Baltimore's Peter Culman has been cited with a lifetime achievement award from Theatre Communications Group. Here are the details from the folks at Centerstage...

As Baltimore-area theaters proudly hosted about 700 colleagues at the annual conference of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for the American not-for-profit theater, CENTERSTAGE received a surprise amid all the excitement: Peter Culman, former CENTERSTAGE Managing Director and an honorary committee chairman for the conference—was awarded the TCG Theatre Practitioner Award, for his life-long dedication to the theater.

The TCG Theatre Practitioner Award “recognizes an individual—artist or administrator, institutionally affiliated or unaffiliated—whose work in the American theater has evidenced exemplary achievement over time and who has contributed significantly to the development of the larger field.”

Culman was presented the award by Victoria Nolan, Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, who began her career under Peter’s tutelage at CENTERSTAGE, where she eventually served as Associate Managing Director. Culman graciously accepted the honor; his brief speech focused on the importance of collaboration and teamwork, repeating his favorite quote from the Quaker author and philosopher, Douglas Steere: “To listen another soul into a condition of disclosure and discovery may be almost the greatest service that any human being performs for another.”

Arriving at CENTERSTAGE in November of 1966, Peter Culman served as Managing Director until 2000. Over the years, he was a constant guiding presence at the theater through 200 productions, the landmark fire of 1974, the rebirth of CENTERSTAGE on Calvert Street, and the theater’s continued growth into the innovative and risk-taking institution it is today. In addition to his years at CENTERSTAGE, Peter served two terms as president of the League of Resident Theaters (LORT), as a board member of both Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and American Arts Alliance, and also served on the National Endowment for the Arts Theater Overview panel. TCG previously presented him with the Zeisler Award for distinguished service in non-profit professional theater in 1991.