Kurt Peterson & Victoria Mallory,
Of the Original Casts of Follies and the Lincoln Center Revival of West Side Story,
Reunite On the NY Stage for the First Time in 40 Years:
When Everything Was Possible
A Concert (with comments)

Featuring New Orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick

Introduction By Ted Chapin, Author of Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies”

ONE NIGHT ONLY: Sunday April 29th (7:30pm) at City Center

James William Productions and Stephenie Skyllas will present Kurt Peterson andVictoria Mallory in When Everything Was Possible, A Concert (with comments),for one night only, Sunday April 29th (7:30pm) at New York City Center (131 West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues), as a benefit for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. They will be joined by a thirteen-piece band (Michael Rafter, Music Director), playing new orchestrations by Tony Award winner Jonathan Tunick. Larry Moss directs, with musical staging by Joshua Bergasse (“Smash”). Carolyn Wong will provide lighting design, with sound design by Leon Rothenberg and projection design by Telegraphicmedia.

The show will also feature images of stage photography from the era’s greatest photographers including Van Williams, Kenn Duncan, and others – many never before on public display. The concert, featuring songs from the shows they were in – including The Frog Prince, Aladdin, West Side Story, Dear World, Carnival, Dames at Sea, Follies, On the Town, A Little Night Music and Sondheim – A Musical Tribute - will have an out-of-town workshop/preview at the Triad Stage, in Greensboro, NC, in March.

This is the story of Victoria Mallory and Kurt Peterson in the present but also the story of New York, 1966 -’74, the last gasp of the golden age of the American Musical, when everything was possible.  Following their inner music, two kids came to the biggest city in the world and went to work. They didn’t want to be famous – they wanted to be good. Along the way they sang for Noel Coward, with Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim, Jerry Herman, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and Leonard Bernstein; hung out with Liz and Dick; sat in the Oval Office and the Apollo capsule; flew the Lunar Lander and crashed on the faux surface of the Moon. And in the summer of ’68, as the world flew apart, these two unknowns held court at the State Theatre at Lincoln Center, captivating audiences as Tony and Maria in West Side Story. Together with the talented gangs of Jets and Sharks they made a statement about the world’s bigotry and violence in a way that only words, music and dance can. They worked, lived, grew close, grew up, made mistakes and finally… parted. 36 years would pass until they would meet again, and they found they still had a few things left to say – and sing.

“How lucky we all are to have Victoria Mallory and Kurt Peterson back together again, and sharing their musical lives with us!  The personal story told and sung by these two talented artists will take some of us back, and introduce others to a rich era in not-too-distant history. Two young kids arriving in New York, who find careers that touch some of the legendary people and legendary shows, is only the beginning.  What happened, both professionally and personally, is quite remarkable,” said Ted Chapin, President of the Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization, and Chair of the American Theater Wing.

Tickets from $60 may be purchased online at www.nycitycenter.org, by calling CityTix at 212/581-1212, or at the Box Office (131 West 55th St.). Special VIP tickets are available for $150 and include a post-show reception with the cast & creative team. 

Victoria Mallory made her Broadway debut when Richard Rodgers and Leonard Bernstein chose her to star as Maria in the first revival of West Side Story at Lincoln Center. She went on to play Lili in City Center’s revival of Carnival.  For Harold Prince and Stephen Sondheim,Victoria originated the roles of Young Heidi in Follies and Anne Egerman in A Little Night Music. She also re-introduced and first recorded Stephen Sondheim songs in Sondheim – A Musical Tribute and in An Evening of Stephen Sondheim at The Whitney Museum. Victoria has starred in the nation’s major theatres including Los Angeles Civic Light Opera, Pittsburgh CLO, St. Louis MUNY Opera, Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars, Kansas City Starlight, Dallas Summer Musicals, Utah’s Pioneer Theatre, and the Irish Rep in NYC, in roles as diverse as Christine/Carlotta in Phantom, Magnolia in Show Boat, Kate in Kiss Me Kate, Marian in The Music Man, Lily in The Secret Garden, Sarah in Guys and Dolls, Maria in The Sound of Musicand Abigail in 1776. Television audiences know Victoria as the concert pianist, Leslie Brooks from the CBS daytime drama, “The Young and The Restless” and Dr. Denise Foxworthy on NBC’s “Santa Barbara.” Other TV credits include guest starring roles on “Everwood,” “Touched By An Angel,” “Promised Land,” the female lead in the made-for-television movie “The Unabomber,” and three CBS musical specials: “The Emperor’s New Clothes,” “Aladdin,” and “After Hours.” She received an Emmy nomination for “Singin’, Swingin, and All That Jazz.”Victoria has been a professional director/choreographer for productions including The Wizard of Oz, Joseph…, Side by Side by Sondheim, and Yours, Anne, and choreographer for Oliver, Nuncrackers, Mr. Popper’s Penguins and A Village Fable. Victoria is a founding member and teacher at The Voice Studio. Most recently, she was seen in A Child’s Christmas in Wales at the Irish Repertory Theatre. Victoria is slated to star in the new Broadway musical, In the Summer of ’68, in 2013.

Kurt Peterson began his career when Leonard Bernstein and Richard Rodgers chose him to play Tony in the revival of West Side Story at Lincoln Center. On Broadway he starred opposite Angela Lansbury in Dear World and created the role of Young Ben in Stephen Sondheim’sFollies. Off-Broadway Kurt starred in Dames at Sea and By Bernstein, and appeared in the Town Hall productions of Knickerbocker Holiday, Music in the Air and I Married an Angel. Kurt starred opposite Patti LuPone in the Broadway-bound The Baker’s Wife. He also starred in the highly acclaimed Canadian premiere of Company and Rob Marshall’s production of Side By Side By Sondheim. Kurt was featured in the 75th birthday celebrations Wall to Wall Sondheimand Children & Art honoring Stephen Sondheim and has performed as a leading man in many productions around the country and in Europe. Kurt and his company, James William Productions (JWP), produced the acclaimed Sondheim–A Musical Tribute, the first celebration of America’s foremost composer/lyricist, helped launch the NY and London productions of Angela Lansbury’s Gypsy, produced the live tours of WPIX-TV’s classic children’s show The Magic Garden, and the National Tour of Rob Marshall’s innovative Side By Side By Sondheim. Recent projects include co-producing the New York productions and National Tour of the Stephen Schwartz family musical Captain Louie, the Off-Broadway production of the play Capture Now, directed by Larry Moss, and the BC/EFA benefit Alone At Last featuring the music of Ian Herman. JWP is currently represented by the Helen Hayes and Drama Desk Award winning play, Zero Hour, about theatre legend Zero Mostel, now touring the US andCanada.  In 2013 look for the new musical In the Summer of ’68. Kurt is the owner of New York City’s The Voice Studio, home to more than 300 students and some of Broadway’s greatest teachers and performers. For more information, visit www.jameswilliamproductions.com

