NEW YORK CITY: Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the publisher of American Theatre, has announced the launch of the Veterans and Theatre Institute (VTI), a pilot program for veterans and active military personnel to experience, study, and create theatre. Playwright and veteran Maurice Decaul, TCG’s first artist-in-residence, will lead the Institute and construct curriculum and programming over a three-year period.
“I believe that if veterans are provided with an opportunity which presents theatre as an option, these men and women have the potential to significantly influence the field,” said Decaul in a statement. “The Veterans and Theatre Institute is that opportunity, and I am thrilled to be working with TCG and our partners to make VTI a reality.”
The first year of VTI will focus on community assessment and curriculum development. Within the second year, the program will deepen relationships with military, educational, community, and theatre partnerships. In the final year, TCG will coordinate an evaluation process with all partners to assess the overall success of the VTI and identify any areas for improvement. From this, findings from the program along with the curriculum will be made available to the theatre field at large. The VTI program is supported by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Building Demand for the Arts program.
The VTI builds on the partnerships and learnings that TCG has developed over the past five years with the Blue Star Theatres (BST) program, which recognizes the contributions of service families and seeks to build stronger connections between theatres, military families, and their communities. BST is supported through the MetLife Foundation.
“We’re thrilled to have Maurice Decaul join TCG as our first ever official artist-in-residence,” said TCG executive director, Teresa Eyring, in a statement. “With his dual perspectives as artist and veteran, Maurice is the ideal person to build on the momentum of our Blue Star Theatres program and lead the Veterans and Theatre Institute.”
