The organization is best known for its annual Steinberg/ATCA New play Award recognizing work developed and premiered in regional theaters.
The current chair of ATCA's executive committee is David John Chávez, a San Francisco-based theatre critic.
However, to date (2014), ATCA's recommendation has been accepted every year, even in 1987, with the then-controversial San Francisco Mime Troupe.
The American Theater Hall of Fame is located in the lobby of the Gershwin Theatre in New York City (current home of the musical Wicked).
ATCA members form an overwhelming percentage of the voters each year to decide new inductees, though the voting and award are administered by the Hall of Fame itself.
The annual induction ceremony of (in recent years) eight new members takes place at the end of January.
Past winners include important works, such as All the Way (which later won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play), 33 Variations, and The Piano Lesson.
[8] The current president of the Foundation board is Jay Handleman, longtime critic of the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.