Larry Moss (Director) began his career on Broadway in Drat! The Cat!, Neil Simon’s God’s Favorite, directed by Michael Bennett, So Long 174th Street, The Robber Bridgegroom, and I Love My Wife. After teaching at Julliard and Circle in the Square, he moved to Los Angelesand founded The Larry Moss Studio, where he directed and developed Pamela Gien’s The Syringa Tree, which won the Obie Award for Best Play, Drama Desk and Outer Circle Critics Awards, a Drama League Honor and a nomination for the John Gassner Playwriting Award.The Syringa Tree has played to sold-out houses worldwide. Moss also directed the TV adaptation. He developed and directed Bo Eason’s Runt of the Litter, voted one of the top ten plays of the year by NY Daily News and bought by Castle Rock to be made into a major motion picture. Moss directed Michael Raynor’s Who is Floyd Stearn; Richard Kalinoski’s Beast on the Moon; Jack Holmes’s RFK (Drama League Award); April Daisy White‘s Sugar; Richard Vetere’s How to Go Out on a Date in Queens; Richard Hellersen’s Dos Corazones (play and film); and the World Premiere of Jam, starring Clint Holmes. He did a workshop of John Osborne’s Epitaph for George Dillon in New York for the first time in fifty years in 2008. He directed Capture Now, I Love My Wife starring Jason Alexander, John Patrick Shanley’sBeggars in the House of Plenty, and Imagining Heschel.  He will be directing the films Relative Insanity, and Chiseled. Moss coached Sutton Foster in Broadway’s Anything Goes (Tony Award); Helen Hunt in As Good As It Gets (Academy Award); Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cryand Million Dollar Baby (Academy Awards); Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile(Academy Award nomination); Hank Azaria in Tuesdays With Morrie (Emmy Award); Jim Carrey in The Majestic; Tobey Maguire in Seabiscuit; Leonardo DiCaprio in The Aviator(Golden Globe Award and Academy Award nomination); The Departed (Golden Globe nomination); Blood Diamond (Golden Globe and Academy Award nomination); Shutter Islandand Inception. Moss’s teaching career includes US, Canada and Europe; he is one of the master teachers on “Triple Sensation,” for CBC in Canada.  His book on acting, The Intent To Live, was released by Bantam Dell. 

Michael Rafter (Music Director) is involved in everything music. He wrote scoring and arrangements for Arthur (2011) starring Russell Brand, was the music supervisor for Broadway’s Everyday Rapture and worked on Sutton Foster’s National Tour. He was the Associate Music Supervisor for Jersey Boys Australian production and has traveled the globe with many Jersey Boys productions. Sutton Foster and Michael collaborated on her solo CD’sWish (2009) and Sutton Foster, Live at The Carlyle (2011). He also co-produced Norm Lewis’s solo CD, This Is The Life, and the recording of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Broadway show, Caroline, Or Change. Michael conducted Gypsy on Broadway starring Tyne Daly and won an Emmy Award for his music direction of Bette Midler’s TV version. Movie music credits include Music and Lyrics and Did You Hear about the Morgans? On Broadway, Michael has served as music director/conductor of Thoroughly Modern Millie, The Sound of Music, The King & I and Gypsy and did the arrangements for Swing and Sweet Charity. He was one of the 2 piano duos that played the Broadway revival of The Most Happy Fella. He has supervised Broadway and/or National tours of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Sunset Boulevard, The Sound of Music, and The Buddy Holly Story. Off-Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along andViolet. Michael was the music director/conductor for The American Songbook series at Alice Tully Hall, music director for “Broadway’s Best” on Bravo where he worked with such artists as Trisha Yearwood, Kevin Bacon, Joan Osborne, Mandy Moore, Cyndi Lauper, Darius Rucker, and Shawn Colvin. Michael is the co-founder of Destination Broadway, a summer theatre program for children 8-18 years old. Currently, he is working as music director/arranger for the upcoming revival of The Unsinkable Molly Brown.

Joshua Bergasse (Musical Staging) is a NYC based teacher and choreographer and has been a member of the Broadway Dance Center Faculty since 1998. His credits as a choreographer include American Songbooks; Fascinatin’ Rhythm (Allen Room, Jazz @ Lincoln Center); The Face Of Tisch, Gala 2010 (Rose Hall, Jazz @ Lincoln Center); Bomb-Itty Of Errors (Off-Broadway); Captain Louie (Little Shubert, York Theater); BC/EFA’s Gypsy Of The Year Opener for 2007 and 2008 (New Amsterdam Theatre); Fame The Musical (National & International Tours); Solo Pido – Bianca Marroquin In Concert (Mexico City); West Side Story(Stratford Festival, Barrington Stage Company, Fulton Theatre, North Carolina Theatre);Carousel, The World Goes ‘Round (Barrington Stage); La Cage…, Beehive, Cagney (Riverside Theatre); Smokey Joe’s Cafe (AMTSJ, Maltz Jupiter Theatre, Riverside); Tommy, South Pacific, Crash Nation (Cherry County Playhouse); The Baker Dances (Indiana University.) Joshua has performed in the Broadway and/or National touring companies of Movin Out, Hairspray, The Life, and West Side Story. Besides being on faculty at BDC, Josh is the artistic director for the Musical Theater Performance Project at BDC, and has been a guest artist at NYU, Marymount Manhattan College, Indiana University, James Madison University,Shenendoah University, Kean University, Creighton University and the University of California Satellite program. He’s toured with Manhattan DanceProject, West Coast Dance Explosion, and Tremaine. Joshua is currently represented by Stephen Speilberg’s television show “Smash!” which premieres February 6th on NBC starring Debra Messing, Megan Hilty, Katharine McPhee and Anjelica Houston.

Jonathan Tunick is the first orchestrator to have won a Tony Award®; indeed he is one of very few persons to have won all four major American awards in entertainment: the Grammy® (“No One Is Alone,” 1988), Emmy® (“Night of 100 Stars,” 1982), Tony® (Titanic, 1997), and Oscar® (A Little Night Music, 1977). Additionally, he has received Drama Desk Awards forPassion, Titanic, and Lovemusik, and has been showered with nominations: seven Tony® nominations for Best Orchestration (Marie Christine, Follies, Nine, Pacific Overtures,Lovemusik, 110 in the Shade, A Catered Affair) and eight times for the Drama Desk (Baby, Into the Woods, Captains Courageous, Saturday Night, Follies, Elaine Stritch At Liberty, The Apple Tree, A Catered Affair). In 1982 he was given a Special Award by the Drama Desk. Although Tunick has been associated most closely with Stephen Sondheim (Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods,Passion, Putting It Together, The Frogs), he has also worked with composers Charles Strouse (Dance a Little Closer, Nick & Nora), Maury Yeston (Nine, Titanic), Marvin Hamlisch (A Chorus Line), Michael John LaChiusa (Marie Christine), and many others. Tunick has orchestrated, re-orchestrated, or composed for nearly sixty stage shows, from Take Five in 1957 to the revival of Promises, Promises in 2010; thirteen films, from The Twelve Chairs in 1970 to Sweeney Todd in 2007 (including Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, A Little Night Music, Fort Apache the Bronx, Endless Love, and Reds); and dozens scores for television.

