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List of Active Verbs (Tactics)

Are you ever work­ing on beats, objec­tives, and tac­tics and you just can’t seem to find the right act­ing verbs to use as tac­tics? This is an exten­sive list of great act­ing verbs. And it dou­bles as an SAT prep. 🙂 We hope you find it use­ful.

TacticList

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What do Campers Say About Scott Thompson?

Scott Thompson is a phe­nom­e­nal per­son. I have nev­er worked with some­one as ded­i­cat­ed to their craft as he, and I don’t know if I will again because I have a sneak­ing sus­pi­cion that even on Broadway, peo­ple as pas­sion­ate are some­what of an anom­aly. Scott did more for me than just teach me dance moves and block my scenes: he gave me a dri­ve in every area of musi­cal the­atre includ­ing singing and act­ing. Working with Scott was life-chang­ing, and I am ecsta­t­ic to hear that he is com­ing back. I can only hope that more of his tal­ent rubs off on me. He is one of the most skilled, hard­work­ing, and sin­cere peo­ple you will ever meet.
-Jacob Scott

What I learned the most from Scott Thompson was that you can hon­est­ly push your­self far past your own expec­ta­tions. Before this past sum­mer I had nev­er con­sid­ered myself to be a dancer, but after 3 weeks with Scott, it final­ly didn’t feel out of place to say that I was one. I was cast as the lead dancer in my school show this year and I know with­out his help, I hon­est­ly would have had no shot at being cast as that. Not only did my danc­ing improve but over­all per­form­ing improved dra­mat­i­cal­ly. He taught me that you have to always be work­ing for it, and nev­er let your act­ing slip for even a sec­ond when you’re danc­ing. He taught me that act­ing was the most impor­tant part of the dance.
-Korina Lurie

TAP Camp is a won­der­ful place where the staff takes a per­son­al
inter­est in each camper. If there’s some­thing you feel you’re not as
strong in, you’ll prob­a­bly feel much more con­fi­dent after TAP. Scott
Thompson is a won­der­ful direc­tor full of life expe­ri­ence, won­der­ful
sto­ries, and just plain tal­ent! He makes rehearsals fun and effi­cient.
I learned so much from the TAP Camp staff and Scott Thompson last year
and wouldn’t trade it for any­thing.
-Lizzie Guest

Let me begin by say­ing that I can­not dance, or rather, I could not dance until I met the incred­i­ble Scott Thompson. This man lit­er­al­ly changed my life (as is the nature of every fac­ul­ty mem­ber brought into Texas Arts Project). For the three weeks the camp ran, I watched in amaze­ment as he made girls belt and turned boys into strong lead­ing men, includ­ing myself. However, in addi­tion to all of this, he gave me the oppor­tu­ni­ty I had giv­en up hope on ever receiv­ing — he gave me the chance to dance. Until this point I had been told I would nev­er dance, but “no” and “can’t” aren’t in Scott’s vocab­u­lary. This man was the first per­son to tell me I could be every­thing I ever want­ed to be, he took a chance and trust­ed me and now I am pur­su­ing a BFA in Musical Theatre at Millikin University, where I am being cast in musi­cals as a main dancer. Who would have ever known? I guess Scott did! I’ve heard peo­ple jok­ing­ly say, “TAP Camp changes lives,” but it real­ly does. Do your­self a favor and sign up for this amaz­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty.
-Coy Branscum

From my point of view, he was the best teacher I’ve ever had the plea­sure of work­ing with. Just by the way he taught he made every­one love and learn the the­atre craft. I’ve learned way more about the indus­try in 3 weeks with him than I have any oth­er way. He real­ly pro­vid­ed the stu­dents a great relax­ing envi­ron­ment to learn the craft. He taught dance as though it was act­ing which is hard to find in some chore­o­g­ra­phers. We stu­dents weren’t learn­ing chore­og­ra­phy, but instead we were act­ing out dif­fer­ent emo­tions that just so hap­pened to have syn­chro­nized move­ment to them! I felt that he made every­one feel like they could do any­thing, if they tried hard enough. If they want­ed to be suc­cess­ful, they could do it. He was a firm believ­er in “if you want it, go and get it”. And he made every­one learn­ing from him try their absolute hard­est each chance they got, with no wast­ed rep­e­ti­tion. “Look the tiger in the eye”!!
-Hayden Warzek

