When Mike Daisey was in town, he criticized the current state of the American theater. One of his complaints: how come the money spent on fancy buildings for theater didn’t go to endow resident acting companies? Well the Dallas Theater Center has a really fancy building, but thanks to a gift from Diane and Hal Brierley, they now have an extra $1 million for their acting company. The gift from the longtime Dallas arts patrons means the company will now be called the Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company. Here’s the full release:
Donors’ $1 million gift supporting Dallas Theater Center
renames Resident Acting Company
DALLAS (March 19, 2010) – In honor of a $1 million contribution from dedicated arts patrons Diane and Hal Brierley, Dallas Theater Center will rename its Resident Acting Company to the Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company.
The Brierley’s generosity will support DTC’s artistic programming, which includes its commitment to productions of classics, new plays and musicals of the highest caliber, meaningful community partnerships, and a resident company of professional actors.
“The passion and support that Diane and Hal have shown for the arts and for Dallas Theater Center through their generous donations, tireless efforts as board members and volunteers herald them as true champions of the arts in Dallas,” says DTC Managing Director Mark Hadley. “Without the confidence and faith of benefactors like the Brierleys, DTC’s work simply wouldn’t be possible.”
The $1 million gift comes just one year after DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty announced the re-establishment of a resident acting company, which includes Hassan El-Amin, Chamblee Ferguson, Matthew Gray, Sean Hennigan, Liz Mikel, Cedric Neal, Lee Trull, Sally Nystuen Vahle and Christina Vela.
“The Brierley’s gift recognizing the importance and scope of Dallas Theater Center’s work is an incredible honor,” said DTC Artistic Director Kevin Moriarty. “The members of our acting company are resident artists, teachers and citizens of Dallas. They are the theater’s ambassadors, actively engaged with the community and other organizations to create powerful art that is meaningful to our city. The gift allows us to strive to raise the quality of our work higher and higher.”
“The arts are very important to a city’s civic health and vitality, and Dallas Theater Center is an organization dear to us that consistently produces work of the highest quality for our community,” says Diane Brierley. “From the topnotch artistry onstage to the community outreach of its education programs, to their productive collaborations with other organizations, DTC is a vital arts organization in Dallas.”
Members of the Diane and Hal Brierley Resident Acting Company will be seen in the remaining shows of the season: The Beauty Plays (Feb. 23 – May 23), Death of a Salesman (April 16 – May 16), It’s a Bird…It’s a Plane…It’s Superman (June 18 – July 25), and member Matthew Gray, in addition to appearing in Death of a Salesman, directs The Shape of Things from The Beauty Plays series.