Theodore S. Chapin is President and Executive Director of The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization. Currently he is Chairman of the Board of Directors for the American Theater Wing. He has also been chairman of the Advisory Committee for New York City Center’s Encores! series since its inception, and serves on several boards including Goodspeed Musicals, Connecticut College, and City Center. He served as a Tony Awards nominator for two seasons, and is currently a member of the Tony Administration Committee. His career began as production or directorial assistant for the Broadway productions of Follies, The Rothschilds and The Unknown Soldier and His Wife, as well as Bernstein’s Mass at theKennedy Center, and Candide in San Francisco. As Associate to Alan Arkin, he worked on the original Broadway production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys, Twigs starring Carol Burnett (CBS); and Neil Cuthbert’s The Soft Touch. He was Musical Director for the National Theatre of the Deaf’s production of Four Saints in Three Acts, and Producer of the Musical Theatre Lab. His book, Everything Was Possible: The Birth of the Musical “Follies,” was published by Alfred A. Knopf, and in paperback by Applause Books.

Stephenie Skyllas (Producer) is an independent theatrical producer and general manager.  Her recent credits include producing The Chalkboard Trilogy for Up Theater Company andTales From The Tunnel Off-Broadway at the Bleecker Street Theater.  Stephenie spent five seasons at New York City Center as General Manager that included fifteen Encores!, threeEncores! Summer Stars (Gypsy with Patti LuPone; Damn Yankees with Sean Hayes & Jane Krakowski; The Wiz with Ashanti), A Gala Evening with Kristin Chenoweth and the Sondheim 80th Birthday Gala. Other NY credits include work at Roundabout Theatre Company, Richard Frankel Productions and Manhattan Theatre Club. Stephenie is a member of Essential Voices USA with whom she’s had the joy of singing at the 2011 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting with Neil Diamond (broadcast on NBC), Carnegie Hall, Symphony Space, and recording “Mr. President” (featured on NPR). Stephenie and her company, Over~Sky Productions, also serve as general manager for When Everything Was Possible, A Concert (with comments).

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS is one of the nation’s leading industry-based, nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations.  By drawing upon the talents, resources and generosity of the American theatre community, since 1988 BC/EFA has raised more than $195 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States. BC/EFA awards annual grants to more than 400 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide and is the major supporter of seven programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic. For more information, visit www.broadwaycares.org.

Announces The Appointment of

Jann E. Leeming

As Chair of the Board of Directors

Mint Theater (Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director) today announced the appointment of Jann E. Leeming as Board Chair. “I am delighted and honored to be part of a partnership with Jonathan and the Mint Board of Directors to further the Mint’s vital and exciting mission.  My experience with this respected and energetic organization has taught me how important it is to recognize great playwrights of the past whose words have continuing relevance to the important issues of today,” Ms Leeming said.

“Jann is a dynamic leader and I am honored that she has consented to be our Chair.  I look forward to a fruitful partnership that I hope will continue for many years,” added Jonathan Bank.

Ms. Leeming has been a Board member since 2009, and served as Treasurer for the last year.  She also serves as a Senior Trustee (since 1980) of The Little Family Foundation, a philanthropic organization founded by Royal Little to support education, the performing arts, preservation of wildlife and the environment. Previously, she was Chair of the Board of Directors (2006-’11) of the Women’s Project, having served on their Board since 2003. Jann has served on the Board of Directors of Celebrity Series of Boston, since 2003.

She has also donated her time as Trustee of The Boston Ballet, Trustee of Dance Umbrella, Trustee of The Wang Center for the Performing Arts; Trustee of The Mirror Repertory Company, Trustee of The Pine Street Inn (homeless shelter), Trustee of The Stowe School, Trustee of The Lyford Cay Foundation, Corporation Member of Babson College, and Founding Member of Harvard University’s Women’s Leadership Board.

As a venture capitalist, Jann served on the Boards of eight high technology companies. As President of Leeming Investment Company, she spent 2 years investing in companies owned and operated by women. Prior to that, she spent eight year as CEO and owner of ABOUT WOMEN, INC., consulting with Fortune 1000 companies on how to market their products and services more effectively to women. Jann co-authored Segmenting the Women’s Market, a resource book for companies selling products and services to women.

Jann was graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a BS in Psychology/Business and was graduated from Babson College with an MBA.  Jann is married to Arthur D. Little, her consulting partner in the golf course industry.

“The Mint does for forgotten drama what the Encores! series does for musicals, on far more modest means” (The New York Times).  The Mint was awarded an OBIE for “combining the excitement of discovery with the richness of tradition,” and a special Drama Desk Award for “unearthing, presenting and preserving forgotten plays of merit.” Ben Brantley, in The New York Times Arts & Leisure (August, 2011) hailed the Mint as the “resurrectionist extraordinaire of forgotten plays.

For more information about the Mint Theater, visit www.minttheater.org

The Devil’s Music – The Life and Times of Bessie Smith 

and 

Black Angels Over Tuskegee

February is Black History Month (also known as the African-American History Month). Two of Off-Broadway’s biggest hits serve to recognize the contribution of African-Americans in American culture and history: The Devil’s Music – The Life and Times of Bessie Smith and Black Angels Over Tuskegee.

The Devil’s Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith, a musical by Angelo Parra, conceived and directed by Joe Brancato, stars Miche Braden as Bessie Smith, along with Aaron Graves, Jim Hankins, Keith Loftis, and Anthony E. Nelson, Jr.   The Devil’s Music opened June 22nd Off-Broadway at the St. Luke’s Theater (308 West 46th Street). 

BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE, Layon Gray’s acclaimed play is now in its second year at the Actors Temple Theater (339 West 47th Street).  Based on true events, six men explore their collective struggle with Jim Crow, their intelligence, patriotism, dreams of an inclusive fair society, and brotherhood as they become the first African-American fighter pilots in the U.S. Army Air Forces.  BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE goes beyond the headlines of the popular stories of the Tuskegee Airmen and exposes the men who exhibited the courage to excel in spite of all the overwhelming odds against them. In addition to being an official selection of the 2009 National Black Theater Festival, BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE recently won a 2009 NAACP Award for Best Ensemble and a 2009 Artistic Director Achievement Award for Best Play.  It was also presented at the 2009 National Tuskegee Airmen Convention in Las Vegas for over 30 chapters.  Original Tuskegee Airmen Ted Lumpkin, President of the Los Angeles Chapter, said, “I love this play.  It’s real and it reminded me of my times at Tuskegee.  [It's] a great show.” BLACK ANGELS OVER TUSKEGEE recently did a special performance for the entire NY Jets team. Critics have been unanimous in their praise for Black Angels Over Tuskegee: 

“Uplifting! Inspirational! This show is also tough to resist. By the end, when the pilots overcame their obstacles and finally got up into the air to the swelling of music, tears welled up in my eyes.” – The New York Times

 “Dynamite performances!” – Time Out New York

“The characters are so realistic that the audience can’t help but be thoroughly moved!” – Associated Press

“Excellent ensemble acting keeps Black Angels Over Tuskegee soaring. Some plays teach, others celebrate, and a few simply entertain. Black Angels Over Tuskegee manages to do all three and one thing more: It inspires.” – Back Stage

“Stunning!” – Curtain Up 

Tickets for both shows, from only  $36.50,  are available at Telecharge.com or by calling 212/239-6200. 

