HAMILTON's Renee Elise Goldsberry to Chair New Victory Family Benefit

On Sunday, December 11, 2016, the New Victory Family Benefit will transform the historic New Victory Theater into a bustling bazaar of food, fun and frolic inspired by the circus spectacular Mother Africa: My Home.

Tony Award winner Renée Elise Goldsberry is the Honorary Chair for this year's event, which will provide critical funds for the award-winning New Victory Education Programs. Every year, New Victory Education Programs give 40,000 school kids the opportunity to see live performances from around the world.

"Exposure to the arts helps kids express themselves creatively and it broadens their perspective on the world," says Ms. Goldsberry, who is a mother of two. The award-winning Broadway, film and television actress adds, "The education efforts of The New Victory Theater are inspirational. The sheer reach and breadth of their work is changing the future of this city and the lives of its young people!"

Proceeds from the New Victory Family Benefit specifically support the theater's Give a Kid a Seat campaign, which provides NYC students tickets to New Victory school-time shows. Kids in grades Pre-K through 12th attend a New Victory show and participate in free classroom workshops, taught by New Victory Teaching Artists, before and after their visit to the theater. By seeing a show and participating in arts-based activities, students make meaningful connections to the performing arts.

The New Victory Family Benefit will begin at 1:00 PM with a special excerpt of Mother Africa: My Home. Featuring a diverse cast from several nations throughout the African continent, this radiantly rhythmic production will fill the New Victory stage with daring acrobats, jubilant dancers and electrifying live music. Immediately following the benefit performance, families will eat, drink and play, exploring multiple levels of the theater to create instruments, make music, tell folktales and try some circus tricks, with New Victory Teaching Artists, Ushers and Apprentices as their guides.

Tickets to the New Victory Family Benefit are $500 for Prime Orchestra/Mezzanine seats and $300 for Rear Orchestra/Mezzanine Seats. All events will take place at The New Victory Theater (209 West 42nd Street). For more information and tickets, visit www.NewVicFamilyBenefit.org or call 646-223-3082.

The New Victory Family Benefit is co-chaired by Sarah and Eric Lane and Nicole and Lee Weiss. The event is vice chaired by Greg and Kim Lippmann and Michelle Fizer Peterson and Julio Peterson. The New Victory Family Benefit committee is comprised of Lily and Doug Band, Margaret Isa Butler and Stephan Butler, Andrea Crane and Sam Hoffman, Tiffany and Kojo Dufu, Sheri and Marc Feigen, Tiffany and Sean Gardner, Andrea Glimcher, Sharon Coplan Hurowitz and Richard Hurowitz, Crystal McCrary and Ray McGuire, Marcie and Jordan Pantzer, Kate and Brad Peck, Susannah and Paul Robinson, Isabel Rose, Meredith and Eliot Rubenzahl, Fiona and Eric Rudin, Debra Singer and Jay Worthington, Gerri and Andy Sommers, Mrs. Asali Ude and Rob and Lesley Vecsler.

The New Victory partners with more than 200 NYC schools, after-school programs and day camps to not only bring students to the theater for live performances but also to conduct more than 1,300 free workshops in their classrooms. Additionally, 250 teachers of all disciplines participate in the theater's professional development training and receive New Victory School Tool Resource Guides with each visit to the theater so that educators are equipped to integrate arts across curriculum. Many Education Partners are NYC-area Title 1 schools with a high percentage of students who would be arts-deprived if it weren't for The New Victory. This nationally-recognized program, which earned the Arts Education Award from Americans for the Arts, empowers kids to integrate the performing arts into their own lives and communities.

The Drama Desk-nominated Mother Africa returns to The New Victory for the holiday season to share their new show, Mother Africa: My Home, with New York audiences from December 2, 2016 through January 1, 2017. Set in Cape Town's largest township, Khayelitsha, Mother Africa: My Home will feature a cast of 26 acrobats, dancers and musicians from Tanzania, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, South Africa and Ivory Coast.

The New Victory Theater brings kids to the arts and the arts to kids as New York City's premier theater devoted to the highest quality performing arts for kids and families. Serving the city in all its diversity, The New Victory Theater on 42nd Street presents theater, dance, circus, opera and music from around the world at affordable ticket prices. In addition to its public performances, the New Vic is also the largest provider of live performance to NYC school kids, serving 40,000 students in grades PreK-12 from more than 200 schools, after school programs and day camps each year. The New Victory Theater's contributions to the cultural landscape of the city have been honored by the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities with the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award, a national Arts Education Award from Americans for the Arts and a Drama Desk Award for "providing enchanting, sophisticated children's theater that appeals to the child in all of us, and for nurturing a love of theater in young people."

Founded in 1990, The New 42nd Street is an independent nonprofit organization charged with the continuous cultural revival of 42nd Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. Committed to the transformational power of the arts, The New 42nd Street builds on the foundation of seven historic theaters to make extraordinary performing arts and cultural engagement part of everyone's life. The New 42nd Street fulfills this purpose by ensuring the ongoing vibrancy of 42nd Street's historic theaters; maintaining and fully using the New 42nd Street Studios and The Duke on 42nd Street to support performing artists in the creation of their work; and through The New Victory Theater, New York's premier theater for kids and families.

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