Bill Pullman & Donald Holder to be Honored at New York Stage and Film's Winter Gala

New York Stage and Film has announced that its annual Winter Gala will honor star of stage and screen Bill Pullman, whose decades-long career includes starring roles in the blockbuster film Independence Day, While You Were Sleeping and Broadway's The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?; as well as 2-time Tony Award-winner and 11-time nominee Donald Holder, lighting designer of Broadway's The Lion King, The King & I, and the upcoming Fiddler on the Roof revival, among countless others. The Winter Gala will be held on Sunday, November 15, 2015 at The Plaza Hotel (770 Fifth Avenue, New York City). For more information on New York Stage and Film, please visit http://www.newyorkstageandfilm.org/.

New York Stage and Film is also pleased to announce that the Co-Chairs for this year's gala are Lauren Cramer, Carol Friscia, Amy Madigan & Ed Harris, and Julie Taymor.

"This year we are excited to honor two gentlemen who have forged long, vibrant, diverse careers," said Artistic Director Johanna Pfaelzer. "Bill Pullman is that all-too-rare creature - a long-working actor equally adept at leading man roles and character parts, large-scale motion pictures and intimate Broadway dramas. Donald Holder has dazzled Broadway audiences with his lighting designs for some of the most incredible productions of the past several decades, and has amassed an astounding 21 shows as part of our Powerhouse Theater Seasons since 1986. We look forward to honoring their remarkable careers at our gala this year."

Vice Chairs of the 2015 Gala are Rebecca Carpenter & Max Mayer, Dasha Epstein, Barbara Manocherian, Fred Nelson/People's Choice Awards, Sylvia & David Steiner, and Denise & Dean Vanech.

Gala Committee Members include: Edward Albee, Amy Aquino & Drew McCoy, Lewis Black, Ed Cheetham, Emily Colson, Susan DeKrey, Scott Elliot, Peggy Ellis, Roland Emmerich, David Esbjornson, Beth Fargis-Lancaster, Wendall Harrington, Paula Harwood & Peter Gallagher, Glenne Headly, Ruth & Stephen Hendel, Beth Henley, Doug Hughes, ICM Partners, Thomas Kail, Sheryl Kaller & Scott Zaretsky, Carol Kane, Neil LaBute, Pam MacKinnon, Julianna Margulies, Elizabeth McCann, Gabrielle & Michael Palitz, David Rabe, Josh Radnor, Rob Reiner, Alan Rickman, Jose Rivera, Daryl Roth, Jordan Roth, Mercedes Ruehl, Julian Sands, Fisher Stevens, Susan Stroman, Jon Tenney, and Jennifer Westfeldt.

Past honorees include Michael Mayer, Rick Miramontez, Stanley Tucci, Laura Linney, Christopher Plummer, Julianna Margulies, Steve Martin, John Patrick Shanley, Jon Robin Baitz, Aaron Sorkin, David Strathairn, Dana Delany, Tony Shalhoub, Marc Platt, and Peter Gallagher.

New York Stage and Film is a not-for-profit company dedicated to both emerging and established artists in the development of new works for theater and film. Since 1985 New York Stage and Film has played a significant role in the development of new plays, provided a home for a diverse group of artists free from critical and commercial pressures, and established itself as a vital cultural institution for residents of the Hudson Valley and the New York metropolitan region. The company recently completed the 31st Powerhouse Summer season, its annual collaboration with Vassar College. The Powerhouse program consists of an eight-week residency on the Vassar campus during which more than 250 professional artists and 50 apprentices in the Powerhouse Training Program live and work together to create new theater works. Recent highlights at Powerhouse include Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway hit Hamilton; Bright Star, an original musical from Steve Martin and Edie Brickell; The Fortress of Solitude, Itamar Moses, Michael Friedman and Daniel Aukin's musical adaptation of the best-selling novel by Jonathan Lethem, and Richard Greenberg's The Babylon Line. Many additional shows from past seasons have found their way to Broadway, Off-Broadway, and theaters nationwide, including Stephen Karam's Sons of the Prophet and The Humans (Roundabout Theater); The Invisible Hand by Ayad Akhtar (NYTW), Found by Hunter Bell, Lee Overtree and Eli Bolin (Atlantic Theater Co), Michael Mayer and Peter Lerman's Brooklynite (Vineyard Theater), Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash's Murder Ballad (Manhattan Theater Club); and Pulitzer finalist Nathan Englander's The Twenty-Seventh Man (The Public Theater; Old Globe Theater);. Other projects developed at the Powerhouse include the Tony Award-winning Side Man and Tru; the multi-award-winning Doubt by John Patrick Shanley; the groundbreaking Broadway musical American Idiot, and A Steady Rain, produced on Broadway in 2009 with Hugh Jackman and Daniel Craig. For more information, visit www.newyorkstageandfilm.org.

All proceeds from the evening will benefit New York Stage and Film's support of artists from around the country in the development and production of original work for theater and film.