The Theatre Museum

The Theatre Museum (TTM) is located in the heart of New York City’s Times Square. Its mission is to preserve, protect and perpetuate the legacy of theatre, including Broadway theatre. The Theatre Museum continues the legacy The Broadway Theatre Institute began in 1995 by presenting Awards for Excellence in Theatre History Preservation and Theatre Arts Education.

From 1986 - 2003, the Broadway Theatre Institute developed programs that fostered the perpetuation and appreciation of theatre in New York and served more than 100,000 school children and adults in New York City. Its evolution and merger into The Theatre Museum in 2003 was the next step in its development. In 2007, the annual Awards for Excellence Ceremony is honoring esteemed actress Ellen Burstyn, "The New York Times" Chief Theater Critic Ben Brantley, actor, dancer and choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, and Arts Horizons, a renowned institution that uses professional performers to foster creativity in students K-12. was founded by John Devol and their board chair is Celeste Holm. These awards recognize individuals and/or organizations that have made significant contributions to the life of the theatre.

The Theatre Museum mounts exhibitions in New York throughout the year celebrating fascinating aspects of the unique experience that is the history of the theatre. Exhibitions include previously unexplored topics such as the architecture of the historic Times Square theatres to the history of the American showboat, which brought entertainment on adapted barges along rivers throughout the country -- everything from vaudeville to drama to moving pictures. The showboat exhibition currently on display in Red Hook Brooklyn until May 2008includes panels displaying images of showboats, playbills, programs, production photographs and written descriptions, artifacts, oral histories of those who lived on these entertainment barges, video clips, a painted scrim, and a calliope on performance days.

The Theatre Museum also has an extensive photo collection of historic Broadway shows, which was donated by board member Basil Hero, president of Broadway Digital Entertainment, a pioneer in preserving Broadway’s greatest masterpieces.

The founding members of The Theatre Museum in 2003 were Helen Marie Guditis, Tony Award winning producer Stewart F. Lane, Richard F. Bernstein, Esq, Linda B. Leff and William Rappaport.

Ms. Guditis sits on Manhattan Community Board 5 and represents that board on the Times Square Alliance Board of Directors, which serves the Theatre District in New York City. She has also served on the board of directors of the League of Professional Theatre Women and the New York Women’s Agenda. The Theatre Museum’s current board of trustees includes Stewart F. Lane, Helen Marie Guditis, George Thomas, William Walters] , James Heinze and Basil Hero.

Mr. Lane, known in the industry as “Mr. Broadway,” is a writer, director and producer whose credits include "Fiddler on the Roof", Thoroughly Modern Millie and "La Cage aux Folles", which won him the first of three Tony Awards at the age of 33. Mr. Hero has been cited on numerous occasions in The New York Times for his work with PBS to digitally preserve such masterpieces as the original "Death of a Salesman" with Lee J. Cobb and "The Iceman Cometh" with Jason Robards. William Walters is a VP of Theatrical Stage Workers Local One I.A.T.S.E.

External links

* http://www.TheTheatreMuseum.org