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Character Analysis Packet for Actors

For every show I direct, each stu­dent is asked to go through a detailed char­ac­ter analy­sis process. I’ve spent the past ten years putting togeth­er this com­pre­hen­sive pack­et. In my expe­ri­ence, a detailed char­ac­ter study is impor­tant in both musi­cals and non-musi­cals. It seems obvi­ous to the­atre edu­ca­tors to delve into char­ac­ter analy­sis for straight plays. I have also found that it can tru­ly change a musi­cal, espe­cial­ly when the ensem­ble takes time to tru­ly devel­op their char­ac­ters. The ensem­ble is eas­i­ly for­got­ten after they have been taught their songs and dances, but they cre­ate the world of the play. The more the ensem­ble under­stands about their char­ac­ters and rela­tion­ships, the more invest­ed they will be in mak­ing them come to life. Feel free to use all or parts of this for your future pro­duc­tions. I hope you find it use­ful.

Character Analysis
-Ginger Morris (TAP Camp Director)
Director/​Choreographer
Austin, Texas

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What do Librettists Do? An interesting article from Playbill.com

An Open Book: Explaining What Musical Librettists Do

By Marc Acito
Playbill.com February 19, 2012

Veteran musical book writers Marsha Norman, Harvey Fierstein and Douglas Carter Beane spill the beans on the profession that gets "all of the blame and none of the praise."

*

Quick: Who wrote Godspell? Porgy and Bess? Mamma Mia!?

If your answers are “Stephen Schwartz,” “the Gershwins” and “those guys from ABBA with the extra let­ters in their names,” you’re two-thirds cor­rect. Because in addi­tion to the com­pos­er and the lyri­cist, there’s the mis­un­der­stood mid­dle child of musi­cal the­atre, the clunki­ly-monikered “book writer” or “libret­tist.”

The job descrip­tion itself is bound to con­fuse, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the case of Pulitzer Prize – win­ning play­wright Marsha Norman, who adapt­ed the nov­els The Secret Garden and The Color Purple into musi­cals. “Whenever I say I wrote the book,” Norman says, “they think that I’m claim­ing I’m Frances Hodgson Burnett or Alice Walker. So I say I wrote the musi­cal book.”

Tony Award – win­ning play­wright and actor Harvey Fierstein tried (and dis­card­ed) the titles “libret­tist” and “author” when he wrote the musi­cals La Cage aux Folles, A Catered Affair and Disney’s upcom­ing Newsies. “Nobody real­ly knows what the book is,” he says. “If the show’s a hit, the com­pos­er gets the cred­it; if the show’s a flop, it’s the book’s fault.”

“You’re going to get all of the blame and none of the praise,” echoes Norman. “But you’ll still get a third of the mon­ey.”

So what do book writ­ers do, exact­ly?

While the­atre­go­ers under­stand that a play­wright cre­ates the entire sto­ry of a play, many think that book writ­ers just write the dia­logue between the songs. But more often, the book writer first decides where the songs go and what they will be about, act­ing as the struc­tur­al engi­neer of the whole piece.

“Think of a musi­cal as a string of pearls,” says Norman. “If you don’t have a string, you can’t put the pearls around your neck.”

Fierstein puts it anoth­er way: “A musi­cal has all these mov­ing parts, but the book is the chas­sis,” pro­vid­ing both the frame­work and the run­ning gear for the show to oper­ate.

