Theatre Communications Group to Launch 'Plays for the People: In the Stacks'

Theatre Communications Group is launching Plays for the People: In the Stacks, a program to increase access to dramatic literature for a significant number of individuals by expanding and diversifying drama collections. With funding from the Mellon Foundation, TCG will provide $25,000 total in book credits to universities and theatre/performing arts training programs, public lending libraries, and community centers based in the U.S. (including Tribal Nations and U.S. Territories) to expand their drama collections with titles published by TCG Books. Since its founding in 1984, TCG Books has grown to become North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama on its book list.

“In a report published by the National Endowment for the Arts, the number of adults reading plays increased by nearly 1% to 8.8 million in 2017,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director and CEO, TCG. “The NEA attributed these gains to an uptick in the percentage of readers who are women, Hispanic, African American, and in the 35 -44 year-old age range. Thanks to support from the Mellon Foundation, our In the Stacks program will expand and diversify the collections at a wide-range of public-facing institutions to meet this growing appetite for dramatic literature.”

“In 2018, a School Library Journal diversity survey confirmed that 81% of school librarians felt that it was ‘very important to have a book collection representing different points of view,’” said Erin Salvi and Kathy Sova, co-publishers of TCG Books. “In the Stacks will help ensure that theatre-lovers across the country will find their experiences authentically reflected in the stacks of their local libraries, community centers, and educational institutions.”

The In the Stacks program will provide fifty applicants with a $500 credit each for books published by TCG Books, including shipping costs. The credit can also be applied to the cost of access to the TCG Books Play Collection on Drama Online. The deadline for application is Friday, December 8, 2023, 11:59pm ET. Learn more about the program here: https://www.tcg.org/Web/Our-Work/Grant-and-Professional-Development-Programs/in-the-stacks/overview.aspx 

Since its founding in 1984, TCG Books has grown to become North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama on its book list. The book program commits to the life-long career of its playwrights, keeping all of their plays in print. TCG Books’ authors include: Annie Baker, Nilo Cruz, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Larissa FastHorse, Athol Fugard, Quiara Alegría Hudes, David Henry Hwang, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Young Jean Lee, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, Heidi Schreck, Stephen Sondheim, Sanaz Toossi, Paula Vogel, and August Wilson. TCG Books events are supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. Follow TCG Books on Twitter and Instagram at @BooksTCG.

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is the nation’s largest supporter of the arts and humanities. Since 1969, the Foundation has been guided by its core belief that the humanities and arts are essential to human understanding. The Foundation believes that the arts and humanities are where we express our complex humanity, and that everyone deserves the beauty, transcendence, and freedom that can be found there. Through our grants, we seek to build just communities enriched by meaning and empowered by critical thinking, where ideas and imagination can thrive. Learn more at mellon.org.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG’s constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the biennial TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America’s largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 20 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH®, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of “a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre” can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by executive director and CEO Teresa Eyring. www.tcg.org. 

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