TCG Press Release

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact:
Michael Francis
Artistic Programs Associate
212 609-5900 ext. 252

THEATRE COMMUNICATIONS GROUP ANNOUNCES
TCG/ITI TRAVEL GRANTS RECIPIENTS
AND 2006 APPLICATION DEADLINES

New York, February 2006 - Theatre Communications Group (TCG), which serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), is pleased to announce the latest recipients of the TCG/ITI Travel Grants and the 2006 spring and fall application deadlines. 

TCG/ITI Travel Grants, funded by the Trust for Mutual Understanding, are designed to foster cultural exchange and artistic partnerships between theatre professionals in the United States and their counterparts in Russia and Eastern and Central Europe.  These $2,500 grants support travel in either direction between theatre artists, administrators and educators, enabling them to share ideas, gain exposure to each other's cultural traditions and communicate contemporary theatre techniques.  Recipients may be either of the following: U.S. not-for-profit theatre applying on behalf of a theatre professional or, an individual theatre professional who is a U.S. citizen or permanent resident.

Joan Channick, TCG's deputy director and director of the U.S. Center of ITI, remarked,  "This program has sustained a vibrant series of exchanges between American theatre professionals and their colleagues in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe, leading to new international collaborations and, over time, deepening existing cross-cultural relationships.  We are grateful to the Trust for Mutual Understanding for their unwavering support of this important work."

TCG/ITI Travel Grants of $2,500 each have been awarded to the following five individuals and two theatre companies:

Jessica Burr, artistic director, and Matt Opatrny, managing director, of blessed unrest (New York, NY) will travel to Prishtina, Kosovo to further their creative exchange with Teatri Oda. While in Prishtina, Ms. Burr and Mr. Opatrny, along with artists from the blessed unrest and Teatri Oda companies, will hold actor training workshops, roundtable discussions, and share audience development strategies. In addition, the blessed unrest company and a Teatri Oda actor will perform Lying, a play about crossing barriers of understanding.

Stacy Klein, founder and artistic director of Double Edge Theatre (Ashfield, MA), will travel to Poland, Hungary and the Ukraine with co-creator and producing director Carlos Uriona and managing director Matthew Glassman. While abroad, they will conduct research for the creation of Double Edge's original performance, Under the Sign of the Crocodile, based on the drawings, letters, and fiction of Bruno Schulz.

Playwright Stacey Engels and director Donato Lemmo (New York, NY) will travel to Slovenia to research and develop a play based on the work of Slovenian painter Joze Tisnikar (working title: The Tisnikar Project). Mr. Lemmo has also been invited to lead a workshop hosted by Slovenian theatre artist Tomi Janezic.

Playwright Madelyn Kent (Brooklyn, NY) will travel to Belgrade to complete her adaptation of Friedrich Durrenmatt's The Visit. Ms. Kent will work closely with an artistic team including Belgrade-based theatre director and translator Stefan Sablic and choreographer Boris Chaksiran.

Director Irina Niculescu (Ann Arbor, MI) has been invited by Theatre Colibri, and the National Theatre of Craiova in Romania, to direct a play for youth and young adults. Ms. Niculescu will produce an adaptation of Carlo Gozzi's Green Bird. The production will feature the work of American composer John Lewandowski and a cast of actors and puppeteers.

The Sundance Institute Theatre Program will host Russian theatre director and producer Eduard Boyakov at the 2006 Sundance Theatre Lab (Sundance, UT). Mr. Boyakov will participate actively in Sundance's new play development methods with the goal of bringing the lab model back to his new playwrights' theatre in Moscow.

Tom Sellar, editor of Yale Repertory Theatre's (New Haven, CT) Theater magazine and assistant professor of dramaturgy and dramatic criticism at the Yale School of Drama, will travel to Budapest for editorial research for a forthcoming section on contemporary theatre in Hungary that will appear in Theater magazine in early 2007.

The postmark deadline for the spring 2006 round of the TCG/ITI Travel Grants is April 28, 2006, with travel for projects starting no earlier than July 1, 2006 and completed by January 31, 2007.  The fall 2006 deadline is October 27, 2006, with travel for projects beginning no earlier than January 23, 2007, and all travel must be completed by July 31, 2007.  

The application and guidelines are available on TCG's website at www.tcg.org. For further information contact Michael Francis, Artistic Programs Associate, 212.609.5900 x 252 or mfrancis@tcg.org.

A national independent selection panel comprised of theatre professionals reviewed applications for this round of the TCG/ITI Travel Grants.  The selection panelists were Vincent Anthony, Barbara and Bill Wylly Executive Director, Center for Puppetry Arts (Atlanta, GA); J.Paul Preseault, Artistic Director and President, The Tribes Project (Burlington, VT); Travis Preston, Artistic Director, Center for New Theater at CalArts (Valencia, CA); Nancy Rhodes, Artistic Director, Encompass New Opera Theatre (Brooklyn, NY); and Janet Stanford, Artistic Director, Imagination Stage (Bethesda, MD).

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The Trust for Mutual Understanding was established in 1984 by an anonymous American philanthropist as a private, grant-making organization dedicated to promoting improved communication, closer cooperation and greater respect between the people of the United States, the Soviet Union and other countries in Eastern and Central Europe.  The Trust makes grants to American nonprofit organizations conducting international cultural and environmental exchanges in partnership with institutions in Russia and Eastern and Central Europe.  For more information on the Trust for Mutual Understanding please visit their website at www.tmuny.org.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, offers a wide array of services in line with its mission: to strengthen, nurture and promote the professional not-for-profit American theatre.  Artistic programs support theatres and theatre artists by awarding $2.7 million in grants annually, and offer career development programs for artists. Management programs provide professional development opportunities for theatre leaders through workshops, conferences, forums and publications, as well as industry research on the finances and practices of the American not-for-profit theatre. Advocacy, conducted in conjunction with the dance, presenting, opera and symphony orchrestra fields, includes guiding lobbying efforts and providing theatres with timely alerts about legislative developments. As the country's leading independent press specializing in dramatic literature, TCG's publications include American Theatre magazine, the ArtSEARCH employment bulletin, plays, translations and theatre reference books.  As the U.S. Center of UNESCO's International Theatre Institute, a worldwide network, TCG supports cross-cultural exchange through travel grants and other assistance to traveling theatre professionals. Through these programs, 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 field. TCG serves over 430 member theatres nationwide.