So with Newsies, it was Fierstein who took the char­ac­ter of Denton, a male reporter in the film, and gave him a sex change to become Catherine, the love inter­est.

However, once a com­pos­er and lyri­cist cre­ate the songs, the book writer’s role changes. “At first, the book writer dic­tates what hap­pens,” Fierstein says, “but then you become sub­servient. The music is the hard­est to change, so you have to adapt the scenes to the songs.”

Even a the­atre leg­end like Stephen Sondheim finds the task of book writ­ing daunt­ing. “I’ve often been asked why don’t I write my own libret­tos, because often the songs seem to be libret­to-like songs,” he said in the Roundabout Theatre Company docu-revue Sondheim on Sondheim. “I think play­writ­ing is too dif­fi­cult and I don’t ever think I could write a play.”

Unlike a play, though, “the book shouldn’t stand out and wave at you,” says Fierstein.

Veteran book writer Peter Stone, writer of 12 Broadway musi­cals includ­ing 1776 and Titanic, once advised play­wright Douglas Carter Beane, “The book is like light­ing — if you notice it, it’s bad.”

The excep­tion to that rule seems to be musi­cals that deliv­er big laughs, like Beane’s books for Xanadu, Sister Act and this season’s Lysistrata Jones. Beane is influ­enced by the frothy books of vin­tage com­e­dy writ­ers like George S. Kaufman and Comden & Green, say­ing, “I go back to them the way evan­gel­i­cals go back to Leviticus.”

Yet he, too, feels the need to serve the songs: “Writing the book is so tight, it’s like writ­ing haiku.” When Beane rewrote Sister Act, direc­tor Jerry Zaks was so deter­mined to get to the music faster he asked Beane to change the words “do not” in the dia­logue to “don’t.”

And no mat­ter how fun­ny the jokes are, no one walks out of a the­atre hum­ming the dia­logue. Likewise, you won’t find any­one at the inter­mis­sion of Wicked, hav­ing just heard Elphaba wail “Defying Gravity,” say, “That Winnie Holzman did a great job decid­ing to end the act there!”

That’s because book writ­ers craft the sto­ry around key emotional/​musical moments. “When you can no longer talk about it, you have to sing,” says Marsha Norman. “It’s the moment in con­ver­sa­tion when you say ‘but….’ The songs rep­re­sent the inside of your brain: the things you think are the songs, the things you say are the book.”

“Musicals ampli­fy emo­tions,” says Fierstein. When Fierstein wrote La Cage aux Folles, leg­endary book writer Arthur Laurents (West Side Story, Gypsy) taught him his num­ber one rule of musi­cal­iz­ing a sto­ry: “Does it sing?”

Similarly, Norman teach­es her play­writ­ing stu­dents at Juilliard that audi­ences respond to musi­cals emo­tion­al­ly rather than intel­lec­tu­al­ly. “People lis­ten to music with cave­men ears: Is it a bird song or the call of a lion?” Norman says. “The audi­ence at a musi­cal is danc­ing in their hearts.”

So when your heart dances to the music of Godspell, Porgy and Bess and Mamma Mia!, try to remem­ber that it was the book writ­ers John-Michael Tebelak, DuBose Heyward (and Suzan-Lori Parks for the recent Broadway revival) and Catherine Johnson who pulled you onto the dance floor.

http://​www​.play​bill​.com/​n​e​w​s​/​a​r​t​i​c​l​e​/​1​5​9​8​7​8​-​A​n​-​O​p​e​n​-​B​o​o​k​-​E​x​p​l​a​i​n​i​n​g​-​W​h​a​t​-​M​u​s​i​c​a​l​-​L​i​b​r​e​t​t​i​s​t​s​-Do

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Tony Award Nominations 2011 Announced

Nominations for the 2011 American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards®
Presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing

Best Play

Good People

Author: David Lindsay-Abaire
Producers: Manhattan Theatre Club, Lynne Meadow, Barry Grove

