{"value"=>"<p>This series is arranged in alphabetical order and contains files that document over four decades of Wynn Handman's position as artistic director and chief financial officer of the American Place Theatre. The bulk of the series is made up of correspondence, but it also contains appointment books, awards, notes, photographs, and subject files.</p> <p>Handman's extensive correspondence is arranged in chronological order. The majority of the correspondence consists of carbon copies of outgoing letters regarding programming at the theater and Handman's fundraising efforts. Handman played a central role in fundraising for the theater and letters soliciting donations are consistent and plentiful. He would often write personal letters to donors asking them to underwrite a particular production or project. These letters are highly detailed and give good overviews of the projects. Handman also frequently wrote replies to critics and editors regarding their reviews of American Place Theatre produced plays. Additionally, the correspondence includes incoming letters from playwrights accompanying scripts for submission, and from former staff members and students requesting references. Handman received birthday and holiday cards from directors, actors, and former students demonstrating the close relationships he cultivated at the theater and at his acting studio. Correspondence from the 2000s primarily consists of invitations to events and holiday cards. Statements from writers convey what working with the American Place Theatre meant to writers like William Hauptman, Robert Lowell, Jonathon Reynolds, Ronald Ribman, and Steve Tesich. Also included is correspondence to and from Paula Vogel, Handman's assistant in the late 1970s, written on Handman's behalf.</p> <p>Awards consist of three Audelco awards in recognition for excellence in black theater, a Cornerstone Theater Company commemorative award, and an Obie award for sustained achievement. Typescripts of speeches can be found in the Georgetown University and University of Miami files, where Handman gave a speech at the dedication of the Gonda Theatre and upon receiving an honorary doctorate, respectively. The New York Times file regards a letter Handman wrote to the New York Times replying to the exchange between theater critic Walter Kerr and Howard Klein, then Director of Arts at the Rockefeller Foundation, on Klein's rebuttal of Kerr's negative review of the play, Isadora Duncan Sleeps with the Russian Navy.</p>"}