TDF’s Open Doors program receives 2012 Tony Honor for Excellence in Theatre
Theatre Development Fund’s offices were buzzing with gratitude yesterday as the Tony Award’s Administration Committee announced that TDF’s Open Doors program will be among those honored with a special 2012 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre.
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The Tony Honor for Excellence, which is awarded to groups that are not eligible in any of the established Tony Award categories, is a welcome celebration of a program that was piloted in 1998 with the late, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein.
Since then, however, dozens of theatre professionals have followed Wasserstein’s lead by joining Open Doors to mentor small groups of high school students at schools across the city. The groups see and discuss performances, and more than anything, they celebrate theatre as the birthright of every New Yorker.
Wasserstein used the idea of “theatre as a birthright” to guide the creation of Open Doors . It continues to inspire participants today, and it underscores the passion that will keep the program going for years to come.