To Present Its First Annual Gala, Celebrating The Impact of Latino Theater

Honoring Oscar Nominee Jose Rivera and US Senator Robert Menendez

Featuring the Cuisine of Celebrity Chef Maricel Presilla

ALMA Award Winner Maria Canals-Barerra To Host

Tuesday February 7^th at the Manhattan Penthouse

INTAR, New York’s most acclaimed Latino theatre company, will celebrate its 46^th anniversary with a special Gala at the Manhattan Penthouse (80 5^th Avenue at 14^th Street) on Tuesday evening, February 7^th.

In addition to celebrating INTAR’s vital contribution to the arts internationally, the Gala will feature special awards to Academy Award-nominated screenwriter/playwright Jose Rivera and US Senator Robert Menendez of New Jersey. This special event will be hosted by  ALMA award winner Maria Canals-Barerra, with cuisine from Chef Marisel Presilla.

The celebration will kick off at 7PM followed by the dinner and awards ceremony.

INTAR, one of the United States’ longest running Latino theaters producing in English, works to nurture the professional development of Latino theater artists; produce bold, innovative, artistically significant plays that reflect diverse perspectives; make accessible the diversity inherent in America’s cultural heritage. Through an integrated program of workshops, productions of works in progress, and mainstage productions, INTAR continues to raise standards of theater arts.  INTAR brings to the public vital and energetic voices of both promising and accomplished Latino theater professionals, replacing stereotypes while giving expression to the diversity and depth of today’s Latino-American community.

Founded in 1966 to provide professional opportunities for Hispanic theatre artists, INTAR Theatre is the oldest Latino theatre company in the USA producing in English. Since its founding, INTAR has commissioned, developed and produced the works of award-winning playwrights, composers and choreographers such as María Irene Fornés, Gabriel García Marquez, Graciela Daniele, José Rivera, Eduardo Machado, Mario Vargas Llosa, Luis Santeiro, Tito Puente, Carmen Rivera, and Culture Clash, among others.  The company has produced more than 150 world premieres and 50 American premieres of new works in English by Latino playwrights, and INTAR has been the leading proponent of bringing American Latino playwrights’ work to the mainstream. INTAR productions and artists have garnered 6 Obie Awards, 3 AT&T On Stage Awards, 1 Tony Award nomination, 7 Princess Grace Awards, 5 A.C.E. (Association of Spanish Language Critics) Awards, and 2 HOLA Awards, among others. For more information on INTAR please visit their website, www.intartheatre.org

Tickets from $225 may be purchased online at www.intar.org or by phone at 212/695-6135.

BIOS 

Robert Menendez’s story is a quintessential American story. He grew up the son of immigrants in a tenement building in Union City and has risen to become one of 100 United States Senators. He has earned the reputation of a fighter for New Jersey families who puts their economic security and hometown security ahead of powerful special interests. A product of New Jersey’s public schools and a graduate of the state’s universities, Bob learned early on the importance of standing up for what’s right, no matter how powerful the opposition. He first entered public service as a 19-year-old college student when he witnessed shortcomings in the public education system and launched a successful petition drive to reform his local school board. He stood up to corruption in Union City as a witness against the political machine in a Federal trial.

He has served as a school board member, a mayor and a state legislator. Since 1993, he has been standing up for New Jersey families in Washington, where he rose to become the third-highest ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. After being elected to the U.S. Senate, Bob was soon appointed to be a member of the Senate leadership during his first term, serving as the Chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee where he successfully retained Democrats’ majority in the U.S. Senate. Bob was sworn in to the Senate on January 18, 2006, having been appointed by New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to fill the remainder of his term. Later that year, New Jerseyans elected Bob to serve a full six-year term as United States Senator. He currently serves on the Senate Committees on Finance; Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs; and Foreign Relations. Bob is also the Chairman of the Banking Subcommittee on Housing, Transportation and Community Development; and the Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, and Global Narcotics Affairs. In Congress, Bob is working to make a real difference in the lives of New Jerseyans. That includes working to achieve economic security for families by creating jobs, promoting clean energy development, providing tax relief, investing in education, making health care more affordable, protecting consumers, and preserving Medicare and Social Security. Siding with hard-working New Jerseyans against powerful interests, Bob has helped author and enact legislation to make credit card contracts fairer and make the products we use every day safer. He has also championed legislation to support the production of clean energy and energy efficiency. He has helped secure federal funds for a new Mass Transit Tunnel across the Hudson River and created a program that has delivered $3.2 billion to cities, towns and counties nationwide for energy efficiency projects.

Bob has delivered tax relief, authoring the economic recovery package provision that protected 1.6 million middle-class New Jerseyans from an unfair tax hike under the Alternative Minimum Tax and enacting property tax relief legislation. With health care too often a strain on family budgets and the national economy, he used his Finance Committee seat to help craft reform legislation that makes quality health care more affordable for New Jersey families. Throughout his career, he has worked to improve schools so they prepare our children for a successful future and helped pass the law to make college more affordable for the next generation of leaders. Bob has been widely recognized for his leadership on promoting safe and healthy families. He has championed legislation to support mothers suffering from postpartum depression, help families overcome the challenges of autism, and educate kids about Internet safety. In the face of a national housing crisis, he sponsored legislation to help keep families in their homes, and make it easier for children whose families face foreclosure to stay in their schools. Bob believes we should honor our parents by making sure they can retire with dignity and has introduced legislation to make it easier for families to care for their aging loved ones. He has also been a leader in the fight to stop the privatization of Social Security and Medicare. After September 11, 2001, Bob earned national recognition for his leadership in reforming the country’s intelligence, security, and public health systems and for fighting to establish an independent commission to investigate the terrorist attacks on our country. He was a leader in the fight to successfully implement the 9/11 Commission’s national security recommendations, including the provision to ensure that high-risk states like New Jersey receive their fair share of security funding. He helped author legislative language that will ensure all cargo coming to U.S. ports is scanned. He led the successful drive to fully reopen the Statue of Liberty, and today, he is working to improve the security of our bus, rail and public transit systems. Bob voted against authorizing President Bush to invade Iraq. He has an extensive record of supporting our troops by consistently voting to give them the equipment they need, along with the quality medical care and education benefits they deserve—and he has been a strong advocate of a responsible foreign policy that only sends our servicemen and women into harm’s way when absolutely necessary. He was proud to vote for the largest funding increase for veterans’ programs in history. 
His first book, Growing American Roots, examines the deep influence of the Latino population on American society. Bob offers his unique perspective as one of only two Latino members of the Senate, and lays out his vision for how the Latino community can help America prosper.

