Maintaining the New Audience for Theatre

In June 1965 a group of dedicated professional artists of the theatre met in Paris, France to create the International Association of Theatre for Children and Youth (ASSITEJ). Four days later ASSITEJ was born, and its story began in Volume I (1964-1975) of this history. Now Volume III covers the years from 1991 to 2005, a period of ASSITEJ's greatest growth, a period of rededication to the Association's original ideals and purpose, and a world-wide expansion under new leadership. The Secretariat also entered the current world in terms of communication and committee activity. ASSITEJ now has over 80 national centers around the world. Its Secretariat is currently in Croatia, and the 15 members of its current Executive Committee (2011-2014) come from Argentina, Australia, Austria, Cameroon, Croatia, Germany, Iceland, India, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Serbia, South Africa, United Kingdom, and USA. Volume III completes this History of the first forty years of the existence of ASSITEJ.

NAT EEK, PhD is a Regents Professor Emeritus of Drama, and Dean Emeritus of Fine Arts at the University of Oklahoma. He was personally involved in the first ten years of ASSITEJ, as a member of the Executive Committee, a Vice-President, and ultimately its President. He was named Honorary President of ASSITEJ. He has attended all the International Congresses of this History with the exception of the Moscow Congress in 1984.

KIM PETER KOVAC, an MFA graduate of the University of Texas - Austin, is Producing Director of the Kennedy Center Theater for Young Audiences in Washington, DC, which commissions, produces, and presents productions for young audiences. Since 2002 he has been on the Executive Committee of ASSITEJ/Int'l serving as Vice-President. He has conducted seminars on TYA both nationally and internationally. In 2011 he co-founded Write Local. Play Global, an international network for playwrights for young audiences, which presently has over 500 members in 64 countries.

KATHERINE KRYZS is the Curator of the Child Drama Collection and Theatre Specialist for the Arizona State University Libraries, where the archives of ASSITEJ/USA and personal documentation about ASSITEJ are held. Her archival training includes The Modern Archive Institute at the National Archives in Washington, DC. She has also attended several of the International Congresses.