Theatre Communications Group TCG Honors DHH
Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, has announced the 2020 TCG Gala: Our Stories will be held on Monday, February 3, 2020 at The Edison Ballroom (240 W 47th Street). The Gala will honor the National Black Theatre Festival of Winston-Salem and David Henry Hwang and will include festive performances, inspiring speakers, and a celebratory dinner with theatre leaders, celebrities, and enthusiasts. A 6:00pm cocktail reception will be followed by a 7:00pm seated dinner, with entertainment beginning at 7:20pm. Additional programming will be announced soon.
“Every other year, I join tens of thousands of theatre lovers in Winston-Salem, NC for the joyous community and expansive artistry provided by the National Black Theatre Festival,” said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. “We are so excited to bring that joy to New York City, and to honor the impact of the Festival on Black theatre and our broader culture. The Gala is always a great night for theatre, and we look forward to welcoming so many of our friends from the professional not-for-profit and commercial theatre sectors to celebrate our many accomplishments.”
“TCG Books published David Henry Hwang‘s first play FOB in 1980 and we’re still publishing his groundbreaking plays 40 years later,” said Terry Nemeth, publisher, TCG. “So while there are many reasons to honor his work, it’s also a chance to celebrate one of the longest relationships TCG Books has had with a playwright. That relationship speaks to the long-term commitment we make to our authors to publish their body of work and keep their plays in print.”
“NC Black Rep founder Larry Leon Hamlin created something unique and magical with the National Black Theatre Festival (NBTF),” said Jackie Alexander, artistic director, North Carolina Black Repertory Company. “Our biennial celebration and reunion of spirit has cemented Winston-Salem as Black Theatre Holy Ground on a global scale. To be recognized by TCG is both an honor and a testament to the importance and vibrancy of Black Theatre, and for that, NC Black Rep is truly grateful.”
“For almost 40 years, TCG has supported my work, giving me the tools, resources, and encouragement to take greater risks and redefine the American Theatre,” said David Henry Hwang. “I’m touched to be honored by an organization which challenges and inspires us to tell new stories.”
“The mission of the National Black Theatre Festival has been the recognition of the indelible contribution to world culture by personalities and events whose common roots descend from the far-flung African Diaspora,” said André De Shields, Tony Award-winner and inductee into The American Theater Hall of Fame.
“This shared history, both ancient and modern, is commemorated at the biennial gathering of the National Black Theatre Festival as an international celebration and reunion of spirit on Black Theatre holy ground. From the particular individuals who have been martyred in the battle of resistance against the disease of hate, to the universal struggle for the ethical and equitable treatment of all humankind, there is no single institution that better illustrates the profound importance of Black Lives Matter than the National Black Theatre Festival.”
“My experience attending the NBTF for the very first time was beyond anything I could have anticipated and imagined,” said Stephen Byrd, Olivier Award-winning and Tony Award-nominated producer. “The networking, attendees, and the awesome number of quality plays and musicals was impressive and extraordinary.”
To learn more about the 2020 TCG Gala, and the programming it supports, visit TCG.org/Events/Gala or email Gala@tcg.org. To purchase tickets, go to www.TCGgala.org.
BIOGRAPHIES
David Henry Hwang‘s stage works includes the plays M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Kung Fu, Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Elton John & Tim Rice‘s Aida (co-author), Flower Drum Song (2002 revival), and Disney’s Tarzan. Hwang is a Tony Award winner and three-time nominee, a three-time OBIE Award winner, and a two-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.
He is also the most-produced living American opera librettist, whose works have been honored with two Grammy Awards. He co-wrote the Gold Record Solo with the late pop icon Prince and worked for four seasons as a Writer/Consulting Producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series The Affair.
Hwang serves on the Board of the Lark Play Development Center, as Head of Playwriting at Columbia University School of the Arts, and as Chair of the American Theatre Wing. M. Butterfly recently returned to Broadway in a revival directed by Julie Taymor, which marked his eighth Broadway production. East West Players has named its mainstage the David Henry Hwang Theatre and recent honors include his 2018 induction into the Theatre Hall of Fame. Hwang was a Residency One playwright from 2012-14 at New York’s Signature Theatre.
His newest work, Soft Power, a collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, premiered in May 2018 at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles where it won six Ovation Awards, including Best New Production, and enjoyed a successful run in Fall 2019 at The Public Theater.
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