Jerusalem

Author: Jez Butterworth
Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson, Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Royal Court Theatre Productions, Beverly Bartner/​Alice Tulchin, Dede Harris/​Rupert Gavin, Broadway Across America, Jon B. Platt, 1001 Nights/​Stephanie P. McClelland, Carole L. Haber/​Richard Willis, Jacki Barlia Florin/​Adam Blanshay

The Motherf**ker with the Hat

Author: Stephen Adly Guirgis
Producers: Scott Rudin, Stuart Thompson, Public Theater Productions, Oskar Eustis, Joey Parnes, Labyrinth Theater Company, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Mimi O’Donnell, Yul Vázquez, Danny Feldman, Fabula Media Partners LLC, Jean Doumanian, Ruth Hendel, Carl Moellenberg, Jon B. Platt, Tulchin Bartner/​Jamie deRoy

War Horse

Author: Nick Stafford
Producers: Lincoln Center Theater, André Bishop, Bernard Gersten, National Theatre of Great Britain, Nicholas Hytner, Nick Starr, Bob Boyett, War Horse LP

Best Musical

The Book of Mormon

Producers: Anne Garefino, Scott Rudin, Roger Berlind, Scott M. Delman, Jean Doumanian, Roy Furman, Important Musicals LLC, Stephanie P. McClelland, Kevin Morris, Jon B. Platt, Sonia Friedman Productions, Stuart Thompson

Catch Me If You Can

Producers: Margo Lion, Hal Luftig, Stacey Mindich, Yasuhiro Kawana, Scott & Brian Zeilinger, The Rialto Group, The Araca Group, Michael Watt, Barbara & Buddy Freitag, Jay & Cindy Gutterman/​Pittsburgh CLO, Elizabeth Williams, Johnny Roscoe Productions/​Van Dean, Fakston Productions/​Solshay Productions, Patty Baker/​Richard Winkler, Nederlander Presentations, Inc., Warren Trepp, Remmel T. Dickinson, Paula Herold/​Kate Lear, Stephanie P. McClelland, Jamie deRoy, Barry Feirstein, Rainerio J. Reyes, Rodney Rigby, Loraine Boyle, Amuse Inc., Joseph & Matthew Deitch/​Cathy Chernoff, Joan Stein/​Jon Murray, The 5th Avenue Theatre

The Scottsboro Boys

Producers: Barry and Fran Weissler, Jacki Barlia Florin, Janet Pailet/​Sharon A. Carr/​Patricia R. Klausner, Nederlander Presentations, Inc./The Shubert Organization, Beechwood Entertainment, Broadway Across America, Mark Zimmerman, Adam Blanshay/​R2D2 Productions, Rick Danzansky/​Barry Tatelman, Bruce Robert Harris/​Jack W. Batman, Allen Spivak/​Jerry Frankel, Bard Theatricals/​Probo Productions/​Randy Donaldson, Catherine Schreiber/​Michael Palitz/​Patti Laskawy, Vineyard Theatre

Sister Act

Producers: Whoopi Goldberg & Stage Entertainment, The Shubert Organization and Disney Theatrical Productions


Best Book of a Musical

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson

Alex Timbers

The Book of Mormon

Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

The Scottsboro Boys

David Thompson

Sister Act

Cheri Steinkellner, Bill Steinkellner and Douglas Carter Beane

Best Original Score (Music and/​or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre

The Book of Mormon

Music & Lyrics: Trey Parker, Robert Lopez and Matt Stone

The Scottsboro Boys

Music & Lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb

Sister Act

Music: Alan Menken
Lyrics: Glenn Slater

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Music & Lyrics: David Yazbek

Best Revival of a Play

Arcadia

Producers: Sonia Friedman Productions, Roger Berlind, Stephanie P. McClelland, Scott M. Delman, Nicholas Quinn Rosenkranz, Disney Theatrical Group, Robert G. Bartner, Olympus Theatricals, Douglas Smith, Janine Safer Whitney

