The Center for Fiction and Theatre Communications Group Present Playwrights Craft Talk: Annie Baker & Branden Jacobs-Jenkins

The Center for Fiction, a 200-year-old literary nonprofit that's created an immersive home for readers and writers in downtown Brooklyn, and Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, will co-present Craft Talk: Annie Baker & Branden Jacobs-Jenkins. Annie Baker and Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, who are close friends and accomplished playwrights. will dive into a conversation about realism and the fourth wall.

"Our first partner event with the Center for Fiction featured Jackie Sibblies Drury and Claudia Rankine in a powerful conversation about black lives and the white gaze on stage," said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. "The rapt attention of the sold-out audience reaffirmed TCG Books' belief that plays are literature and worthy of the same resources, respect, and critical attention as any other form. We have no doubt that Annie Baker and Branden Jacob-Jenkins will offer similar insights into the craft of theatre and its relationship to the world. "

The event will take place at the Center for Fiction 15 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn, NY 11217 on Tuesday, November 19, 2019 at 7pm. Admission is $10.00 and includes a $10 voucher to the nonprofit's bookstore.. Learn more and acquire your tickets here.

Since its founding in 1984, TCG Books has grown to become North America's largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature, with 17 Pulitzer Prizes for Drama on the TCG booklist. Under the leadership of publisher Terry Nemeth, TCG Books has published the work of more than 235 playwrights and other theatre professionals in single volumes and anthologies and sold over three million books. TCG Books has a dual objective: to bring new literary voices to public attention and to cultivate individual relationships with its playwrights that nurture their careers. TCG is committed to keeping its playwrights in print.

Annie Baker's plays include The Flick (Pulitzer Prize), John, The Aliens (Obie Award), Circle Mirror Transformation (Obie Award), and an adaptation of Anton Chekhov's Uncle Vanya. Her plays have been produced at more than two hundred theaters throughout the U.S. and in more than a dozen countries. She is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship, Guggenheim Fellowship, Steinberg Playwright Award, American Academy of Arts and Letters Award, and the Cullman Fellowship at the New York Public Library.

Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' plays include An Octoroon, Neighbors, Appropriate, and War. Gloria was named a finalist for the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. He is a playwright-in-residence at Signature Theatre. He received the 2014 Obie Award for Best New American Play for both An Octoroon and Appropriate, the 2015 Steinberg Playwrights Award, and the Windham-Campbell Literature Prize in 2016.

The Center for Fiction is the only nonprofit literary organization in the U.S. solely dedicated to celebrating fiction. It is known for hosting special literary events, including innovative panels, lectures and conversations, featuring the likes of Salman Rushdie, Mitchell S. Jackson, Christine Schutt, Salvatore Scibona, Téa Obreht, Laila Lalami, Maaza Mengiste, Jessica Hagedorn, Kaitlyn Greenidge, Jacqueline Woodson, Cherríe Moraga, Rigoberto González, Geoff Dyer, Miriam Toews, Meg Wolitzer, Julia Alvarez, Deborah Eisenberg, Alexander Chee, Cristina Rivera Garza, Jonathan Lethem, Rachel Cusk, Domenico Starnone and many more. The Center for Fiction provides grants and holds workshops to support emerging writers, hosts book groups on classic and contemporary fiction, and provides free books and hosts events for NYC students from K-12th grade, as well as summer writing workshops for budding authors. The bookstore, cafe, and terrace bar at their newly opened base in Brooklyn are open to the public and proceeds go to support the center's nonprofit programs. An important piece of New York City history, the Center for Fiction continues to build its renowned circulating library collection, begun in 1820 by New York City merchants before the advent of the public library system, and features historic and rare finds as well as the latest acquisitions.

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) exists to strengthen, nurture, and promote professional theatre in the U.S. and globally. 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 nearly 10,000 Individual Members. Through its Core Values of Activism, Artistry, Diversity, and Global Citizenship, TCG advances a better world for theatre and a better world because of theatre. TCG offers its members 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, approximately $2 million per year, 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 17 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. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its Member Theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre.www.tcg.org.