Roundabout & Columbia University Will Team Up for Columbia@Roundabout

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) and Columbia University School of the Arts (Carol Becker, Dean of Faculty) have just announced Columbia@Roundabout, an initiative aimed at educating and developing the next generation of playwrights and theatre administrators, as both institutions celebrate their 50th anniversaries. No other collaborative partnership in the New York area brings together an esteemed Ivy League MFA program with a Tony Award- winning not-for-profit theatre. The initiative is made possible by a grant from the Tow Foundation.

"We are so grateful to the Tow Foundation for making this unmatched collaboration with Roundabout possible," said Columbia's Dean Becker. "This is an exceptional opportunity, not only to provide our students with valuable professional experience, but also to share their extraordinary skills with a wider audience."

"This groundbreaking partnership with Columbia strengthens Roundabout's commitment to showcasing new work as well as our leadership role in educating the next generation of theatre professionals. It utilizes our joint resources to continue our dedication to transform the classrooms of New York City and build a community of confident, expressive young people," said Roundabout's Todd Haimes.

Through the program, Roundabout will present new plays by Columbia MFA playwrights to public audiences and will provide apprenticeships to Columbia MFA students for a full season. All participating students will enhance their curricular studies with valuable, hands-on experience at a crucial time in their development. A teaching artist training component curriculum developed by Roundabout provides the opportunity for students to share their own knowledge and artistry with an even younger generation.

"We are thrilled to launch this program in partnership with Columbia University as part of Roundabout's 50th anniversary season. Columbia@Roundabout is an extension of our robust education initiatives, which use theatre to enhance teacher practice and deepen student learning in New York City classrooms while providing theatre artists an opportunity to share their craft and inspire young people," adds Julia Levy, Executive Director of Roundabout Theatre Company.

"One of the great calling cards of Columbia's MFA program has been our location in the theatre capital of the country, which provides our students' access to the top professionals in the field," noted Christian Parker, Chair of the Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts. "This initiative ups the ante: our students stand to benefit tremendously from the exposure offered by the Roundabout, and they will no doubt contribute to the continued growth and dynamism of the Company. I am thrilled to embark on this new partnership."

"Columbia@Roundabout will bridge the gap between academia and real-world exposure to New York City's nonprofit theatre landscape," stated Emily Tow Jackson, Executive Director and President of The Tow Foundation. "We are excited that this partnership will help launch the next generation of talented leaders and artists in American theatre."

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Components of the Program
The New Play Reading Series will be held at Roundabout's Black Box Theatre, home to its Underground program, highlighting the work of Columbia MFA playwrights. Mentorship will be provided by celebrated Columbia faculty members, including Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang, Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage and OBIE Award winner Charles L. Mee. The series creates a bridge for Columbia's emerging writers and provides Roundabout audience members with an opportunity to experience work by the next generation of leading theatre artists.

Each year, two Columbia MFA candidates will apprentice with the highly experienced professional leaders of Roundabout's executive management and artistic staffs. Students will benefit from working a full theatre season immersed in Roundabout's busy production calendar, and Roundabout will create ties that will assist Columbia's talented, emerging theatre practitioners in launching their careers.

Roundabout's outstanding Education team will provide teaching artist training to Columbia students, who will then shadow professional arts educators into New York City classrooms. This component fills the need for more high-quality arts instruction and exposure in public schools, while it also provides Columbia students with practical experience that may help them in securing teaching artist positions.

Columbia University School of the Arts awards the Master of Fine Arts degree in Film, Theatre, Visual Arts and Writing and the Master of Arts degree in Film Studies; it also offers an interdisciplinary program in Sound Arts. The School is a thriving, diverse community of talented, visionary and committed artists from around the world and a faculty comprised of acclaimed and internationally renowned artists, film and theatre directors, writers of poetry, fiction and nonfiction, playwrights, producers, critics and scholars. In 2015, the School marked the 50th Anniversary of its founding. In 2017, the School will open the Lenfest Center of the Arts, a multi-arts venue designed as a hub for the presentation and creation of art across disciplines on the University's new Manhattanville campus. The Lenfest will host exhibitions, performances, screenings, symposia, readings, and lectures that present new, global voices and perspectives, as well as an exciting, publicly accessible home for Columbia's Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Art Gallery. For more information visit arts.columbia.edu.

The Theatre Program at Columbia University School of the Arts is an international, collaborative and interdisciplinary graduate theatre program named in honor of Oscar Hammerstein II, offering concentrations in Acting, Directing, Dramaturgy, Playwriting, Stage Management, and Theatre Management & Production. The Program's location in New York City, a global nexus of theatre, affords students the opportunity to experience a wide variety of theatrical productions, spaces and performances available nowhere else. Students in the Program have the unparalleled opportunity to learn from-and work with-true visionaries in the theatre world; full-time faculty include David Henry Hwang, Lynn Nottage, Charles L. Mee, Steven Chaikelson, Gregory Mosher, Brian Kulick, Christian Parker and Andrei Serban. Students have access to an extensive network of Columbia alumni who run prestigious Broadway, Off-Broadway and regional theatres; direct and perform in Tony- and other award-winning productions; work in every level of the professional theatre world; and teach, mentor and engage with students on an ongoing basis. Notable alumni include include Diane Paulus, Beau Willimon, Darko Tresnjak, Anson Mount, and Barbara Whitman.

