Couple's Pledge Will Support Playwriting In America
Mary Schmidt Campbell, dean of the Tisch School of the Arts, announced that the school has received a major gift from Rita and Burton Goldberg to support playwriting in the Kanbar Institute of Film and Television's Department of Dramatic Writing. In recognition of Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg's pledge as well as their past generosity the department has been named The Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing.
"The pledge creating the Rita and Burton Goldberg Department of Dramatic Writing is a transformational gift for the Tisch School of the Arts," said Dean Campbell. "Their gift is a product of Mr. and Mrs. Goldberg's knowledge of American theatre and lifelong passion for playwriting, and for that we are all deeply grateful. We are honored to place their names on the department as their gift will not only support talented writers but it will also encourage others to support the art of playwriting."
"Here come these two people, riding out of Westchester County, these wonderful people, who want to help keep American theater vital," said Mark Dickerman, chair of the department. "We are honored that the Goldbergs feel support for emerging writers in our department is a way to do that. The programmatic changes will be substantial. There will be new faces on an already outstanding faculty, and changes in the curriculum that will lift the department in spirit and in fact."
The Goldberg gift will go toward establishing an endowment to provide salaries for three new master teachers a year, the continuation of the Rita and Burton Goldberg Prize in Playwriting--an annual cash award and production grant for a new play written in the department, additional scholarship and fellowships in playwriting for graduate and undergraduate students, a ticket program to subsidize theater tickets so students writers can go to the theater, and new production opportunities for matriculating students and even for alumni, the latter in a venue outside the university.
