CRAZY EX-GIRLFRIEND's Vincent Rodriguez III to Host Prospect Theater's 2017 Gala

Prospect Theater Company has announced the host for its 2017 Annual Gala event, "Prospect at the Penthouse: Reaching New Heights," to be held on Monday, May 8, 2017 from 6 - 10pm at Manhattan Penthouse (80 Fifth Avenue).

Vincent Rodriguez III, star of the critically-acclaimed Emmy- and Golden Globe-winning television musical comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, will emcee the evening.

The company will welcome back Rodriguez, who made his New York stage debut with Prospect in 2007 in the leading role of the new Shakespeare-inspired musical Honor, created by founding company members Peter Mills and Cara Reichel. Additional performers for the gala concert will be announced shortly.

Join Prospect and Broadway Friends for this intimate dinner and private concert event. Enjoy great cuisine and company while experiencing gorgeous panoramic sunset views of Manhattan. Tickets to the Gala event, which include cocktails, dinner, and a special concert performance, are $125 - $550, and are available online via www.ProspectTheater.org or by downloading a mail-in order form. Proceeds will support Prospect's mission to bring to life new musical theater by emerging theater artists. For more information, call 212-594-4476.

Vincent Rodriguez III currently stars as Josh Chan in the critically-acclaimed Emmy and Golden Globe winning television musical comedy Crazy Ex-Girlfriend. Rodriguez's New York stage debut was with Prospect Theater Company in the lead role of a brand new musical set in feudal Japan, Honor. That musical experience was a highlight of his career, which got him his first agent, whom he is still with to this day. Other stage credits include the national tours of 42nd Street, Xanadu, Anything Goes, and Irving Berlin's White Christmas (original cast & recording). Additional theater credits include Oklahoma!, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, (developmental lab, both coast premieres & studio cast recording) and Here Lies Love. On television, he has guest starred in Donny, Hostages, Another Period, and Designated Survivor. Rodriguez has two black belts and trains in extreme martial arts focusing on weapons, stunts, and acrobatics. Rodriguez is from a suburb of San Francisco (Daly City) and is a proud graduate of the Pacific Conservatory of the Performing Arts.

Prospect Theater Company (founded in 1998) is dedicated to fostering and showcasing today's new voices shaping tomorrow's musicals. Since 2000, the company has fully produced more than 30 premiere musicals in New York City, in addition to new plays and numerous re-inventions of classic works. Reflecting its investment in the future of the field, Prospect leads a variety of developmental initiatives, including an annual Musical Theater Lab for emerging writers, and a Summer Intensive training program for teenagers. In recognition of its enterprising and risk-taking new musical theater, the company received a 2016 OBIE Award grant. Their work as a community anchor for emerging artists that strengthens the quality, diversity, and dynamism of American theater was also honored with a 2013 National Theatre Company Grant from the American Theatre Wing.

Notable productions include: the Drama Desk Award-winning Working (2012), Death for Five Voices (2016), Long Story Short (2015), Jasper in Deadland (2014), the Drama-Desk nominated Tamar of the River (2013), Unlock'd (2013), Iron Curtain (2006, 2011), Myths and Hymns (2012), With Glee (2010), The Blue Flower (2008), Golden Boy of the Blue Ridge (2009), The Hidden Sky (2010), Illyria (2002, 2008), and the Drama-Desk nominated The Pursuit of Persephone (2005).