that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . may 2016 learn how and when to remove this template message samuel french inc. type private founded 1830 headquarters new york city website main site samuel french inc. is an american company founded by samuel french and thomas hailes lacey who formed a partnership to combine their existing interests in london and new york city . it publishes plays represents authors and sells scripts from their los angeles uk and online bookstores . the firm has offices in new york city ; london ; hollywood california ; and studio city california . 1 the company s london subsidiary samuel french ltd. publishes stage plays for the uk market mostly acting editions serves as licensing agent for performance rights and runs a theatrical bookshop on its premises at fitzrovia in central london england . contents 1 history 2 key executives 3 breaking character 4 off off broadway short play festival 5 references 6 external links history edit samuel french inc. library edition of his majesty bunker bean . samuel french was born in massachusetts shortly after the turn of the 19th century and began publishing french s american drama in the mid 1800s in new york . it quickly became the most extensive and widely distributed catalogue in the us . french soon acquired a london dramatic publishing company originally founded by thomas hailes lacey and continued to expand his business on both sides of the atlantic samuel french managing the london business while his son thomas henry took control of the new york operations . in the late 1800s samuel french began publishing contemporary american dramas and helped the amateur theatre movement by making more plays available to little theatres a rewarding concept that had never before been done in the industry . by the turn of the century amateur interest in acting had increased enormously . as the quality and quantity of available plays improved so the number of amateur groups increased . the seeds of the little theatre movement were sown . by the time of the world war i such groups along with the high school societies were the firm s best customers . although both father and son had long since died the ny and london entities continued under the capable hands of their managing partners . from the mid 1940s to the early 90s the company witnessed much growth in its catalogue and business . during this time the stock companies including the league of regional theatres were flourishing ; so too were the little theatres and the development of the dinner theatre which was proving increasingly popular . from the mid 90 s to the present the samuel french catalogue has grown substantially with a focus on emerging playwrights carefully balanced by additional acquisitions of the most prominent american and british playwrights such as neil simon tom stoppard edward albee august wilson and david mamet to name but a few . key executives edit nate collins president bruce lazarus executive director breaking character edit samuel french publishes an online magazine entitled breaking character . on the site staff members and guest authors contribute to writing various articles related to the world of theatre . some topics include new publications title spotlights musical moments staff picks and playwright profiles . the magazine also allows for interaction with the public . off off broadway short play festival edit samuel french s annual off off broadway short play festival commonly referred to as oob takes place every summer in new york city . thousands of playwrights from around the world submit their short plays for consideration but only 30 are chosen to participate . the festival takes place over a week with 4 8 plays being presented per night . finalists are narrowed down and eventually six are chosen as the winners . winners are presented with publication and licensing rights and have their show published in a collection of winners from that year . the festival has resulted in the publishing of nearly 200 plays since its inception in 1975 . references edit samuel french inc. . retrieved 2007 12 13 . external links edit samuel french inc. breaking character online magazine off off broadway short play festival samuel french on facebook samuel french oob festival on facebook samuel french on twitter samuel french oob festival on twitter samuel french on instagram retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title samuel french inc. & oldid 739452850 categories book publishing companies based in new yorkcompanies established in 18301830 establishments in new yorkhidden categories articles with a promotional tone from may 2016all articles with a promotional tone navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 14 september 2016 at 19 37 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view