José Rivera is a playwright and the first Puerto Rican screenwriter to be nominated for an Oscar. Many of his plays have been produced across the nation and even translated into several languages, including The House of Ramon Iglesias, Cloud Tectonics, The Street of the Sun, Sonnets for an Old Century, Sueño, Giants Have Us in Their Books, References to Salvador Dalí Make Me Hot and Adoration of the Old Woman. In 2003, Cloud Tectonics was presented in the XLII Festival of Puerto Rican Theater, an event sponsored by the Puerto Rican Institute of Culture, in San Juan.  Rivera helped found the Los Angeles-based theater company, The Wilton Project.  Rivera contributed as a writer to the television shows “The House of Ramon Iglesias” (1986), “Family Matters” (1989), “The Jungle Book, Mowgli’s Story” (1998), “Night Visions” (2001) and in the “Harmony” segment of “Shadow Realm” (2002). He also co-created and co-produced the NBC-TV series, “Eerie, Indiana.” In 2002, Rivera was hired to write the screenplay for the film Diarios de Motocicleta (The Motorcycle Diaries) by director Walter Salles. The movie, which was released in 2004, is based on Che Guevara’s diary about a motorcycle trip that he and Alberto Granado had, and how it changed their lives. In January 2005, Rivera became the first Puerto Rican to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film. His screenplay won awards from the Cinema Writers Circle (Spain) and from the Argentine Film Critics Association; it was also nominated for awards by the American Screenwriters Association, the Chlotrudis Awards, the Online Film Critics Society, and the Writers Guild of America. This work led Rivera to write and perform a play entitled School of the Americas which focuses on Che’s last few hours alive. The play starring John Ortiz as Che, imagines Che’s final conversations, mainly with a young and fairly naive female schoolteacher, in the one-room village schoolhouse where he is imprisoned before his execution. The play was featured in New York City 2006-‘07 and in San Francisco the following year.

Maria Canals-Barrera is a multi-talented actress who has showcased her talent across the board in entertainment. Maria is most commonly known for her starring role as the mortal mother of three teenage wizards, in the Emmy Award-winning series “Wizards of Waverly Place.”  The show aired its series finale on January 6^th, 2012 to an audience of 9.8 million, the series’ number one telecast ever. In August of last year, Maria hosted the 26^th annual Imagen Awards, illuminating the audience with her charismatic charm. Shortly after, she took home the 2011 NCLR Alma Award for Favorite TV Actress in a Supporting Role. Maria reprised her role in the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel Original Movie “Wizards of Waverly Place The Movie,” for which she won an Imagen award for Best Supporting Actress – Television in 2010.  Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Canals-Barrera has also starred as Mitchie’s mom, Connie Torres, in the Disney Channel Original Movies “Camp Rock” and “Camp Rock 2: The Final Jam.”  A 2002 Alma Award-winner for her role in the television series “Brothers Garcia,” Canals-Barrera starred in the Telemundo series “Marielena” and “Corte Tropical” for Univision.  She was the Female Lead on “The Tony Danza Show,” and she’s had guest-starring roles on “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “George Lopez,” “The Loop,” “Popular,” “Veronica’s Closet,” “Caroline in the City” and “Almost Perfect,” as well as recurring roles in “Beggars & Choosers” for Showtime and the critically acclaimed PBS series “American Family.”  Canals-Barrera is also the voice of “Hawkgirl” in the animated series “The Justice League” and was the voice of “Sunset Boulevardez” in Disney Channel’s acclaimed series “The Proud Family.” On the big screen, Maria most recently appeared in Universal Pictures’, “Larry Crowne,” directed by Tom Hanks and starring Hanks and Julia Roberts.  She can also be seen in “Master of Disguise” and “My Family / Mi Familia,” with Edward James Olmos, Jimmy Smits and Esai Morales. On stage, Canals-Barrera appeared at the Mark Taper Forum in “Changes of Heart” for which she received an Ovation Award nomination.  Her other stage work include roles in “Chilean Holiday,” “Hedda Gabler,” “A Touch of the Poet,” “Mixed Blessings,” “The House of Blue Leaves” and “The Glass Menagerie.”  When Maria isn’t acting you can find her in Los Angeles where she resides with her husband and two children, playing the part of a real mom.

Maricel Presilla is a culinary historian specializing in the foods of Latin America and Spain. She holds a doctorate in medieval Spanish history from New York University and has received formal training in cultural anthropology. She has been a two-time James Beard Foundation Award Nominee for Best Chef, North East and once for Best Chef, Mid-Atlantic. Dr. Presilla has done considerable research on Latin American agriculture – with special emphasis on tropical crops, cacao and vanilla agriculture, and chocolate production. She is the president of Gran Cacao Company a Latin American food research and marketing company that specializes in the sale of premium cacao beans from Latin America. Her latest book is The New Taste of Chocolate: A Cultural and Natural History of Chocolate with Recipes (Ten Speed Press, 2001). She has completed a comprehensive Latin American cookbook for W.W. Norton and has contributed articles for Saveur, Food & Wine, Food Arts, and Gourmet. She writes a weekly food column for the Miami Herald and is as comfortable sailing down the Orinoco to collect recipes in the field as she is cooking at Zafra and Cucharamama, her pan-Latin restaurants in Hoboken, New Jersey. Last year she opened Ultramarinos, a Latin American store and cooking atelier, also in Hoboken, NJ, where she sells Latin ingredients, prepared foods, premium chocolates and Blue Cacao, her own line of truffles with Latin flavors.

Jackie Hoffman’s

A Chanukah Charol,

Inspired by Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol

Adds One More Performance to Accommodate the Overwhelming Demand

 Jackie Hoffman’s A Chanukah Charol, her new holiday-themed, pseudo-autobiographical, one-woman show inspired by Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol, co-written and directed by Michael Schiralli, will add one more performance on Sunday January 8^th, in order to accommodate the overwhelming demand for tickets.   Remaining performances are Monday, January 2^nd and now Sunday, January 8^th both at 7:30pm at New World Stages (340 West 50th Street, between Eighth & Ninth Avenues).

This all-new show has been met with an amazing response:

“You don’t need to wait that long to see a dynamic comic performer with a rubbery face and a gift for improvisation. Jackie Hoffman has carved out a fascinating career, with scene-stealing cameos on Broadway uptown in shows like The Addams Family and Xanadu; and hilarious solo shows downtown (and elsewhere) where her delightfully crabby personality roams free. Her new production, A Chanukah Charol represents something of a departure, since instead of a freewheeling cabaret it’s a scripted play, inspired by Patrick Stewart’s version of A Christmas Carol. It’s autobiographical and tells her story as a comedian forced to confront her past, present and future” - Jason Zinoman, New York Times

“The hilariously grumpy Jackie Hoffman is a throwback to the golden age of character comedy, when performers overflowed with larger-than-life personality. On her night off from The Addams Family, she kvetches the Dickens out of A Christmas Carol” – Adam Feldman, Time Out NY

“Jackie Hoffman Shakes Up Christmas!” – Marshall Heyman, Wall Street Journal

“HILARIOUS! The woman is a priceless storyteller, shtickmeister, and yenta… In toasting (and roasting) that eight-day holiday, she’s served up not only eight times the guilt, but that many times the laffs.” - Michael Musto, Village Voice

“The funniest event of the holiday season. Her bracing brand of angry humor is the cure for the severest cases of the doldrums… the best idea imaginable for making this endlessly told story new again. the panorama of wonder she paints with herself at the center keeps you floating on a cloud of levity for a full, all-too-brief hour.” – Matthew Murray, Talkin’ Broadway

Jackie Hoffman currently stars as Grandma in The Addams Family. Her other Broadway credits include Xanadu and Hairspray (for which she received the Theatre World Award). Off-Broadway she has been seen in Regrets Only, Pride & Joy, Book of Liz (Obie Award), Straightjacket, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and One Woman Shoe. Regional credits include Second City (Jeff Award), Sisters Rosensweig. Film: Extra Man, Dirty Shame, Garden State, Legally Blonde II, Kissing Jessica Stein, Mo’ Money, Robots, Queer Duck. TV: “30 Rock,” “One Life to Live,” “Starved,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Strangers with Candy,” “TV Funhouse,” “Conan,” “Soulman,” “Cosby.” Her solo shows have garnered her MAC and Bistro Awards. She can be heard on the CD “Jackie Hoffman: Live at Joe’s Pub” (where she is a frequent sell-out), as well as on the original Broadway cast recordings of Hairspray, Xanadu, and The Addams Family.

