Ariana DeBose & Lauren Reid to be Honored at WP Theater's 2023 Gala

Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose (West Side Story, Hamilton) will be presented with the Trailblazer Award, and Broadway League Chair & John Gore Organization President Lauren Reid will be honored with the Ceiling Breaker Award at WP Theater's 2023 Annual Gala in a ceremony at The Edison Ballroom (240 W 47th St, NYC) on Monday, May 8, 2023. WP Theater Board Member and Tony Award-nominated producer Rachel Sussman and WP Theater Board Member Joseph P. Petito Esq. will serve as the gala co-chairs.

Each year, WP honors truly outstanding women who have taken risks, pushed limits, and broken ground in a wide variety of fields, celebrating their unique accomplishments. Since its inception, the event has paid homage to luminaries such as Gloria Steinem, Whoopi Goldberg, Debra Messing, Audra McDonald, Eve Ensler, Dame Judi Dench, Kerry Washington, Vanessa Redgrave, and Chita Rivera, to name just a few. WP Theater's Annual Gala delivers an inspiring, entertaining, star-studded night - featuring performances and special messages from the brightest Broadway & Off-Broadway talent - in celebration of the accomplishments of vital women+ across many disciplines in New York and beyond.

WP THEATER now in its 45th Season, is the nation's oldest and largest theater company dedicated to developing, producing and promoting the work of Women+ at every stage in their careers. For over four decades we have served as leaders at the forefront of a global movement towards gender parity, and the example we set and the artists we have fostered have grown into a robust and thriving community of artists in theater and beyond. WP Theater received a 2018 Lucille Lortel Award, a 2019 Obie Award, and a 2020 Drama Desk Award, all for Outstanding Body of Work, recognizing WP's unique place and vital work in the theatrical landscape. WP empowers Women+ of all kinds to reach their full potential and, in doing so, challenges preconceptions about the kinds of plays women write and the stories they tell. As the premiere launching pad for some of the most influential Women+ theater artists today, our work has had a significant impact on the field at large. Nearly every prolific female theater artist has been through our doors, including 2019 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Musical, Rachel Chavkin, 2018 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Play, Rebecca Taichman, 2013 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Play, Pam MacKinnon, 2013 Tony Winner for Best Direction of a Musical, Diane Paulus, 2018 Pulitzer Prize Winner Martyna Majok, and two-time Pulitzer Prize Winner Lynn Nottage. These powerful women found an artistic home at WP and are a testament to our role as a driving cultural force.

For more information visit: WWW.WPTHEATER.ORG