The Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre have announced an $18 million gift from the Minneapolis-based Robina Foundation to endow the creation of new works for the American stage.

The gift has two components: $3 million in operating funds and a $15 million endowment for the Yale Center for New Theatre, which will be renamed the Binger Center for New Theatre in honor of Robina Foundation founder James H. Binger.

Established in 2008 with a $2.85 million grant from the Robina Foundation and additional funding from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and individual donors, the center is an artist-driven initiative that commissions, develops, and produces new plays and musicals. One of its key components is the Production Enhancement Fund, which provides financial support to other theaters to produce works commissioned by or first produced at Yale Rep.

"Over the past four years...[the] Yale School of Drama and Yale Repertory Theatre have demonstrated tremendous thoughtfulness, innovation, and passion in developing a successful and viable model for the creation of new works for the American stage," said Robina Foundation board member Peter Karoff. "This gift is fundamentally an investment in creativity and in the exciting and important role that theatre plays in the human experience. We hope our gift will inspire other donors to be bold, to be transformative, and to invest deeply in all of the arts at organizations and institutions across the country."