Courtney B. Vance, Joe Mantello & More Honor SHUFFLE ALONG Director George C. Wolfe at O'Neill Center Tonight

The Eugene O'Neill Theater Center welcomes Courtney B. Vance, Savion Glover, Joe Mantello and David Marshall Grant for the Monte Cristo Award program celebration for award-winning stage and film director, playwright, and actor George C. Wolfe. Vance - an O'Neill alumnus who also starred with Tom Hanks in LUCKY GUY on Broadway under the direction of Wolfe - will present the Award.

A gala dinner will be held in Wolfe's honor at The Edison Ballroom (New York) tonight, May 9, followed by a special program hosted by O'Neill Executive Director Preston Whiteway. Glover, Mantello and Marshall Grant will also take part honoring Wolfe's illustrious career.

Some of Courtney B. Vance earliest professional credits were with the O'Neill's National Playwrights Conference, the pioneering O'Neill program that discovers and develops new plays. In 1985 he worked with authors Richard Wesley and John Pielmier on their plays, and in 1986 Vance was part of the original cast of August Wilson's The Piano Lesson when it premiered at the O'Neill. Vance has worked on a total of seven plays with NPC to date.

The O'Neill annually bestows its Monte Cristo Award on a prominent theater artist whose lifetime work has had an extraordinary impact on American theater. The gala event supports the Center's commitment to developing new work and new artists for the stage.

Tickets are available at www.theoneill.org/montecristoaward. For sponsorship opportunities or additional information about the event, call 860-443-5378 x285, or email events@theoneill.org.

Photo by Walter McBride