NCTF Gala to Honor Chris Campbell, Gordon Davidson and John Lithgow April 4

National Corporate Theatre Fund (NCTF) is pleased to announce its Annual Chairman's Awards Gala set to take place on Monday, April 4th at New York's Essex House. This year, NCTF Chairman James E. Buckley (KPMG) will honor Chris Campbell (Palace Production Center), Gordon Davidson (Founder & Artistic Director of Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group – Ahmanson, Mark Taper Forum & Kirk Douglas Theatres) and John Lithgow, currently starring in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels on Broadway.

Jane Curtin will act as Master of Ceremonies for this black tie event. Rosalyn & Irwin Engelman, David Hyde Pierce, and Anna Deavere Smith will present the awards to the evening's honorees. Cocktails begin at 6:30 PM followed by dinner at 7:30 PM. The gala will feature a silent auction filled with exciting prize packages, a special musical presentation directed and choreographed by Dirty Rotten Scoundrels associate choreographer Denis Jones, and a tribute performance by Kelli O'Hara (The Light in the Piazza).

John Lithgow will be honored with this year's Theatre Artist Award. For more than thirty years John Lithgow has been a widely respected artist in film, television, theater, song and children's writing. He has starred in 18 Broadway shows and can currently be seen on the Great White Way in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. His Broadway performances have been honored with two Tony Awards, most recently for his portrayal of J.J. Hunsecker in Sweet Smell of Success, and four Drama Desk Awards. Other standout performances include his roles in The Retreat From Moscow, The Changing Room and M. Butterfly. Lithgow won critical acclaim, as well as four Emmy Awards, one Golden Globe Award, an American Comedy Award and two Screen Actors Guild Awards for his role on NBC's series 3rd Rock from the Sun and has been recognized for his work in films such as The Life and Death of Peter Sellers, Kinsey, Shrek, The Pelican Brief, Terms of Endearment (Academy Award Nomination), Cliffhanger, Ricochet, Memphis Belle, The World According to Garp (Academy Award Nomination), 2010 and Footloose. He has authored four children's books that have landed on The New York Times bestseller list (I'm A Manatee, Micawber, Marsupial Sue and The Remarkable Farkle McBride). His fifth and latest children's book, Carnival Of The Animals was published in 2004. Its recording won him a Grammy nomination for Best Spoken Word Album for Children. Lithgow made his stage debut at age six in Henry VI, Part 3 with Ellis Raab. A Harvard graduate, Lithgow won a Fulbright Scholarship and used it to study at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art. While in England, he "interned" with both the Royal Shakespeare Company and The Royal Court Theatre.

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