Chenoweth, Esparza, Etc. Set for 4/23 Dramatists Guild Event

The Dramatists Guild Fund and Dramatists Guild of America will present their annual gala dinner and Guild awards ceremony to benefit the Fund on Monday, April 23, 2007. John Guare is the master of ceremonies and Michael Greif is the director of the program, which will include performances from The Apple Tree, Company, Curtains, Grey Gardens, Spring Awakening and [title of show].

Taking part in the event will be Tony Award-winner Kristin Chenoweth (The Apple Tree), Raul Esparza (Company), Debra Monk (Curtains), Erin Davie (Grey Gardens), Matt Cavenaugh (Grey Gardens), John Gallagher, Jr. (Spring Awakening), Lauren Pritchard (Spring Awakening) and the cast of [title of show].

This year's Guild award winners include Scott Frankel, recipient of the Frederick Loewe Award for Dramatic Composition, presented for his score of Grey Gardens; Ed Bullins, recipient of the Flora Roberts Award; and Horton Foote, recipient of the Dramatists Guild Award for Lifetime Achievement. The Guild, in association with the Educational Association of America, will also present the first annual Wendy Wasserstein Prize. The finalists for the 2006 Hull-Warriner Award, the only award given by dramatists for a dramatic work, are Tanya Barfield for Blue Door; Sarah Ruhl for The Clean House; Scott Frankel, Michael Korie and Doug Wright for Grey Gardens; David Lindsay-Abaire for Rabbit Hole; Adam Rapp for red light winter; and Steven Sater and Duncan Sheik for Spring Awakening. The winner of the Wasserstein Prize and the Hull-Warriner Award will be announced during the gala dinner.

The event will be at the Hudson Theater in the Millennium Hotel, 145 West 44th Street. The performances will begin at 9:00pm. Show-only tickets are available for the balcony, accessible only by stairs, at $35 per ticket. Please be aware there will be no balcony seating until 8:45pm. All balcony tickets will be sold through the TheaterMania website at www.theatermania.com, or by calling 212-352-3101 or 1-866-811-4111.

Tickets for the entire Gala, including the dinner and awards presentations, are available starting at $500 per ticket. For more information about these tickets, contact the Dramatists Guild at benefit@dramatistsguild.com. All monies raised benefit the Dramatists Guild Fund, the educational and outreach arm of the Guild.

Photo of Kristin Chenoweth by Retna Ltd.