O'Neill Theater Center Announces Summer Gala Honoring NMTC

On Saturday, July 19, 2008 at 6:30pm the O'Neill Theater Center will host its Summer Gala honoring one of its flagship programs, the National Music Theater Conference (NMTC)  and its founding Artistic Director, Paulette Haupt.

The Gala will be held under a tent in the Sunken Garden, overlooking the Long Island Sound.  After a silent auction and dinner, entertainment will commence with selections from many of the musicals developed at O'Neill's NMTC.  Michael Bush, Artistic Director of the O'Neill's Cabaret and Performance Conference, will direct the evening's program.

Highlights of the program will include songs from Andrew Lippa's The Wild Party (NMTC, 1997); Kirsten Childs' The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (NMTC, 1998); Brian Crawley and Jeanine Tesori's Violet (NMTC, 1994); as well as numbers from Tony Award-winning musicals Nine (NMTC, 1979), Avenue Q (NMTC, 2002) and In the Heights (NMTC, 2005).  Performers will include Broadway stars from the casts of these shows, performers of the 2008 Conference, as well as visiting guest artists.

The evening will also bring the announcement of the 2008 Georgia Bogardus Holof Lyricist Award and a selection from Holof's and David Mettee's Fahrenheit 451 (NMTC, 1986).

The National Music Theater Conference at the O'Neill has developed over one hundred musicals under Paulette Haupt's leadership.  Haupt, an accomplished pianist and conductor commented on the upcoming evening: "There will be much to celebrate at the Gala, given the remarkable talents that have been a part of the Conference since 1978.  And I can think of no better way to honor their indomitable creative spirit than in the perfectly glorious setting of the O'Neill Theater Center itself."

Tickets to the Gala are $175/$250 per person or $5,000 for a 10-seat sponsor table.  A silent auction will also be a part of the evening with items including Broadway tickets, Rounds of Golf, destination weekends and more.  For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact Suzanne Hendrix at 860.443.5378 (ext 217) or at shendrix@theONeill.org.

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center advances the American Theater through programs that encourage creative excellence and develop diverse voices and new work.  It has been home to more than 1,000 new works for the stage and 2,500 emerging artists since its founding in 1964.  Scores of projects developed at the O'Neill have gone on to full productions at other theaters around the world, including Broadway, off-Broadway and major regional theaters, garnering every major award for theatrical excellence.  The O'Neill has been honored with a Tony Award, the Jujamcyn Award for Theater Excellence, the National Opera Award and the Arts and Business Council Encore Award. The O'Neill's programs include the National Playwrights Conference, National Music Theater Conference, Puppetry Conference, Cabaret & Performance Conference, National Critics Institute, and the National Theater Institute, which includes semester-long, fully accredited intensive theater-training programs and a six-week accredited summer program, Theatermakers. In addition, the O'Neill owns and operates the Monte Cristo Cottage, a National Historic Landmark and the childhood home of Nobel Prize-winning and four-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Eugene O'Neill. For more information, please visit the O'Neill website at www.TheONeill.org or call 860-443-5378.

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