The Royal Shakespeare Company is proud of its long and close relationship with America. 2013 marks 100 years since a Shakespeare acting company from Stratford-upon-Avon first visited American shores. It is a relationship which has continued to develop and over the past 50 years the RSC has visited over 40 US cities and found warm welcomes and made many friends and supporters. We are extremely grateful to RSCA for all their help and support.
Through the dedicated work of our RSC America Board and US Advisory Council, we have established a core of American donors who make a crucial contribution to the on-going work of the company. Recent donations have directly enabled us to extend our Stand up for Shakespeare schools programme to the US, stage a six-week residency in association with The Ohio State University at Park Avenue Armory as part of Lincoln Center Festival, commission new plays by playwrights from around the world and to continue our Artist Development programme, which gives actors the opportunity to progress their stage skills through diverse training. Our wide range of work in the US includes our collaboration with The Ohio State University; encouraging young people to Stand up for Shakespeare, and our collaboration with Park Avenue Armory; which brings our Young People's Shakespeare to over 1,000 New York City public school students through live performances and will be available to a further 1.1 million New York schoolchildren through a production film.
In April 2013, we open our production of Matilda the Musical on Broadway with our producing partners, The Dodgers. And of course, each year we welcome many American visitors to our productions and Shakespeare's home here in Stratford-upon-Avon. All our company, whether acting, directing, writing, or working as technical, front of house or administrative staff, collaborate to produce excellent, innovative and moving live theatre experiences and we are so pleased to share this with visitors from America and around the world.
These are exciting times for the RSC and our relationships in the US. I look forward to getting to know our American audiences, to building on our many transatlantic achievements and to developing the Company's excellence at home and internationally.
Catherine Mallyon, RSC Executive Director