CINCINNATI: Teresa Eyring, executive director of Theatre Communications Group (the publisher of this magazine), will receive the 2015 Distinguished Achievement Award in Management from the United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) at its next gathering in Cincinnati in March.
Eyring has led TCG, the national service organization for nonprofit theatres, since 2007, and continues to expand its network of resident theatres, its publishing efforts and its promotion of diversity in theatre—a goal shared by USITT.
USITT gives its distinguished achievement awards to major contributors to the performing arts industry. Eyring will receive her award at a special session at USITT’s 55th Annual Conference & Stage Expo at Cincinnati’s Duke Energy Convention Center on Friday, Mar. 20. She’ll also participate in a panel of USITT Distinguished Achievement Award Winners in Conversation along with four other backstage celebrities. Eyring also will help lead a Conference session, Creating the Mosaic: Diversity in Theatre, on Wednesday, Mar. 18.
Before joining TCG eight years ago, Eyring spent 20 years in leadership positions at the Guthrie Theater and the Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis and the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, overseeing successful building campaigns at all three.
Eyring has always worked to make theatre and the arts more central in community life. When she left Philadelphia, then-Mayor Ed Rendell gave her a Liberty Bell statue to honor her accomplishments. And on her last day at the Children’s Theatre Company, Mayor R.T. Rybak named Mar. 5, 2007 “Teresa Eyring Day” in Minneapolis.
Under her leadership at TCG, the number of member theatres topped 500 despite a recession, and publishing efforts have grown well beyond American Theatre magazine. TCG is a key advocate for the arts on many issues, including proposed FCC policy changes to the broadband spectrum and maintaining a strong National Endowment for the Arts. Eyring has also spearheaded TCG’s new strategic plan, with an emphasis on equity, diversity, and inclusion.
USITT, the national nonprofit serving the backstage industry, offers year-round training, networking, and promotion of stagecraft. Its annual Conference & Stage Expo gathers 5,000 people and over 250 exhibitors for a celebration and showcase of live entertainment design and technology.
For more information on USITT, please visit www.usitt.org. For more on the Conference & Stage Expo, visit www.usittshow.org.
