20-773: Manhattan Theatre Club ( MTC ) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres . Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Director Chris Jennings, along with Executive Producer Emeritus Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1972 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country's most acclaimed theatre organizations. MTC's many awards include 28 Tony Awards , seven Pulitzer Prizes , 49 Obie Awards and 50 Drama Desk Awards , as well as numerous Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle and Theatre World Awards . MTC has won
40-674: A 299-seat theatre with fixed seating (Stage I) and a 150-seat studio theatre with variable seating configurations (Stage II). The MTC added a venue for Broadway productions when it purchased the Biltmore Theatre in 2001; the theatre was renamed the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on September 4, 2008, in honor of Broadway publicist Samuel Friedman. After the 2001 purchase, the MTC commenced renovations, re-opening in October 2003. With 650 seats
60-669: A 300-seat Stage I and a 150-seat Stage II. MTC productions have earned 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 28 Tony Awards, 50 Drama Desk Awards, and 49 Obie Awards, amongst many other honors. Barry Grove, who retired in 2023 as MTC’s Executive Producer after 48 years was replaced that summer by Executive Director Chris Jennings. Writers who have had an artistic home at MTC and returned throughout their careers include David Auburn ( Proof ; The Columnist ; Summer, 1976 ); lan Ayckbourn ( Woman in Mind , Absent Friends , A Small Family Business , House/Garden , Absurd Person Singular ); Charles Busch ( The Tale of
80-982: A Play ; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune ; The Lisbon Traviata ; Lips Together , Teeth Apart ; Love! Valour! Compassion! ); John Patrick Shanley ( Doubt , Women of Manhattan , Italian American Reconciliation , Defiance , Outside Mullingar ); Richard Wesley ( The Sirens , The Past is the Past , The Talented Tenth ), and Charlayne Woodard ( Pretty Fire , Neat , In Real Life ). Some who have who have made their MTC debuts in recent seasons include Bekah Brunstetter ( The Cake ), Sarah Jones ( Sell/ Buy/Date ), Matthew Lopez ( The Whipping Man ), Martyna Majok ( Cost of Living ), Dominique Morisseau ( Skeleton Crew ), Qui Nguyen ( Vietgone ), Amanda Peet ( The Commons of Pensacola ), and Ruben Santiago-Hudson ( Lackawanna Blues ). MTC’s Artistic Development program offers dramaturgical support, readings, and workshops, as well as
100-634: A wide range of commissions, which provide artists with the resources to create new work. Just a few of the MTC commissions that have bowed in recent years include Prayer for the French Republic by Joshua Harmon (Playwright) , Choir Boy by Tarell Alvin McCraney , and Heisenberg and Morning Sun by Simon Stephens . MTC has also produced plays by some of America’s most heralded writers, such as Lillian Hellman ( The Little Foxes ) and world premieres by John Guare ( Gardenia ), Elaine May ( After
120-524: Is East by Ayub Khan-Din; The Children by Lucy Kirkwood ; the world premiere of A Kind of Alaska by Harold Pinter ; Ashes by David Rudkin; The Ruins of Civilization and Linda by Penelope Skinner ; The Memory of Water and An Experiment with an 'Air Pump by Shelagh Stephenson ; Three Birds Alighting on a Field by Timberlake Wertenbaker ; and The Father and The Height of the Storm by Florian Zeller . MTC's Education program, founded in 1989,
140-623: Is an Honorary Warwick University Graduate. As an actor, he has worked with directors such as Tina Landau of the Steppenwolf Theatre Company, Chicago, Illinois, David Cromer , and B. J. Jones, artistic director of the Northlight Theatre (where McCraney co-starred in the Chicago premiere of Joe Penhall 's Blue/Orange ), and developed a working relationship with Peter Brook and Marie-Hélène Estienne of
160-882: The Bouffes du Nord , Paris. He is a member of the D Projects Theater Company in Miami. From 2008 to 2010, he was the RSC/ Warwick International Playwright in Residence at the Royal Shakespeare Company . In April 2010, McCraney became the 43rd member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. In July 2017, he became the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama . McCraney is gay. In
180-566: The Guthrie Theater ), Thomas Fichandler, general manager of Arena Stage , and Morris Kaplan, an attorney. Peter Zeisler was appointed the first president, with Thomas Finchandler as vice president and William Bushnell, manager of Baltimore's Center Stage , as secretary. There were 26 member theaters at the organization's founding. Until then resident theater troupes negotiated individual contracts with Equity ; most of them used modifications of commercial theater contracts. In some instances
200-670: The Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Achievement, a Drama Desk for Outstanding Excellence, and a Theatre World for Outstanding Achievement. MTC produces Broadway and Off-Broadway plays and musicals. Under the Artistic Direction of Lynne Meadow since 1972, Manhattan Theatre Club is a not-for-profit theatre that produces shows in multiple venues: the 650- seat Samuel J. Friedman Theatre—formerly Biltmore Theatre—which they restored and reopened in 2003, and at New York City Center off-Broadway, where they created
220-643: The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society , and United Scenic Artists . LORT was formed by the largest of regional theatres to combat unions. Membership is restricted to US theatres considered as "non-profit" by the Internal Revenue Service The League of Resident Theatres was formally established on 18 March 1966 by Peter Zeisler, managing director of the Minnesota Theatre Company (a.k.a.
