Inside Broadway Competitors

Conceived over 60 years ago as one of the nation’s first nonprofit theaters, The Public has long operated on the principles that theater is an essential cultural force and that art and culture belong to everyone. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Oskar Eustis and Executive Director Patrick Willingham, The Public’s wide breadth of programming includes an annual season of new work at its landmark home at Astor Place, Free Shakespeare in the Park at The Delacorte Theater in Central Park, the Mobile Unit touring throughout New York City’s five boroughs, Public Works, Public Shakespeare Initiative, and Joe’s Pub. Since premiering HAIR in 1967, The Public continues to create the canon of American Theater and is currently represented on Broadway by the Tony Award-winning musical Hamilton by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Their programs and productions can also be seen regionally across the country and around the world. The Public has received 60 Tony Awards, 190 Obie Awards, 57 Drama Desk Awards, 61 Lortel Awards, 36 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 13 New York Drama Critics’ Circle Awards, 62 AUDELCO Awards, 6 Antonyo Awards, and 6 Pulitzer Prizes. Cover photo by Steve Brown

Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) is the first theatre for young people to win the coveted Tony® Award for Outstanding Regional Theater (2003) and has welcomed more than 11 million people to performances and education programs over the last five decades. As one of the largest regional theatre companies in the nation, CTC has created over 200 new works, dramatically changing the canon of work for young audiences.

The mission of TheaterWorksUSA is to create exceptional, transformative theatrical experiences that are accessible to young and family audiences in diverse communities throughout New York City and North America. For 57 years we have been a trailblazer in the not-for-profit theater industry. Our repertoire of 139 literature- and history-based plays and musicals has played a leading role in the rise of theater for young audiences as an art form beyond simple fairytales and hand puppets. 96.5 million children, educators, and families have joined us at the theater to enjoy titles ranging from classics like Charlotte’s Web, Curious George, and The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, to contemporary favorites like Pete the Cat, Rosie Revere, Engineer, and The Lightning Thief. TheaterWorksUSA’s programming addresses the uneven accessibility of art for young people. We achieve this geographically, by bringing our productions to 483 cities throughout the nation; thematically, by creating shows that are engaging and relevant for our young audiences; and financially, by keeping ticket prices affordable and distributing up to 30,000 free tickets every year. We make a concerted effort to make our services accessible in New York City where, despite the wealth of artistic opportunities present, many of the city’s residents are cut off from the vibrant artistic life of the city due to prohibitively high ticket prices. In addition to the value our programming provides to the young people we serve, we are also a top job creator in the nonprofit theater industry. We employ nearly 300 New York City-based performers, writers, and designers every year. We have helped usher emerging artists into the Actors' Equity Association throughout our history, enabling them to access other high quality jobs in the theater industry outside of our organization. TheaterWorksUSA alumni have gone on to illustrious, and even award-winning, careers in the arts and beyond.