TCG's Teresa Eyring Named USITT 2015 Distinguished Achiever; Set for Cincinnati Conference This Spring

Teresa Eyring, the visionary executive director of Theatre Communications Group, will receive USITT's 2015 Distinguished Achievement Award in Management at USITT 2015 in Cincinnati in March.

Eyring has led TCG, the national service organization for non-profit theatres, since 2007, and continues to expand its network of resident theatres, its publishing efforts, and its promotion of diversity in theatre -- a goal shared by USITT.

USITT, the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, annually gives its Distinguished Achievement Awards to major contributors to the performing arts industry.

Eyring will receive her award at a special session at USITT's 55th Annual Conference & Stage Expo at Cincinnati's Duke Energy Convention Center on Friday, March 20. She'll also participate in a panel of USITT Distinguished Achievement Award Winners in Conversation along with four other backstage celebrities.

Eyring also will help lead a Conference session, Creating the Mosaic: Diversity in Theatre, on Wednesday, March 18. To attend the conference for the early low rate, register by Feb. 5.

Before joining TCG eight years ago, Eyring spent 20 years in leadership positions at the Guthrie Theater and the Children's Theatre Company in Minneapolis and the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, overseeing successful building campaigns at all three.

She has always worked to make theatre and the arts more central in community life. When she left Philadelphia, then-Mayor Ed Rendell gave her a liberty bell statue to honor her accomplishments. And on her last day at the Children's Theatre Company, Mayor R.T. Rybak named March 5, 2007 "Teresa Eyring Day" in Minneapolis.

Under her leadership at TCG, the number of member theatres topped 500 despite a recession, and its publishing efforts have grown well beyond its award-winning magazine, American Theatre. TCG is a key advocate for the arts on many issues, including proposed FCC policy changes to the broadband spectrum and maintaining a strong National Endowment for the Arts. She has also spearheaded TCG's new strategic plan, with an emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion.

USITT, the national non-profit serving the backstage industry, offers year-round training, networking, and promotion of stagecraft. Its annual Conference & Stage Expo gathers 5,000 people and over 250 exhibitors for a celebration and showcase of live entertainment design and technology.

For more information on USITT, visit www.usitt.org.