Theatre

 

2009 TLA Awards Ceremony

Friday, October 9, 2009

Please join us at 5:30 PM for TLA's Annual Business Meeting, followed immediately at 6:00 PM by the awards presentation and champagne reception.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
Bruno Walter Auditorium
111 Amsterdam Avenue, between 64th and 65th Streets
New York City

RSVP: (212) 870-1644 or performingarts@nypl.org



Book Awards

Authors, publishers and members of the Theatre Library Association are invited to submit nominations for the GEORGE FREEDLEY MEMORIAL AWARD, honoring books on the theatre and live performance, and the THEATRE LIBRARY ASSOCIATION AWARD, honoring books on film and broadcasting. The Awards recognize works of exceptional scholarship in published form that have utilized the resources of academic, research and public libraries and are annually in New York City in October for books published during the previous calendar year. A cash prize accompanies each award.

Details regarding submission can be found at eligibility and submissions criteria.

For more information, contact Book Awards Chair, Brook Stowe.


The George Freedley Memorial Award

Established in 1968 to honor the late George Freedley, theatre historian, critic, author, and first curator of the New York Public Library Theatre Collection, the George Freedley Memorial Award honors the best English-language work about live theatre published in the United States. Books with subjects related to live theatrical performance (including vaudeville, puppetry, pantomime, the circus, etc.) will be considered for this award. Eligible books may include biography, history, theory, criticism, reference, or related fields.

AWARD FOR 2008

Jayna Brown
Babylon Girls: Black Women Performers and the Shaping of the Modern
(Duke University Press)

Babylon Girls, a groundbreaking study of African-American women performing in cabaret acts, chorus lines and burlesque revues between 1890 and 1945 was hailed by Freedley juror Jason Rubin as a "necessary" scholarly addition to the areas of entertainment history, race and gender and performance studies. "Jayna Brown's investigation ... of singing and dancing performances by black women entertainers," Rubin wrote, "... opens our eyes, ears, hearts and minds to the fabulous women ... who helped shape the codes of reception in the white and black audiences who in turn negotiated the evolution of the modern woman."

George Freedley Memorial Award Jurors: Robert Melton, University of California, San Diego; Susan Peters, University of Texas; Jason Rubin, Washington College

Previous Winners

Finalists



The Theatre Library Association Award

Established in 1973, this award is given each year to the best English-language book about recorded performance, including motion pictures, television, and radio.

AWARD FOR 2008

Mark Harris
Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood
(Penguin Books)

TLA juror John Calhoun cited Mark Harris' Pictures at a Revolution: Five Movies and the Birth of the New Hollywood (Penguin Books) as "valuable as both film and social history." Fellow TLA juror Catherine Ritchie noted that Harris' examination of five 1967 Hollywood films "offers nostalgia for those moviegoers of a certain generation whose world views were shaped by those ... films ultimately entering the national consciousness and, for the younger generation, an engrossing and entertaining introduction to a ridiculously abundant era in American and cinema history." Juror Calhoun added that author Harris' work "represents a rare combination of scholarly research and richly entertaining prose."

Theatre Library Association Award Jurors: John Calhoun, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts; Madeline Matz, The Library of Congress; Catherine Ritchie, Dallas Public Library

Previous Winners

Finalists

 


Distinguished Achievement in Service and Support of Performing Arts Libraries Award

This award honors persons whose vision, energy, and knowledge have extended the boundaries of librarianship and performance-related scholarship; they may be performing arts librarians, curators, archivists, scholars or others in related professions.

For more information, contact Distinguished Achievement Award Chair, Phyllis Dircks.

The current honorees are:

Robert Taylor
Former Curator, Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts,
Vice President of TLA (1990-1996), Acting President (1993-1994) and Board Member

&

Special TLA Lifetime Membership to

Louis Rachow

Former President, Theatre Library Association


Previous Winners

 

For further information, contact Kenneth Schlesinger
For assistance with membership needs-dues payments, receipt of publications and mailings, etc.,  contact David Nochimson

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