The Tow Foundation, established in 1988 by Leonard and Claire Tow, funds projects that offer transformative experiences to individuals and create collaborative ventures in fields where they see opportunities for breakthroughs, reform, and benefits for underserved populations. Investments focus on the support of innovative programs and system reform in the areas of juvenile and criminal justice, groundbreaking medical research, higher education, and cultural institutions. For more information, visit towfoundation.org.

Education at Roundabout connects with students and teachers through customized school partnerships, residency programs, mentorships and workshops in the practice of professional theatrical skills, professional development workshops, internships, apprenticeships, backstage tours, talkbacks and pre-show workshops. For each Roundabout production, Education also creates Upstage guides, which include interviews, contextual information, teacher resources and activities, and presents a post-show Lecture Series hosted by Education dramaturg Ted Sod and featuring a distinguished artist, scholar, historian or critic. roundabouttheatre.org/education

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Roundabout Theatre Company is committed to producing the highest quality theatre with the finest artists, sharing stories that endure, and providing accessibility to all audiences. A not-for-profit company, Roundabout fulfills its mission each season through the production of classic plays and musicals; development and production of new works by established and emerging writers; educational initiatives that enrich the lives of children and adults; and a subscription model and audience outreach programs that cultivate and engage all audiences.

Roundabout Theatre Company presents a variety of plays, musicals, and new works on its five stages, each of which is specifically designed to enhance the needs of Roundabout's mission. Off-Broadway, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which houses the Laura Pels Theatre and Black Box Theatre, with its simple sophisticated design, is perfectly suited to showcasing new plays. The grandeur of its Broadway home on 42nd Street, American Airlines Theatre, sets the ideal stage for the classics. Roundabout's Studio 54 provides an exciting and intimate Broadway venue for its musical and special event productions. The Stephen Sondheim Theatre offers a state of the art LEED certified Broadway theatre in which to stage major large-scale musical revivals. Together these distinctive homes serve to enhance Roundabout's work on each of its stages.

American Airlines is the official airline of Roundabout Theatre Company. Roundabout productions are supported, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, as well as the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.

Roundabout Theatre Company's 50th Anniversary Season celebrates the company's numerous accomplishments and vision for the future with bold new productions of classic plays, a revival of the Roundabout's first musical, and new work by some of the country's most exciting young talent. Founded in 1965, Roundabout Theatre Company has grown from a small 150-seat theatre in a converted Chelsea supermarket basement to become one of the nation's most influential not- for-profit theatre companies, as well as one of New York City's leading cultural institutions. Roundabout has been recognized with 29 Tonys, 41 Drama Desks, 50 Outer Critics Circle, 10 Obie and 15 Lucille Lortel Awards for its work on five stages, reaching more than 700,000 theatergoers and employing hundreds of artists each year. Bank of America is a proud 50th Anniversary Season sponsor - a partnership that makes possible Roundabout's many productions and not-for- profit initiatives during this landmark year. Roundabout's 50th Anniversary Season media partners include WNBC, Clear Channel Spectacolor, and the City of New York Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment.

Roundabout's 50th anniversary season in 2015-2016 includes: Clive Owen, Eve Best and Kelly Reilly in Old Times by Harold Pinter, directed by Douglas Hodge; The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Joe Mantello; Keira Knightley, Gabriel Ebert, Matt Ryan and Judith Light in a new adaptation of The?re?se Raquin by Helen Edmundson, based upon the novel by E?mile Zola, directed by Evan Cabnet; Andrea Martin, Campbell Scott, Tracee Chimo, Daniel Davis, David Furr, Kate Jennings Grant, Megan Hilty, Rob McClure and Jeremy Shamos in Noises Off by Michael Frayn, directed by Jeremy Herrin; Laura Benanti, Zachary Levi, Gavin Creel, Byron Jennings, Michael McGrath and Jane Krakowski in She Loves Me by Joe Masteroff, Sheldon Harnick and Jerry Bock, directed by Scott Ellis; The Robber Bridegroom by Alfred Uhry and Robert Waldman, directed by Alex Timbers; Jessica Lange, Gabriel Byrne, Michael Shannon and John Gallagher, Jr. in Long Day's Journey Into Night by Eugene O'Neill, directed by Jonathan Kent; and the national tour of Sam Mendes & Rob Marshall's Tony Award-winning production of Cabaret. The 2015-2016 Roundabout Underground production was Ugly Lies the Bone, a new play by Lindsey Ferrentino, directed by Patricia McGregor.

Roundabout's 2016-2017 season will include Holiday Inn: The New Irving Berlin Musical by Gordon Greenberg and Chad Hodge, directed by Gordon Greenberg with lyrics by Irving Berlin; a new adaptation of The Cherry Orchard by Anton Chekhov with a new adaption by Stephen Karam, directed by Simon Godwin; Love, Love, Love by Mike Bartlett, directed by Michael Mayer; If I Forget by Steven Levenson and Napoli, Brooklyn by Meghan Kennedy. The 2016-2017 Roundabout Underground season includes Kingdom Come, a new play by Jenny Rachel Weiner.