American Theater Hall of Fame

The American Theater Hall of Fame was founded in 1971 in New York City. The first head of its executive committee was Earl Blackwell. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new Theater Hall of Fame would be located in the Uris Theatre (now the Gershwin Theatre), which was then under construction. James M. Nederlander and Gerard Oestreicher, who leased the theater, donated the space for the Hall of Fame; Arnold Weissberger was another founder. Blackwell ordered that the names of the first honorees "be embossed in bronze-gold lettering on the theater's entrance walls flanking its grand staircase and escalator".^[1]

The first members elected to the Theater Hall of Fame were Walter Huston, Rudolf Friml, Lee and J. J. Shubert, Norman Bel Geddes, Jeanne Eagels, Ferenc Molnár, P. G. Wodehouse, Clyde Fitch, Lillian Russell, Arthur Hopkins, Marie Dressler, George S. Kaufman, Brooks Atkinson, George Abbott, Thornton Wilder, Ethel Merman, Bert Lahr, Moss Hart, Robert E. Sherwood, Orson Welles, Maxwell Anderson and Clifford Odets.^[2]

Eligible inductees come from disciplines including actors, playwrights, songwriters, designers, directors, and producers who have had a career in American theater for at least 25 years and at least five major production credits on Broadway.^[3][4] Selections are made each year by voting members of the Theater Hall of Fame and the American Theatre Critics Association (ATCA). Induction takes place at a ceremony at the Gershwin Theatre in New York City, where the plaques containing the names of the inductees are hung.^[5]

No names were inducted between 1974 and 1979 due to a lack of funds.^[6] Since 1998, full accounts of the annual induction ceremonies, with quotes from both inductees and their presenters, have appeared in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. An index to these articles is on the ATCA website. An annual Theater Hall of Fame Fellowship Luncheon has been held annually since 2004 to salute a member "who continues to work on Broadway and also presents grants to emerging theatre artists".^[7]