The Importance of Being Earnest

Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy

The Merchant of Venice

Producers: The Public Theater, Oskar Eustis, Andrew D. Hamingson, Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel, Debbie Bisno & Eva Price, Amy Nederlander, Jonathan First, Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley, Universal Pictures Stage Productions, Merritt Forrest Baer, The Araca Group, Broadway Across America, Joseph & Matthew Deitch, JK Productions, Terry Allen Kramer, Cathy Chernoff/​Jay & Cindy Gutterman, Mallory Factor/​Cheryl Lachowicz, Joey Parnes, The Shubert Organization

The Normal Heart

Producers: Daryl Roth, Paul Boskind, Martian Entertainment, Gregory Rae, Jayne Baron Sherman/​Alexander Fraser

Best Revival of a Musical

Anything Goes

Producers: Roundabout Theatre Company, Todd Haimes, Harold Wolpert, Julia C. Levy

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Producers: Broadway Across America, Craig Zadan, Neil Meron, Joseph Smith, Michael McCabe, Candy Spelling, Takonkiet Viravan/​Scenario Thailand, Hilary A. Williams, Jen Namoff/​Fakston Productions, Two Left Feet Productions/​Power Arts, Hop Theatricals, LLC/​Paul Chau/​Daniel Frishwasser/​Michael Jackowitz, Michael Speyer-Bernie Abrams/​Jacki Barlia Florin-Adam Blanshay/​Arlene Scanlan/​TBS Service


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play

Brian Bedford, The Importance of Being Earnest
Bobby Cannavale, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Joe Mantello, The Normal Heart
Al Pacino, The Merchant of Venice
Mark Rylance, Jerusalem

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play

Nina Arianda, Born Yesterday
Frances McDormand, Good People
Lily Rabe, The Merchant of Venice
Vanessa Redgrave, Driving Miss Daisy
Hannah Yelland, Brief Encounter


Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical

Norbert Leo Butz, Catch Me If You Can
Josh Gad, The Book of Mormon
Joshua Henry, The Scottsboro Boys
Andrew Rannells, The Book of Mormon
Tony Sheldon, Priscilla Queen of the Desert


Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical

Sutton Foster, Anything Goes
Beth Leavel, Baby It’s You!
Patina Miller, Sister Act
Donna Murphy, The People in the Picture


Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play

Mackenzie Crook, Jerusalem
Billy Crudup, Arcadia
John Benjamin Hickey, The Normal Heart
Arian Moayed, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Yul Vázquez, The Motherf**ker with the Hat


Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play

Ellen Barkin, The Normal Heart
Edie Falco, The House of Blue Leaves
Judith Light, Lombardi
Joanna Lumley, La Bête
Elizabeth Rodriguez, The Motherf**ker with the Hat


Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical

Colman Domingo, The Scottsboro Boys
Adam Godley, Anything Goes
John Larroquette, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Forrest McClendon, The Scottsboro Boys
Rory O’Malley, The Book of Mormon


Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical

Laura Benanti, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Tammy Blanchard, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Victoria Clark, Sister Act
Nikki M. James, The Book of Mormon
Patti LuPone, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown


Best Scenic Design of a Play

Todd Rosenthal, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Rae Smith, War Horse
Ultz, Jerusalem
Mark Wendland, The Merchant of Venice


Best Scenic Design of a Musical

Beowulf Boritt, The Scottsboro Boys
Derek McLane, Anything Goes
Scott Pask, The Book of Mormon
Donyale Werle, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson


Best Costume Design of a Play

Jess Goldstein, The Merchant of Venice
Desmond Heeley, The Importance of Being Earnest
Mark Thompson, La Bête
Catherine Zuber, Born Yesterday


Best Costume Design of a Musical

Tim Chappel & Lizzy Gardiner, Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Martin Pakledinaz, Anything Goes
Ann Roth, The Book of Mormon
Catherine Zuber, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying


Best Lighting Design of a Play

Paule Constable, War Horse
David Lander, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo
Kenneth Posner, The Merchant of Venice
Mimi Jordan Sherin, Jerusalem

Best Lighting Design of a Musical

Ken Billington, The Scottsboro Boys
Howell Binkley, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Peter Kaczorowski, Anything Goes
Brian MacDevitt, The Book of Mormon


Best Sound Design of a Play

Acme Sound Partners & Cricket S. Myers, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo

Simon Baker, Brief Encounter
Ian Dickinson for Autograph, Jerusalem
Christopher Shutt, War Horse


Best Sound Design of a Musical

Peter Hylenski, The Scottsboro Boys
Steve Canyon Kennedy, Catch Me If You Can
Brian Ronan, Anything Goes
Brian Ronan, The Book of Mormon


Best Direction of a Play

Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, War Horse
Joel Grey & George C. Wolfe, The Normal Heart
Anna D. Shapiro, The Motherf**ker with the Hat
Daniel Sullivan, The Merchant of Venice


Best Direction of a Musical

Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes
Casey Nicholaw and Trey Parker, The Book of Mormon
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys


Best Choreography

Rob Ashford, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Kathleen Marshall, Anything Goes
Casey Nicholaw, The Book of Mormon
Susan Stroman, The Scottsboro Boys


Best Orchestrations

Doug Besterman, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
Larry Hochman, The Scottsboro Boys

Larry Hochman and Stephen Oremus, The Book of Mormon
Marc Shaiman & Larry Blank, Catch Me If You Can

* * *

Recipients of Awards and Honors in Non-competitive Categories

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre

Athol Fugard

Philip J. Smith

Regional Theatre Tony Award

Lookingglass Theatre Company (Chicago, Ill.)

Isabelle Stevenson Award

Eve Ensler

Special Tony Award

Handspring Puppet Company

Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre

William Berloni

The Drama Book Shop

Sharon Jensen and Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts

* * *


Tony Nominations by Production

The Book of Mormon — 14

The Scottsboro Boys — 12

Anything Goes — 9

How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying — 8

The Merchant of Venice — 7

Jerusalem — 6

The Motherf**ker with the Hat — 6

The Normal Heart — 5

Sister Act — 5

War Horse — 5

Catch Me If You Can — 4

Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo — 3

The Importance of Being Earnest — 3

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown — 3

Arcadia — 2

Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson — 2

Born Yesterday — 2

Brief Encounter — 2

Good People — 2

La Bête — 2

Priscilla Queen of the Desert — 2

Baby It’s You! — 1

Driving Miss Daisy — 1

The House of Blue Leaves — 1

Lombardi — 1

The People in the Picture — 1

www​.TonyAwards​.com

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New Developments for Arts Education

From the “Americans for the Arts”

With a recent bud­get vic­to­ry, high vis­i­bil­i­ty on Capitol Hill, and three new arts edu­ca­tion reports being released, arts edu­ca­tion advo­cates are gath­er­ing momen­tum to impact edu­ca­tion pol­i­cy nation­al­ly.

On April 15, Congress and the pres­i­dent approved the FY 2011 appro­pri­a­tions bill which includ­ed restora­tion of the fed­er­al Arts In Education pro­gram – the only edu­ca­tion pro­gram to be restored from being cut or ter­mi­nat­ed ear­li­er in the year. This is a huge vic­to­ry! This was direct­ly fol­low­ing a suc­cess­ful grass­roots advo­ca­cy cam­paign by 550 advo­cates from across the coun­try who joined actors Alec Baldwin, Hill Harper, Kerry Washington, and Kevin Spacey dur­ing the nation­al Arts Advocacy Day on Capitol Hill to sup­port the arts and arts edu­ca­tion.

