American Theatre Wing

On the eve of America’s entry into the first World War in 1917, seven ladies of theatre-Rachel Crothers, Louise Closser Hale, Dorothy Donnelly, Josephine Hull, Minnie Dupree, Bessie Tyree and Louise Drew-converged to discuss the possibility of forming an organization to aid in war relief. The Stage Women’s War Relief was born and began operation within the next few weeks. In January 1940, with another war brewing in Europe, Ms. Crothers picked up where the Stage Women’s War relief had left off, and along with Antoinette Perry, formed the American Theatre Wing. During World War II, the Wing sponsored fifty-four separate programs, in New York and around the world. The Wing established eight Stage Door Canteens throughout the United States as well as in London and Paris. When the war ended, the Wing changed its focus to two purposes – to further the welfare of the theatre itself and to utilize the resources of the theatre in the service of the community. On June 28, 1946, one day shy of her 58th birthday, Antoinette Perry had a fatal heart attack. She had done so much to lead the Wing during its early years, and had done so much for the Broadway community as a whole, that Brock Pemberton proposed the Antoinette Perry Award be established in her honor to recognize achievement on Broadway. At the initial event in 1947, when he presented an award, he called it a Tony. After all this time, the American Theatre Wing is still presenting the Tony Awards in her honor and still utilizing the resources of the theatre to advance the art form of live theatre.