Bebe Neuwirth, Ellen Greene & More Set for Uptown Downtown Benefit, 10/14

Mikhail Baryshnikov serves as the Honorary Chairman for Uptown Downtown, a special one-night-only extravaganza to benefit the Abrons Arts Center on October 14. Bringing together the brightest lights of New York City's uptown and downtown performance scenes, the evening will feature Kyle Abraham, Joey Arias, Jack Ferver + James Whiteside, Ellen Greene, Robert La Fosse, Bebe Neuwirth, Philippe Petit, and other special guests. Lance Horne serves as Musical Director.

Ticketing Levels
$1,000; $500; $250; $100

Tickets can be purchased at www.abronsartscenter.org or 212-598-0400

Evening Schedule
6:30 pm Cocktails
7:30 pm Performance
9:00 pm Onstage after-party (ticket holders at the $250 level and above)

A special benefit art auction will be online October 1. Please visit www.paddle8.com/auctions/abrons to view and bid.

Benefit Committee
Mikhail Baryshnikov, Honorary Chairman
Richard + Iris Abrons, Julie Atlas Muz + Mat Fraser, David + Barbara Bolotsky, Dale Burch, Lisa Buxbaum, Earl Dax, Stephen Facey, Julia Gruen, Ian Highet + Lea Paine Highet, Paul + Susan LaRosa, Phyllis Lamhut, Teddy Lioliakis + Yvette Quiazon, Gina Meggo-Garza, John Morning, Brian Rogers + Sheila Lewandowski, The Rev. Dr. Thomas F. Pike + Lys McLaughlin, Pete + Becky Ruegger, Lucy Sexton, Alex Timbers, Carleigh Welsh, Basil Twist.

In 2012 Kyle Abraham was a Jacob's Pillow Dance Award recipient and USA Ford Fellow, and also named the newly appointed New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist for 2012-2014. That same year, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered Abraham's newest work, Another Night at New York's City Center to rave reviews. His choreography has been presented throughout the United States and abroad, most recently at On The Boards, South Miami-Dade Cultural Arts Center, REDCAT, Philly Live Arts, Portland's Time Based Arts Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Danspace Project, Dance Theater Workshop, Bates Dance Festival, Harlem Stage, Fall for Dance Festival at New York's City Center, Montreal, Germany, Jordan, Ecuador, Dublin's Project Arts Center, The Okinawa Prefectural Museum & Art Museum located in Okinawa Japan, The Andy Warhol Museum and The Kelly-Strayhorn Theater in his hometown of Pittsburgh, PA. In 2010, Abraham received a prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his work in The Radio Show, and 2010 Princess Grace Award for Choreography and was selected as one of Dance Magazine's 25 To Watch in 2009. In 2011, OUT Magazine labeled Abraham as the "best and brightest creative talent to emerge in New York City in the age of Obama."

A fixture of New York City's vibrant downtown performance scene for 30-plus years, Joey Arias is a bona fide NYC icon. From his early days at Fiorrucci and performing with his close friend Klaus Nomi, Arias has been an enigmatic figure. From outrageous performances at Club 57, Jackie 60 and Squeezebox to the now-legendary nights at Bar d'O where he held court with Raven-O and Sherry Vine, Arias distinguished himself with scandalous wit, sleek style and an extraordinary voice evocative of Lady Day yet uniquely his own. It was no surprise when Arias was tapped by Cirque du Soleil to originate the role of the emcee in their Las Vegas spectacular Zumanity, for which he co-wrote three songs. After six years in that role, Arias returned to New York where he became star and co-creator of Arias With a Twist with master puppeteer Basil Twist. The show was a critical and commercial hit and extended repeatedly at HERE Arts Center. Arias With a Twist was subsequently presented in Los Angeles and Paris and returned to New York in 2011 at the Abrons Arts Center. Arias has performed worldwide at venues including Carnegie Hall, The Freedom Theatre in London and on a transatlantic world tour into the cabaret clubs of Paris, Tokyo, Germany, Finland, Estonia, Canada and England.

Jack Ferver is a choreographer, writer, performer and teacher based in New York City. Ferver has been creating full-length works since 2007. He has been presented at the French Institute Alliance Française (NYC), The Kitchen (NYC), The Institute of Contemporary Art (Boston, MA), PS 122 (NYC), The New Museum (NYC), The Museum of Arts and Design (NYC), Diverse Works (Houston, TX), Danspace Project (NYC), Abrons Art Center (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), and Théâtre de Vanves in France. Shorter and solo works have been presented at MoMA/PS1, Andrew Edlin Gallery, Dance New Amsterdam, LaMaMa E.T.C., The Culture Project, and NP Gallery (all NYC). Jack Ferver's work has been described as "restless, visceral, and often painful... as sympathetic as it is bitingly corrosive" by Claudia LaRocco of the New York Times. His relentless hunt for the truths about the human psyche are worked out in his performances that use high octane, often violent choreography and exacting scripts moving from confessional monologues to "hyper-real" dialogues. His exploration of the twists and turns of the mind, are explored from the macro, with his continual study of psychology, to the micro, as he draws from his own persona and that of his performers. Through this, the flimsy membrane between the performer and the character they play gives way in front of the audience, as Ferver shows us what we are all capable of with an unflinching eye.