Last week, Americans for the Arts pub­lished its National Arts Policy Roundtable final report which cap­tures the rec­om­men­da­tions from an event co-con­vened at the Sundance Preserve by President and CEO of Americans for the Arts Robert L. Lynch, and Robert Redford, founder of the Sundance Institute. Officials from both the U.S. Department of Education and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities par­tic­i­pat­ed in the National Arts Policy Roundtable. The report iden­ti­fies four key rec­om­men­da­tions, includ­ing the need for increased research, strong pub­lic pol­i­cy sup­port, and bet­ter case­mak­ing efforts from the field.

These rec­om­men­da­tions arrive at an impor­tant time. The chair­men of the House and Senate edu­ca­tion com­mit­tees in Congress have promised action soon on the reau­tho­riza­tion of the Elementary & Secondary Education Act (also known as No Child Left Behind). Most imme­di­ate­ly, the need for increased fed­er­al research cit­ed in the National Arts Policy Roundtable rec­om­men­da­tions will be answered, in part, by two new fed­er­al stud­ies being released this week:

Today, the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics is releas­ing the pre­view of a study on the nation­al sta­tus and con­di­tion of arts edu­ca­tion — it has been almost a decade since the last one was pub­lished! The full study is sched­uled to be released by the end of 2011 and will be a key mea­sure­ment of access to arts edu­ca­tion.

Later this week, the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities is set to release their study “Reinvesting in Arts Education: Winning America’s Future Through Creative Schools” which will pro­mote suc­cess­ful arts edu­ca­tion mod­els and best prac­tices as iden­ti­fied by this com­mit­tee appoint­ed by President Obama and chaired by the First Lady.

The momen­tum that has been built by recent advo­ca­cy on Capitol Hill and the boost from these nation­al stud­ies will serve the arts edu­ca­tion field well as Congress con­sid­ers edu­ca­tion reforms lat­er this year.

If you are inter­est­ed in becom­ing an offi­cial mem­ber of the Arts Action Fund, join the Arts Action Fund today — it’s free and sim­ple.

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Pulitzer Prize for Drama Winners

In our fol­low up to this past week’s arti­cle con­grat­u­lat­ing Clybourne Park for win­ning the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, here is a list of all of the pre­vi­ous win­ners: (and for those of you play­ing along at home, last years win­ner was the musi­cal Next to Normal).

