Philadelphia Theatre Company has long held the contemporary American playwright at the core of its mission. Founded in 1974 as The Philadelphia Company by Robert Hedley and Jean Harrison, Philadelphia Theatre Company was the first of our city's ambitious young performing arts companies to produce bold new work, while inviting audiences to participate in the development process.

Under the direction of Sara Garonzik since 1982, Philadelphia Theatre Company has introduced more than 140 new plays and musicals to audiences in Philadelphia, New York and around the country, establishing the Company's national reputation for artistic quality, risk-taking and diverse programming. Philadelphia Theatre Company extends the intellectual life of each production with ongoing symposia, discussions, an "American Playwrights in Context" series, Playwise Magazine, and guest lectures. PTC also offers a comprehensive in-school program, the Career Development Initiative, and the STAGES new play reading series.

World premieres produced by Philadelphia Theatre Company include the PTC-commissioned The Happiness Lecture, conceived by and starring Bill Irwin; Being Alive with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and conceived and directed by Billy Porter; Nerds://A Musical Software Satire by Jordan Allen-Dutton, Erik Weiner, and Hal Goldberg; Some Men by Terrence McNally (recently produced at Second Stage Theatre); Adrift in Macao by Christopher Durang and Peter Melnick (later produced at Primary Stages); Bruce Graham's According to Goldman; Jeffrey Hatcher's A Picasso (New York premiere at the Manhattan Theatre Club in 2005); Daniel Stern's comedy Barbra's Wedding (moved to the Westside Arts Theatre in 2003); John Henry Redwood's No Niggers, No Jews, No Dogs; J.T. Rogers' White People; David Ives' Lives of the Saints; three-time Tony Award-winning Master Class by Terrence McNally, starring Zoe Caldwell; Bunny Bunny by Alan Zweibel (Lucille Lortel Award, 1997); and the American premiere of Birdy by Naomi Wallace.

Philadelphia Theatre Company has received numerous "Best Theater Company" citations from media sources such as the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Magazine, Philadelphia Weekly, Philadelphia Style Magazine, and Philadelphia City Paper. Since 1995, Philadelphia Theatre Company has received 122 nominations and 36 awards from Philadelphia's Barrymore Awards.

The 2008/2009 season will mark PTC's second season on the Avenue of the Arts in the magnificent new Suzanne Roberts Theatre.