Samuel L. Jackson and LaTanya Richardson Jackson donated $25,000 dollars to Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theatre, at the annual 2023 TCG "Our Stories" Gala inside New York City's the Edison Ballroom. TCG was honoring the couple with an award presented by Vanessa William when Richardson Jackson, who accepted the award on her and her husband’s behalf, presented the check. TCG also celebrated its One Million Books Campaign, which will make one million TCG plays available to schools, university and public libraries, independent bookstores and more.
"We are so happy to be a part of the theater communication group and what they have done in the past with schools and students and with all of us who love the theater," said Richard Jackson, who is currently directing her husband in the hit Broadway revival of The Piano Lesson, during her acceptance speech. "What they're doing to put August Wilson's plays and his century cycle into libraries, universities and schools everywhere is extraordinary. And before books are banned altogether, we should all work together to make sure that this occurs... Sam and I are happy to leave the Theater Communications Group with a little check."
Broadway producer and EBONY Power 100 recipient Brian Anthony Moreland, one of the forces behind The Piano Lesson's success, and renowned publicist Rick Miramontez co-chaired the evening. Broadway royalty Lillias White, TV and stage star Alex Newell and Sidney DuPont, who received a Tony nominee for his work in Paradise Square, performed.
TCG Books is the largest independent trade publisher of dramatic literature in North America, with 19 winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama on its book list. Books sets of August Wilson’s most noted plays were auctioned off during the evening, which raised more that $300,000 for the organization. TCG Books and the One Million Books Campaign are supported by The Mellon Foundation.
