Actors Theatre of Louisville

Actors Theatre of Louisville is a non-profit performing arts theater located in downtown Louisville, Kentucky. Actors Theatre was founded in 1964 following the merging of two local companies, Actors, Inc. and Theatre Louisville, operated by Louisville natives Ewel Cornett and Richard Block. Designated as the "State Theater of Kentucky" in 1974, the theatre has been called one of America's most consistently innovative professional theatre companies, with an annual attendance of 150,000. The theatre presents almost 400 performances annually, including classics and contemporary work through the Brown-Forman Series, holiday plays, a series of free theatrical events produced by the Professional Training Company, and the Humana Festival of New American Plays. In addition, the theatre provides arts experiences to students across the region through its education department and supports a pre-professional resident training program, the Professional Training Company. The theatre has been the recipient of a Tony Award for Distinguished Achievement, the James N. Vaughan Memorial Award for Exceptional Achievement and Contribution to the Development of Professional Theatre, and the Margo Jones Award for the Encouragement of New Plays. The theater has toured to 29 cities and 15 countries. Currently, there are more than 50 published books of plays and criticism from the theater in circulation—including anthologies of Humana Festival plays, volumes of ten-minute plays and monologues, and essays, scripts and lectures from the Brown-Forman Classics in Context Festival. Numerous plays first produced at the theatre have also been published as individual acting editions. Humana Festival of New American Plays The Humana Festival has introduced nearly 450 plays into the American and international theatre's general repertoire, including three Pulitzer Prize winners—The Gin Game by D. L.