Created in 1968 to help an ailing New York City theatre industry, TDF now provides support to more than 900 plays and musicals, returning upward of $2 billion in revenue to thousands of Broadway, Off-Broadway and Off-Off Broadway music and dance productions. Here’s a timeline of significant moments and milestones in TDF history:
1968
- Theatre Development Fund, a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, is founded; opens temporary headquarters at Rockefeller Brothers Fund.
- Theatre Subsidy program begins with student tickets to The Great White Hope.
1972
- Voucher program for Off-Off Broadway theatre starts.
1974
- Costume Collection opens.
- Dance Voucher program starts.
- Lower Manhattan TKTS Discount Booth opens on William Street.
1976
- TDF offices move to 1501 Broadway.
1978
- Music Voucher program starts.
1980
- Dance Subsidy program starts.
- TDF presents first American Sign Language-interpreted Broadway performance: The Elephant Man.
- TDF consults with the Society of London Theatres to open TKTS London (originally called the Official Half Price Ticket Booth) in Leicester Square Gardens.
1983
- Lower Manhattan TKTS Discount Booth moves to 2 World Trade Center.
1988
- New expanded Times Square TKTS Discount Booth is installed in June, celebrating 15 years of TKTS.
1989
- TDF Travel begins with first package tour to London.
1991
- TDF and The Juilliard School partner to launch annual weeklong Interpreting for the Theatre Institute.
1993
- On February 26, a bomb explosion at the World Trade Center temporarily closes the Lower Manhattan TKTS Discount Booth. By March 15, it is back up and running at Manhattan Savings Bank at 4 World Trade Center.
- TDF Costume Collection launches the Irene Sharaff Awards.
- TDF and The Broadway League-sponsored Commercial Theater Institute presents first Robert Whitehead Award.
1994
- On June 6, New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani presents citation to TDF in honor of our 25th anniversary at Gracie Mansion reception for theatre.
1995
- Introduction to Theatre (originally called Stage Doors) program launches in January with a grant from Lexus.
- TDF Accessibility Program for Students launches with Talking Hands, which brings children with mild to severe hearing loss to American Sign Language-interpreted Broadway matinees.
- Young Playwrights program (originally called Residency Arts Project) begins, creating playwriting residencies in NYC high schools.
1997
- TDF presents first open captioned Broadway performance: Barrymore.
1998
- TDF and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Wendy Wasserstein create the Wendy Wasserstein Project (originally called Open Doors), a one-of-a-kind arts mentorship program for high school students.
1999
- TKTS2K competition to design a new Times Square TKTS Discount Booth launches and receives 683 entries from 31 countries.
2000
- TDF organizes first London tour for people with hearing loss.
- TDF presents the first open captioned performances in the UK at the Royal Shakespeare Company.
- Australian designers John Choi and Tai Ropiha win the TKTS2K competition.
2001
- Lower Manhattan TKTS Discount Booth destroyed on September 11; within one month, TDF opens temporary location at Bowling Green.
2002
- Lower Manhattan TKTS Discount Booth relocates to South Street Seaport.
2003
- TDF expands its open captioning program to include Off-Broadway productions
2004
- TDF Costume Collection moves to new space in Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens.
- TDF starts a National Open Caption Training Program, consulting with arts organizations throughout the country.
2006
- Father Duffy Square renovation breaks ground. Times Square TKTS Discount Booth moves to temporary location outside the New York Marriott Marquis.
2008
- Times Square TKTS Discount Booth returns to Father Duffy Square in its new location "under the red steps."
- TKTS offices move to 520 Eighth Avenue.
- TDF presents audio described Broadway performance for people who have low vision or are blind.
2011
- Autism Friendly Performances (originally called the Autism Theatre Initiative) begin with a performance of The Lion King on Broadway.
- TDF receives the Mayor's Award for Arts and Culture.
2012
2013
- TDF receives the Lucille Lortel Awards: Outstanding Body of Work for our support of the Off-Broadway community.
2014
- TDF starts a National Autism Friendly Training Program to help theatres across the country launch their own Autism Friendly Performances.
- TDF and Theatre Bay Area launch the Triple Play research project to investigate the relationship between audiences and new plays.
2016
- Introduction to Dance program launches.
- TDF and The Broadway League launch Theatre Access NYC, a website highlighting accessibility information for Broadway shows.
- TKTS opens a TKTS Discount Booth at Lincoln Center.
2017
2018
- TDF reaches goal of serving 10,000 students annually in our Introduction to Theatre program.
2020
- In response to the shutdown of in-person performances due to the pandemic, TDF reinvents many programs for virtual consumption, including Introduction to Theatre, the Wendy Wasserstein Project, Autism Friendly Performances and the Veterans Theatregoing Program.
- Community Connection Program launches in June, providing curated online arts programming in Mandarin, Cantonese, Spanish and English for older adults in NYC.
- TDF Costume Collection reopens on August 4 after a five-month shutdown—the first TDF program to reopen for in-person business.
2021
- As theatres across NYC resume performances, TDF reopens the Times Square TKTS Discount Booth on September 14 after an unprecedented 18-month shutdown.
- To help the theatre industry recover and build new audiences, TDF launches the Broadway Passport Series, offering members of 60 nonprofit organizations discount tickets to shows.
- Veterans Theatregoing Program returns to in-person performances with an outing to Broadway's Lackawanna Blues on October 10.
2022
- Autism Friendly Performances hosts its first in-person performance in two years: Broadway's Come From Away on January 30.
- Introduction to Theatre brings more than 1,000 students to The Lion King on March 2, the first full house from one program for any Broadway show since the pandemic began.