Lynn Nottage Will Discuss MILMA'S TALE With Damon Tabor at The Center for Fiction

The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old literary nonprofit that has created an immersive home for readers and writers in downtown Brooklyn, and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, will co-present Story/Teller Arts: Lynn Nottage on Mlima's Tale with Damon Tabor on September 29 at 7pm ET at The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217, and via livestream. Continuing Nottage's tradition of crafting thought-provoking, socially conscious dramas, her play Mlima's Tale tells the story of an elephant struck down by poachers for his magnificent tusks. Nottage is joined by journalist Damon Tabor, whose work focuses on conflict, drug trafficking, black markets, and the environment, and whose article, "The Ivory Highway," inspired Mlima's Tale. This event represents the sixth collaboration between The Center and TCG, with past events featuring Jackie Sibblies Drury and Claudia Rankine; Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins; Heidi Schreck and Paula Vogel; Sarah Ruhl and Matthew Aucoin; and Aleshea Harris and Nissy Aya.

"We're thrilled to return to The Center for Fiction with this event after the inspiring conversation between Aleshea Harris and Nissy Aya," said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. "The Center for Fiction is an ideal partner to advance TCG's conviction that plays are literature and worthy of the same resources, respect, and critical attention as any other form. We look forward to sharing the cross-sector conversation between Lynn Nottage and Damon Tabor with both in-person and online attendees."

The event will take place at The Center for Fiction, 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 on Thursday, September 29, 2022 at 7pm ET. In-person tickets are $15 and include a $10 bookstore voucher, redeemable toward Mlima's Tale, Sweat, or Intimate Apparel on the night of the event. All registrants will receive a link to livestream the event. Learn more and acquire your tickets here. For press tickets, please contact Corinna Schulenburg at cschulenburg@tcg.org.

Since its founding in 1984, TCG Books has grown to become North America's largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 19 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama on its book list. The book program commits to the life-long career of its playwrights, keeping all of their plays in print. TCG Books' authors include: Annie Baker, Nilo Cruz, Jackie Sibblies Drury, Larissa Fasthorse, Athol Fugard, Quiara Alegría Hudes, David Henry Hwang, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Young Jean Lee, Lynn Nottage, Suzan-Lori Parks, Sarah Ruhl, Heidi Schreck, Stephen Sondheim, Paula Vogel, and August Wilson. TCG Books events are supported in part by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Lynn Nottage is the recipient of two Pulitzer Prize Awards for Drama for Sweat and Ruined. She is the first woman playwright to be honored twice. Her other plays include Clyde's; the book for the musical adaptation of The Secret Life of Bees; Intimate Apparel; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark; Fabulation, or the Re-Education of Undine; Crumbs from the Table of Joy; and Las Meninas.

Damon Tabor's work has focused on conflict, drug trafficking, black markets and the environment. His stories have appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's, Rolling Stone, Outside, Wired, and Men's Journal. His writing has been noted in The Best American Travel Writing and his Rolling Stone article "Border of Madness" was the basis of the Academy Award-nominated 2015 documentary Cartel Land. Most recently, he produced The Trade, a five-part documentary about the heroin epidemic, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and aired on Showtime. He holds a Master's of Science from Columbia Journalism School and is a recipient of a 2019 Whiting Creative Nonfiction Grant. His forthcoming book, The Mountain in the Burning Sky (Penguin Random House), chronicles the early pioneering history of U.S. Forest Service smokejumpers-elite aerial wilderness firefighters-and their later involvement in covert CIA missions throughout the Cold War.

The Center for Fiction is a literary nonprofit that brings diverse communities together to develop and share a passion for fiction. Founded in 1821 as the Mercantile Library of New York in Manhattan, the organization is now based in the heart of the Brooklyn cultural district, with a 18,000 sq. ft. facility that offers New Yorkers an immersive cultural experience centered on reading and writing. Throughout the year, The Center for Fiction provides a vast array of public programming, reading groups, and writing workshops. The First Novel Prize and Emerging Writer Fellowships help build literary careers, and KidsRead/KidsWrite programs inspire an early love of reading and writing in public school students with author-led events. In recent years, the organization's programming has expanded to include storytelling in all its forms, integrating music, theater, dance, film, television, and the visual arts into its exploration of the best of fiction throughout history and today.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, leads for a just and thriving theatre ecology. Since its founding in 1961, TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 Member Theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 Individual Members. Through its programs and services, TCG reaches over one million students, audience members, and theatre professionals each year. TCG offers networking and knowledge-building opportunities through research, communications, and events, including the annual TCG National Conference, one of the largest nationwide gatherings of theatre people; awards grants and scholarships to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America's largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 19 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH, the essential source for a career in the arts. TCG believes its vision of "a better world for theatre, and a better world because of theatre" can be achieved through individual and collective action, adaptive and responsive leadership, and equitable representation in all areas of practice. TCG is led by executive director and CEO Teresa Eyring. www.tcg.org.