PAJ was founded in 1976 by Bonnie Marranca and Gautam Dasgupta to publish important, original works in the field of the arts and the thoughtful critical thinking about them, to initiate new areas of scholarship and forms of critical commentary, to provide an ongoing discourse between art, artists, and the public. The well-established activities of the not-for-profit press include the publishing of a journal devoted to contemporary artworks and critical writing (PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art), and the publishing of volumes of books on performance and art events (PAJ Publications). In three decades PAJ has been responsible for the publication of more than 1000 plays and performance texts, translated from twenty languages. It is an influential force in arts publishing, influencing the university curriculum, the field of performance scholarship and documentation, and the theatrical repertoire.