"He's used to dealing with institutional theater," she said.

The nominations reflected the strength of the nonprofit, institutional theater.

Brantley: Yes, the established institutional theaters have been less interesting.

At the same time, the audience for straight plays at institutional theaters has been increasing.

The two institutional theaters will be paid for by the office and mart developers.

One reason may be that each musical originated in the more collegial world of institutional theater.

Officials at larger, institutional theaters were more measured in their feelings about the plan.

Many have abandoned their institutional theaters recently, and few seem to be in the pipeline to take their places.

"This kind of organization should help us become a real institutional theater."

"I guess my dream is to see whether there's a commercial model for a large institutional theater," he continued.