Rita and Burton Goldberg wanted to do something to promote writing for the theatre. So they called up New York University in the mid-90s and volunteered. “Since then, they have given more than $1 million to Tisch, specifically to support student playwrights. They provide scholarships, foot the bill for an annual playwriting competition and finance a master playwrights’ program that during the last three years has brought John Guare, Kenneth Lonergan, Marsha Norman, Wendy Wasserstein, Tina Howe and Neil LaBute to Tisch classrooms and lecture halls for a semester apiece.”