Remaining tickets are $35 with premium seats available at $55 (including a free drink).  Tickets may be purchased by visiting Telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-6200. Tickets may also be purchased in person at the New World Stages Box Office.  For more information, visit www.newworldstages.com.

Jackie Hoffman to Premiere

A Chanukah Charol,

Inspired by Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol

Three Performances Only at New World Stages

Time Out NY Lounge will present Jackie Hoffman’s A Chanukah Charol, her new holiday-themed, pseudo-autobiographical, one-woman show inspired by Patrick Stewart’s A Christmas Carol. Michael Schiralli will direct.

Performances will be Sunday, December 11^th, Sunday, December 18^th, Monday, December 19^th at New World Stages, 340 West 50th Street (between Eighth & Ninth Avenues).

Time Out New York called Jackie “the funniest woman in America,” and the Village Voice hailed her as a mix of “Carol Burnett’s rubber face, Sarah Silverman’s outrage, Ethel Merman’s vocal throttle, and Gladys Kravitz’s world view.”

In her all new holiday show, this feisty Jewish woman examines her life when she is visited by the Ghosts of Chanukah Past, Present and Future, as well as Molly Picon, in Jackie’s latest search for the meaning of life and the quest for fame and glory.  [This needs to be funnier and more Jewish.  Any ideas from Jackie?]

The New York Times called her last solo show “savagely funny” and said “Ms. Hoffman’s acid-dipped acts are always a gurney (journey?  Or is this intentionally misspelled in the quote) worth taking.”

Jackie Hoffman currently stars as Grandma in The Addams Family. Her other Broadway credits include Xanadu and Hairspray (for which she received the Theatre World Award). Off-Broadway she has been seen in Regrets Only, Pride & Joy, Book of Liz (Obie Award), Straightjacket, Incident at Cobbler’s Knob, and One Woman Shoe. Regional credits include Second City (Jeff Award), Sisters Rosensweig. Film: Extra Man, Dirty Shame, Garden State, Legally Blonde II, Kissing Jessica Stein, Mo’ Money, Robots, Queer Duck. TV: “30 Rock,” “One Life to Live,” “Starved,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Strangers with Candy,” “TV Funhouse,” “Conan,” “Soulman,” “Cosby.” Solo shows have garnered her MAC and Bistro awards. She can be heard on the CD Jackie Hoffman: Live at Joe’s Pub (where she is a frequent sell-out), as well as on the original Broadway cast recordings of Hairspray, Xanadu, and The Addams Family.

Tickets will be $35 and premium seats available at $55 (including a free drink).  Tickets may be purchased by visiting Telecharge.com or calling (212) 239-6200.  Tickets may be purchased in person at the New World Stages Box Office.  For more information, visit www.newworldstages.com

Love Goes To Press

by Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowle

National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman today announced that the agency would award 863 grants to organizations and individual writers across the country. Mint Theater (Jonathan Bank, Artistic Director) is one of the recipients and will receive $30,000 to support the first-ever revival of Love Goes To Press by Martha Gellhorn and Virginia Cowles. The Mint production, directed by Jerry Ruiz, will run from May 26 to July 22, 2012 at their home (311 West 43^rd Street).

Love Goes To Press is a sharp-tongued comedy about women war correspondents that debuted on Broadway in 1947.  The play paints a delicious portrait of two smart, funny, brave, ambitious and complex women—working just miles from the front lines (as Cowles and Gellhorn did), surrounded by less competent, less adventurous men. 

Martha Gellhorn was a trailblazing journalist, filing dispatches over the course of five decades from some of the most dramatic hot spots across the globe.  Her career as a war correspondent began in 1937 when she reported on the Spanish Civil War for Colliers magazine.  She was a resident of the famed Hotel Florida in Madrid, along with many other foreign correspondents, including Virginia Cowles—and Ernest Hemingway with whom she was having an affair.  They married in 1940-and divorced in 1945.  Hemingway’s play The Fifth Column, produced at the Mint in 2008, fictionalizes their romance.

Gellhorn could not have been flattered by Hemingway’s portrayal of Dorothy Bridges, the long-legged blond in his play, described as “lazy and spoiled and rather stupid….”  In 1946, Gellhorn had her revenge when she and Virginia Cowles decided on a lark to write a comedy about two female war correspondents covering WWII.  Their delicious comedy, Love Goes to Press, is a frothy concoction, a romantic comedy set in a press camp in Italy in 1944.  The cast of characters includes a tough American newspaperman, recently divorced from one of the heroines: “You can’t tell from the outside that he’s got the character of a cobra.  From the outside he’s a beautiful, funny, fascinating man.”  The HBO film Hemingway and Gellhorn starring Clive Owen and Nicole Kidman is due to premiere in May 2012.

Love Goes To Press premiered to great success in June 1946 at the Embassy Theatre in London, where Cowles and Gellhorn, though American, were then based. “At times the humor rises to brilliance,” observed The Stage. “The kind of comedy which lavishly mingles public relations, private lives, lines of communication, tough dames, and tender passages,” opined The Observer.  The play quickly transferred from the “fringe” to a healthy run in the West End.

Just months before they sat down to write this play, Gellhorn was reporting from Dachau. She was one of the first journalists to enter the camp—an experience that changed her life forever.  The play was written as an antidote to “the heart-sickening cost of war… Everyone longed to laugh in the first cold winter of peace… Laughter was lifesaving escape,” Gellhorn wrote in 1995, when introducing the play for publication.

Given its glowing reception in London, success in America seemed assured.  Try-outs in Washington and Pittsburgh in December 1946 were greeted positively, but on the Great White Way, everything changed. Love Goes To Press lasted just four days.  Its very strengths — particularly its comedy — were the very reasons it was dismissed. New Yorkers were not yet ready to laugh about the war. Recalling the hostility of the New York critics, Gellhorn wrote “Since they had not lived through real war, they found it tasteless, grotesque, practically wicked to make cheap jokes about any aspect of war. That was the end of the play.”

A distinct current of sexism pervaded some of the reviews. Wolcott Gibbs sneered in The New Yorker: “It is quite possible that Miss Gellhorn and Miss Cowles were indeed able to commandeer ambulances and even airplanes to take them behind enemy lines practically at will, I can only say it seemed a little silly to me.”  Ironically, Gellhorn and Cowles had done precisely that—driven ambulances, flown in combat missions, and in Gellhorn’s case, stowed away in a hospital ship on D-Day—all in a day’s work.

Love Goes To Press faded from memory until 1995 when Professor Sandra Spanier of Penn State University rescued the play from the ash-heap and arranged for its long overdue publication with Gellhorn’s blessing.

“The Mint does for forgotten drama what the Encores! series does for musicals, on far more modest means” (The New York Times).  The Mint was awarded an OBIE for “combining the excitement of discovery with the richness of tradition,” and a special Drama Desk Award for “unearthing, presenting and preserving forgotten plays of merit.” Ben Brantley, in The New York Times Arts & Leisure (August 21^st, 2011) hailed the Mint as the “resurrectionist extraordinaire of forgotten plays

Drama Desk and Obie Award-Winning Keen Company

Announces that 

Kate Turnbull 

Would Complete the Cast of 

Tina Howe’s Painting Churches

Directed by Carl Forsman

Kathleen Chalfant and Richard Easton To Star

The Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning Keen Company (Carl Forsman, Artistic Director/Damon Chua, Executive Director) today announced that Kate Turnbull would join Kathleen Chalfant and Richard Easton for Tina Howe’s Painting Churches, the 1983 Pulitzer Prize finalist. Keen Artistic Director Carl Forsman directs.

Performances will begin February 14^th, with Opening Night set for March 6^th. (Additional credits and design team will be announced shortly).

Kate Turnbull  made her Humana Fest debut with the premiere of Maple and Vine.  Other regional credits include The Matchmaker (Censterstage); Doubt (Portland Stage Company); and Measure for Measure, Two Gentlemen of Verona,Restoration Comedy,Titus Andronicus and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (The Old Globe). Off-Broadway she has been seen in Passion Play with Epic Theatre Ensemble.  Television: Guiding Light. M.F.A. from The Old Globe/University of San Diego.

Painting Churches premiered Off-Broadway on February 8, 1983 at the McGinn-Cazale Theatre, produced by Second Stage. It transferred to the Lamb’s Theatre where it ran for 206 performances. The play was filmed for PBS “American Playhouse” starring Sada Thompson, Donald Moffat, and Roxanne Hart.

In Painting Churches, we meet the Church family: Fanny (Chalfant) and Gardner (Easton). They are packing, about to move to a beach home on Cape Cod. Gardner is a poet and Fanny is from a “fine old family.” Their daughter Margaret, an artist who lives in New York, has arrived to help them pack and paint their portrait.

This will be the first New York revival of Painting Churches, the smash hit comedy from the author of Coastal Disturbances and Pride’s Crossing.  In his review in the New York Times, Frank Rich wrote, “In Painting Churches, her beautifully written play, Tina Howe has dramatized an illuminating connection between life and art. And like the best paintings, Painting Churches rewards repeated viewings.”

Keen Company continues their tradition of presenting plays that illuminate the challenge to live generously, and these two stories about children and parents will bring these themes to thrilling life. Keen believes that theater is at its most powerful when texts and productions are generous in spirit and provoke identification. Inspired by the works of early 20th Century American playwrights, Keen Company demonstrates that an earnest intent can still be sophisticated. We are unafraid of emotional candor, vulnerability, and optimism. Keen Company seeks to create a culture of artists, technicians, administrators and audiences who share a desire to invigorate the theater with productions that connect us through humor, heart and hope. “Keen Company’s first tremendous leap of faith was producing Tina Howe’s 42-character play Museum in our second season in 2002. I am honored to be able to bring Tina’s unique and hilarious voice back to our stage. Painting Churches is such a touching portrait of our effort to understand our parents, and Keen Company is thrilled to be presenting its first New York revival. We’ll endeavor to whip up enough chaos to delight Tina and her many fans,” said Forsman.

Kathleen Chalfant was nominated for the Tony Award as Best Actress in a Featured Role for her role in Tony Kushner’s Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. Chalfant earned great acclaim for her performance as Vivian Bearing in Margaret Edson’s play Wit, receiving Outer Critics, Drama Desk, Obie and Lucille Lortel awards. For her performance in Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads, Chalfant won a second Obie Award. Most recently, Chalfant starred in the independent feature film, Isn’t It Delicious?

Tony Award winner Richard Easton’s Broadway credits include Elling, The Coast of Utopia, The Rivals, Henry IV, The Invention of Love (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League Awards), Noises Off, Exit the King, The Misanthrope, The Cherry Orchard, Hamlet, Cock-a-Doodle-Dandy, Back to Methuselah, The Country Wife, School for Scandal. Off-Broadway, he has been seen in Entertaining Mr. Sloane; Bach at Leipzig; Observe the Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme; Waste; Hotel Universe; Give Me Your Answer, Do!; Salad Days. His London credits include Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (with Uta Hagen), Death of Bessie Smith, Fagin in Oliver, Kenneth Branagh’s Renaissance Co. and four years at RSC. Film credits: Revolutionary Road, Henry V, Dead Again, and  Finding Forester. TV: Six years of BBC’s “The Brothers”; PBS’s Emmy-winning “Benjamin Franklin” (title role); and most recently, the HBO mini-series “Mildred Pierce.”


This limited Off-Broadway engagement at The Clurman Theatre at Theatre Row (410 West 42nd Street, between 9th and 10th Avenues) will begin February 14^th and continue through April 22^nd only, with opening night set for March 6^th. Performances will be Tuesday at 7pm; Wednesday through Friday at 8pm; Saturdays at 2pm & 8pm; and Sunday matinees at 3pm.  Tickets are $59.75.  To purchase tickets, visit Telecharge.com or call 212/239-6200.

For more information visit www.keencompany.org.

]]> http://gerstenassociates.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/complete-cast-announced-for-keens-painting-churches/feed/ 0 gerstenassociates Turnbull, Kate http://gerstenassociates.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/treatment-action-group-to-present-2011-research-in-action-awards-honoring-aids-activism/ http://gerstenassociates.wordpress.com/2011/11/22/treatment-action-group-to-present-2011-research-in-action-awards-honoring-aids-activism/#comments Tue, 22 Nov 2011 17:30:29 +0000 gerstenassociates http://gerstenassociates.wordpress.com/?p=340 ]]> TREATMENT ACTION GROUP

To Present

2011 Research In Action Awards Honoring AIDS Activism

Sunday December 11^th At The Midtown Loft

Presenters Will Include Bravo’s Andy Cohen

Awards to Honor John Benjamin Hickey, Dr. Robert F. Siliciano & Dr. Polly Harrison “Weekend Today Show” Co-Anchor Jenna Wolfe Will Serve as Host

Treatment Action Group (TAG), one of the leading AIDS research advocacy organizations, will host its 15^th annual Research in Action Awards (RIAA), honoring individuals who have made a significant contribution in AIDS research and activism.  .

The 2011 Research in Action Awards will take place at the 11th floor Aerie of the MidTown Loft (267 Fifth Avenue at 29th Street) on Sunday, December 11^th (6:30 PM). Jenna Wolfe of NBC’s “Weekend Today” will serve as host.

TAG is proud to present its 2011 RIAA Awards to: Dr. Polly Harrison, Founder of the Alliance for Microbicide Development; John Benjamin Hickey, winner of the 2011 Tony Award for his role in “The Normal Heart, and co-star of the Showtime hit “The Big C;” and Dr. Robert F. Siliciano, Medical Investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute & Professor of Medicine, The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine

Presenters will include Andy Cohen, Executive Vice President of Original Programming and Development, responsible for overseeing the network’s current development and production slate of over two dozen shows, including hits such as the Emmy and James Beard award-winning “Top Chef;” “Top Chef Masters;” “The Real Housewives of Orange County,” as well as New York City, Atlanta, New Jersey, and DC; “Kathy Griffin My Life On the D-List;” “The Millionaire Matchmaker;” “Million Dollar Listing;” “The Rachel Zoe Project;” “Tabatha’s Salon Takeover;” and “Flipping Out,” among others.  
 
In addition, Cohen is the host and Executive Producer of “Watch What Happens: Live,”

Founded in 1992, Treatment Action Group fights to ensure that all people living with HIV receive the necessary treatment, care, and information they need. Today, 25 years into this global pandemic, TAG remains the only organization in the world dedicated to AIDS research advocacy for better treatments, a vaccine, and cure for AIDS. TAG is the leading community activist science-based AIDS policy, research, and treatment advocacy think tank; TAG’s activism speeds up research on HIV basic science, treatment, prevention, and vaccines; hepatitis and tuberculosis (TB) coinfection; U.S. and global treatment access; and community empowerment. TAG leads and participates in activist coalitions in the United States and around the world to expand access to effective treatment for HIV and its most common co-infections. TAG catalyzes efforts to strengthen and expand research on HIV and related diseases so that people with HIV can live long and healthy lives. TAG’s ultimate goal is to accelerate research for a cure and a vaccine for HIV.

Tickets are available from $150 by calling 212-253-7922 or  online at www.treatmentactiongroup.org/riaa

Ed Smith Directs a Cast that Features Ezra Barnes, Stephanie Berry, Terria Joseph, Marcus Naylor, Maria Silverman &  Jay Ward

Off-Broadway Limited Engagement Begins March 10

Woodie King Jr’s New Federal Theatre will kick off its 40^th season by presenting the Off-Broadway premiere of Cool Blues by Bill Harris at their home at Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center/Recital Hall (466 Grand Street). Performances begin March 10^th with Opening Night set for Sunday, March 20^th Performances for this limited engagement  continue through April 3rd only. Ed Smith directs a cast that features Ezra Barnes, Stephanie Berry, Terria Joseph, Marcus Naylor, Maria Silverman and Jay Ward. Cool Blues will have set design by Anthony Davidson, costume design by Ali Turns, lighting design by Shirley Prendergast, and sound design by Bill Toles. Casting was by Lawrence Evans.

It is 1955. B is a black jazz musician so renowned and innovative that he only needs a single initial to identify him. We join him as he shows up unannounced to spend a fateful weekend in the apartment of, Baroness Alexandra Isabella von Templeton (Xan), one of the world’s richest women. His manner and his mood shifts are as mercurial as his music. His talent at deception and self defense as agile as his ability to charm. Questions of loyalty, love, privilege, and friendship are probed as the ghosts of B’s past and present demand answers. Xan vows to protect him at all costs, even if it means ignoring the advice of the doctor summoned to attend to him. Does B want to be saved? Can he be? Has he come to recuperate from recent disastrous events in order to soar into the world again, or has the burden of being a cutting edge spirt in the war against conformity and racial prejudice taken its ultimate toll?

Playwright Bill Harris is a professor of English at Wayne State University.  He formerly served as Curator of Living History, then Chief Curator at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit.  While living in New York City during the 1980s, Harris was the Production Coordinator at both New Federal Theatre and JazzMobile. As a playwright, Harris has had innumerable successful productions of his plays nationwide. Acclaimed actors S. Epatha Merkerson, Abbey Lincoln, Guy Davis, and Denzel Washington have starred in various productions of his. His plays have been published in The National Black Drama Anthology (Robert Johnson:  Trick the Devil-which, in an adaptation for radio, won the 1997 Silver Medal for Drama awarded by the International Radio Programming organization); New Plays for the Black Theatre; Voices of Color; and African American Literature (He Who Endures). Plays published under his own name include Riffs & Coda published by Broadside Press, and Stories About the Old Days, published by Samuel French, Inc. His books of poetry are Yardbird Suite:  Side One, which won the Lotus Press poetry prize, and The Ringmaster’s Array, published by Past Tents Press. Most recently Harris researched and wrote Birth of A Notion; Or The Half Ain’t Never Been Told. .. , a poetic critique of 18^th century American history and popular cultural images of African Americans. The follow up volume of Booker T. & Them: A Blues will be published in 2012.  He also has two novels in the works.

Director Ed Smith is an award-winning director and educator who has directed at theatres around the country, and in Canada and the West Indies. His directorial credits are extensive with stellar reviews for many of his productions. Some of his major productions include, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, The Bluest Eye, Dancing at Lughnasa, The Piano Lesson, I’m Not Rappaport, and From the Mississippi Delta, for which he was the original director and nominated by AUDELCO as Best Director in 1989.  He was also awarded Best Director in 1991 by the St Louis Dispatch Awards for Soldier’s Play, and in 1993 for Fences, by the Buffalo Evening News. In 2000, he was awarded by Detroit’s Focus Awards for his direction of Our Town; it also won for Best Play. That same year, he was nominated Best Director by the Oakland Press Detroit for Cat On a Hot Tin Roof. Ed directed Ossie Davis’ last play, A Last Dance for Sybil, which featured Ruby Dee and Earle Hyman and was produced by Woodie King, Jr. Ed has directed over a 100 plays and a few have been produced.  In 2009, Ed received the prestigious Lloyd Richard’s Director’s Award from the National Black Theatre Festival. He was the Artistic Director for the Jubilee Theatre in Fort Worth (2006-2010), the Associate Artistic Director for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival Theatre (1993-1996), and was the Founder and Artistic Director of the Buffalo Black Drama Workshop (1970-1974). He was a full professor at SUNY/Buffalo from 1969-1994, and has taught at University of California, Florida State University, Mount Holyoke, and Wayne State University. He is presently adjunct at Texas Christian University, and was recently awarded by Jubilee Theatre, the “Edward Smith Scholarship” in Theatre. Additionally, Ed hosted a jazz radio program at WBFO-FM and WBER-AM in Buffalo, New York for over fifteen years and he grew up in Philadelphia as a BeBop Child.

Woodie King Jr. is the Founder and Producing Director of New Federal Theatre. Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre has presented over 200 productions in its 40-year history. Mr. King has produced and directed on Broadway, Off-Broadway, in Regional Theatres, and in universities across the United States. He co-produced For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf (first produced by NFT and Joseph Papp’s Public Theatre), What the Wine Sellers Buy, Reggae and The Taking of Miss Janie (Drama Critics Circle Award). His directional credits are extensive and include work in film as well as theater.

Performances of Cool Blues will be Wednesday through Friday evenings at 7:30pm, Saturdays at 3pm & 8pm and Sunday matinees at 3pm.

Tickets will be $25 and can be ordered through www.theatremania.com or by phone at 212/352-3101. For more information, please visit www.newfederaltheatre.org or call NFT at 212-353-1176.

Performances will be at Henry Street Settlement’s Abrons Arts Center/Recital Hall, 466 Grand Street (between Pitt & Willett Streets). By subway: “F” train to Delancey Street; “M” and “J” train to Essex Street; or by “M14A” bus to Pitt Street.