2010: Next to Normal, by Brian Yorkey and Tom Kitt
2009: Ruined, by Lynn Nottage
2008: August: Osage County, by Tracy Letts
2007: Rabbit Hole, by David Lindsay-Abaire
2006: No award
2004-05: Doubt, by John Patrick Shanley
2003-04: I Am My Own Wife, by Doug Wright
2002-03: Anna in the Tropics, by Nilo Cruz
2001-02: Topdog/​Underdog, by Suzan-Lori Parks
2000-01: Proof, by David Auburn
1999 – 00: Dinner with Friends, by Donald Margulies
1998 – 99: Wit, by Margaret Edson
1997 – 98: How I Learned To Drive, by Paula Vogel
1996 – 97: No award
1995 – 96: Rent, by Jonathan Larson
1994 – 95: The Young Man From Atlanta, by Horton Foote
1993 94: Three Tall Women, by Edward Albee
1992 – 93: Angels in America: Millennium Approaches, by Tony Kushner
1991 – 92: The Kentucky Cycle, by Robert Schenkkan
1990 – 91: Lost in Yonkers, by Neil Simon
1989 – 90: The Piano Lesson, by August Wilson
1988 – 89: The Heidi Chronicles, by Wendy Wasserstein
1987 88: Driving Miss Daisy, by Alfred Uhry
1986 – 87: Fences, by August Wilson
1985 – 86: No award
1984 – 85: Sunday in the Park With George, by James Lapine and Stephen Sondheim
1983 – 84: Glengarry Glen Ross, by David Mamet
1982 – 83: ‘night, Mother, by Marsha Norman
1981 82: A Soldier’s Play, by Charles Fuller
1980 – 81: Crimes of the Heart, by Beth Henley
1979 – 80: Talley’s Folly, by Lanford Wilson
1978 – 79: Buried Child, by Sam Shepard
1977 – 78: The Gin Game, by D.L. Coburn
1976 – 77: The Shadow Box, by Michael Cristofer
1975 – 76: A Chorus Line, by Michael Bennett, James Kirkwood, Nicholas Dante, Marvin Hamlisch and Edward Kleban
1974 – 75: Seascape, by Edward Albee
1973 74: No award
1972 – 73: That Championship Season, by Jason Miller
1971 – 72: No award
1970 – 71: The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds, by Paul Zindel
1969 – 70: No Place To Be Somebody, by Charles Gordone
1968 – 69: The Great White Hope, by Howard Sackler
1967 – 68: No award
1966 67: A Delicate Balance, by Edward Albee
1965 – 66: No award
1964 65: The Subject Was Roses, by Frank D. Gilroy
1963 – 64: No award
1962 – 63: No award
1961 – 62: How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, by Abe Burrows, Willie Gilbert, Jack Weinstock and Frank Loesser
1960 – 61: All the Way Home, by Tad Mosel
1959 – 60: Fiorello!, by Jerome Weidman, George Abbott, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock
1958 – 59: J.B., by Archibald MacLeish
1957 – 58: Look Homeward, Angel, by Ketti Frings
1956 – 57: Long Day’s Journey Into Night, by Eugene O’Neill
1955 – 56: The Diary of Anne Frank, by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
1954 – 55: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, by Tennessee Williams
1953 – 54: The Teahouse of the August Moon, by John Patrick
1952 – 53: Picnic, by William Inge
1951 – 52: The Shrike, by Joseph Kramm
1950 – 51: No award
1949 – 50: South Pacific, by Richard Rodgers, Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan
1948 – 49: Death of a Salesman, by Arthur Miller
1947 – 48: A Streetcar Named Desire, by Tennessee Williams
1946 – 47: No award
1945 – 46: State of the Union, by Howard Lindsay and Russel Crouse
1944 – 45: Harvey, by Mary Chase
1943 – 44: No award
1942 – 43: The Skin of Our Teeth, by Thornton Wilder
1941 – 42: No award
1940 – 41: There Shall Be No Night, by Robert E. Sherwood
1939 – 40: The Time of Your Life, by William Saroyan
1938 – 39: Abe Lincoln in Illinois, by Robert E. Sherwood
1937 – 38: Our Town, by Thornton Wilder
1936 – 37: You Can’t Take It With You, by Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
1935 – 36: Idiot’s Delight, by Robert E. Sherwood
1934 – 35: The Old Maid, by Zoe Akins
1933 – 34: Men in White, by Sidney Kingsley
1932 – 33: Both Your Houses, by Maxwell Anderson
1931 – 32: Of Thee I Sing, by George S. Kaufman, Morrie Ryskind, Ira and George Gershwin
1930 – 31: Alison’s House, by Susan Glaspell
1929 – 30: The Green Pastures, by Marc Connelly
1928 – 29: Street Scene, by Elmer Rice
1927 – 28: Strange Interlude, by Eugene O’Neill
1926 – 27: In Abraham’s Bosom, by Paul Green
1925 – 26: Craig’s Wife, by George Kelly
1924 – 25: They Knew What They Wanted, by Sidney Howard
1923 – 24: Hell-Bent fer Heaven, by Hatcher Hughes
1922 – 23: Icebound, by Owen Davis
1921 – 22: Anna Christie, by Eugene O’Neill
1920 – 21: Miss Lulu Bett, by Zona Gale
1919 – 20: Beyond the Horizon, by Eugene O’Neill
1918 – 19: No award
1917 – 18: Why Marry?, by Jesse Lynch Williams
1916 – 17: No award

Source: Playbill Online