SECTION 10
#1732772274434240-582: The 2016 film Moonlight , based on his own play, for which he received an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay . He also wrote the screenplay for the 2019 film High Flying Bird and 2019 television series David Makes Man . McCraney was born in Liberty City , Florida. He attended the New World School of the Arts (NWSA) in Miami, Florida. While attending NWSA, he also applied to and
260-637: The Allergist’s Wife , Our Leading Lady ); Harvey Fierstein ( Casa Valentina , Bella Bella ); Richard Greenberg ( Eastern Standard , The American Plan , Three Days of Rain , The Assembled Parties ); Beth Henley ( Crimes of the Heart , The Miss Firecracker Contest , The Lucky Spot ); David Lindsay-Abaire ( Fuddy Meers , Kimberly Akimbo , Rabbit Hole , Good People ); Donald Margulies ( The Loman Family Picnic , Sight Unseen , Collected Stories , Time Stands Still ); Terrence McNally ( It’s Only
280-500: The Friedman has about two-thirds of the capacity of the old Biltmore Theatre. League of Resident Theatres The League of Resident Theatres ( LORT ) is a collective bargaining association with over 70 non-profit theatre members in the U.S. LORT members. LORT serves as a way for member resident theaters, also called regional theaters , to bargain collectively on behalf of theater management with Actors' Equity Association ,
300-728: The Night and the Music ), Arthur Miller ( The Last Yankee ), Marsha Norman ( Last Dance ), Lynn Nottage ( Ruined ), and Sam Shepard ( Eyes for Consuela ). Since their 1978 production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ moved to Broadway, MTC has given many modern American classics their Broadway debuts, including How I Learned to Drive by Paula Vogel , Jitney by August Wilson (also The Piano Lesson , Seven Guitars , and King Hedley II ), Fool for Love by Sam Shepard, Venus in Fur by David Ives, and Wit by Margaret Edson. The company has shepherded to
320-532: The stage musicals such as Stephen Sondheim ’s Putting It Together , Andrew Lippa ’s The Wild Party , Alfred Uhry ’s LoveMusik , and Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash’s Murder Ballad . MTC also has a long history of bringing the work of international writers to American audiences, including world premieres by Alan Ayckbourn; Translations and Aristocrats by Brian Friel ; Valley Song , The Captain’s Tiger , and many others by Athol Fugard ; Ink by James Graham ; The Philanthropist by Christopher Hampton ; East
340-591: The summer of 2006, McCraney, Catherine Filloux and Joe Sutton wrote The Breach , a play on Katrina, the Gulf, and American society, commissioned by Southern Rep in New Orleans, where it premiered in August 2007 to mark the second anniversary of the tragedy in New Orleans. The Breach also played at Seattle Rep in the winter of 2007. On September 25, 2017, Walt Disney Studios acquired McCraney's screenplay "Cyrano
360-528: The theaters operated under the terms of Equity's new stock contract, however, resident theater managers have long felt burdened by what they call Equity's "one production" type of contract used on Broadway. Tarell Alvin McCraney Tarell Alvin McCraney (born October 17, 1980) is an American playwright. He is the chair of playwriting at the Yale School of Drama and a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre Ensemble. He co-wrote
380-582: Was awarded an honorable mention by the National YoungArts Foundation (1999, Theater). As a teenager, he was a member of an improv troupe directed by Teo Castellanos . He matriculated into The Theatre School at DePaul University and received his BFA in acting. In May 2007 he graduated from Yale School of Drama 's playwriting program, receiving the Cole Porter Playwriting Award upon graduation. He also
400-519: Was the first education department created by a major theatre company and runs multiple programs annually that use playwrighting and live theatre to serve learners of all ages. At its founding, the Manhattan Theatre Club staged off-off-Broadway productions at Stage 73, located at 321 East 73rd Street . In 1984, MTC moved to its ongoing Off-Broadway productions to New York City Center 's lower level. Its performance space comprises
#433566