The energetic Brooklyn-born Ellen Greene started her singing and stage career began as a nightclub singer receiving rave reviews from critics such as Rex Reed, George Bell and John S. Wilson. She then won the starring role of Chrissy in Joseph Papp's production of In the Boom Boom Room. Her reviews brought her to the attention of Paul Mazursky who was at that time casting for Next Stop, Greenwich Village; she got the role of Sarah, her first starring role in a film. Continuing her work with Papp's New York Shakespeare Festival, Greene next essayed the role of Jenny in The Three Penny Opera at the Vivian Beaumont Theater in Lincoln Center for which her performance was nominated for a Tony Award. Greene was in a number of productions with the New York Shakespeare Festival and the WPA Theatre, before landing the role for which she is perhaps most-widely known, that of the hapless Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors, a role she reprised in the film version opposite Rick Moranis. Other film and television credits include I'm Dancing as Fast as I Can (1982), Talk Radio (1988), Pump Up the Volume (1990), Stepping Out (1991), Léon: The Professional (1994), and ABC's well received Pushing Daisies (2007). She played the role of the agoraphobic Vivian Charles.

Composer-lyricist Lance Horne has performed alongside, composed, and/or provided arrangements for Alan Cumming, Kristin Chenoweth, Ricki Lake, Cheyenne Jackson, Kelli O'Hara, Jake Shears, Meow Meow, Justin Bond, Sandra Bernhard, Amanda Palmer/Dresden Dolls, and Boston Pops. He has performed for President Obama, the First Lady, and Queen Elizabeth; conducted return engagements at Sydney Opera House, international tours of Handel's Messiah Rocks and Jekyll & Hyde, West End appearances at the Vaudeville, Hippodrome, Garrick, and Apollo, multiple performances at Carnegie and Zankel Hall; participated in Pina Bausch's final Tanzfestival, Baryshnikov's Ringling Festival, David Bowie's Highline Festival, Toronto's Luminato festival, two seasons at Lincoln Center's American Songbook and the Geffen. Horne received an Emmy for Best Original Song (Daytime: One Life to Live), the Jonathan Larson Award for composer-lyricist, and a Bistro Award for producing Alan Cumming's album, I Bought a Blue Car Today. He holds a Bachelor's and Master's in Music Composition from The Juilliard School, currently completing his DMA at CUNY Graduate Center, has taught at Juilliard for a decade in the College, Evening, Precollege, and mentoring divisions, NYU, in Paris at EAMA, has guest-lectured in communications at Stockholm HyperIsland and in theater and composition at his alma mater, Interlochen Arts Academy.

Robert La Fosse was born in Beaumont, Texas, and received his ballet training at the Marsha Woody Academy of Dance. He continued his studies in New York with David Howard at Harkness House and Stanley Williams at The School of American Ballet. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1977, where he danced as a Principal Dancer for nine years. In 1986, he was invited by Jerome Robbins to join New York City Ballet as a Principal Dancer. In addition to his work in classical ballet, Mr. La Fosse has also starred in Broadway productions of Bob Fosse's Dancin' and Jerome Robbins' Broadway, for which he received a Tony Award nomination for Best Actor. In 1992 he was a guest artist with Twyla Tharp and Dancers at City Center. He also serves as Artistic Director of "Stars of American Ballet," a small touring group consisting of principals and soloists from American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet. In 2013 La Fosse directed the 20th anniversary benefit performance of David Drake's The Night Larry Kramer Kissed Me.

Bebe Neuwirth has achieved extraordinary success in theater, television and film. In 1980, she made her Broadway debut in A Chorus Line. She then appeared in Little Me, Dancin', and Sweet Charity, for which she won her first Tony Award, followed by Damn Yankees and Fosse. Bebe won her second Tony, as well as the Drama Desk, Astaire, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Distinguished Performance of the Year Awards for her portrayal of Velma in Chicago. A few years later she played Roxie in the show, making her the only triple-threat to have played both parts on Broadway. Bebe starred as Morticia in the Broadway musical The Addams Family. Bebe is also known for her work in film and television. She won two Emmys for her role of Lilith Sternin Crane on Cheers, and was nominated for Emmys for her work on Frasier and for her portrayal of Dorothy Parker in the TV movie Dash and Lilly. She has appeared in numerous films, including Say Anything, Green Card, Bugsy, Jumanji, Summer of Sam, Liberty Heights,Celebrity and Tadpole.

Philippe Petit, universal poet laureate of the high wire, was born in France and took his first steps on the wire at age 16. He learned everything by himself while being expelled from five different schools. Performing on five continents, he taught himself Spanish, German, Russian and English, and developed a keen appreciation for architecture and engineering. Using his wire to extend the boundaries of theater, music, writing, poetry and drawing, he has become an inimitable high wire artist. On August 7, 1974, Philippe accomplished what may be the most astounding "artistic crime" of all time. He walked a high wire illegally stretched between the rooftops of the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center, making eight crossings over the course of an hour, a quarter mile above the sidewalks of New York. Philippe's book, To Reach The Clouds (re-titled Man On Wire in paperback), which recounts that adventure is the subject of the Academy Award-wining documentary film, Man On Wire. In the 37 years since the World Trade Center walk, Philippe has performed on the high wire more than 100 times around the world including Paris, Tokyo, Frankfurt, Jerusalem and New York City where he has been an Artist-In-Residence at The Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine since 1982.

A Soloist in the American Ballet Theatre since 2012, James Whiteside began his training at age nine at the D'Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre, under the direction of Angela D'Valda and Steve Sirico. Guest faculty at the Dance Centre includes Franco DeVita, Raymond Lukens, and Charles Kelley. James enrolled at the Virginia School of the Arts for one year under the direction of Petrus Bosman and David Keener. He joined Boston Ballet II in 2002 and was promoted to the Corps de Ballet in 2003, Second Soloist in 2006, First Soloist in 2008 and to Principal Dancer in 2009.

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski