the TCG Playwrights in Conversation series, visit: http://www.tcg.org/fifty/playwrights_streaming.cfm.

Nilo Cruz is a Cuban-American playwright whose work has been produced widely throughout the United States and Europe. His work has been seen at McCarter Theatre Center, New York Shakespeare Festival's Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Arena Stage, Victory Gardens Theater, Repertorio Español, South Coast Repertory, Arena Stage, Mark Taper Forum, ALLIANCE THEATRE, New York Theatre Workshop, Magic Theatre, Children's Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Florida Stage and many others. Internationally, his plays have been produced in Canada, England, France, Australia, Germany, Belarus, Costa Rica, Colombia, Panama and in cities throughout Spain. In 2003, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize and the Steinberg Award for his play Anna in the Tropics, and was nominated for a Tony Award. In 2009, he was awarded the Helen Merrill Award and the Laura Pels Mid-Career Playwriting Award, as well as the Fontanals-Cisneros USA Fellowship in Literature. Mr. Cruz is an alumnus of New Dramatists and has taught playwriting at Brown University, Yale University, NYU and University of Iowa. Other works include Beauty of the Father, Two Sisters and a Piano, Lorca in a Green Dress, Night Train to Bolina, A Bicycle Country, Dancing on Her Knees, Hurricane and The Color of Desire.

In addition to its radio and online programming, WNYC and WQXR engage audiences in person at The Jerome L. Greene Performance Space, the station's street-level, state-of-the-art broadcast studio and performance venue. The Greene Space is host to an exciting and wide ranging line-up, including live broadcasts and tapings of WNYC programs, concerts and festivals from WQXR, audio theater, literary readings, art exhibits, political debates, symposia, and town hall meetings. For more information and a schedule, please visit www.thegreenespace.org.

For 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to nearly 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 13,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the US Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theatre community. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 11 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning AMERICAN THEATRE magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. For more information, visit www.tcg.org.