Kristin Chenoweth, Norm Lewis & More to Take Part in Theatre Forward Gala Honoring Kenny Leon

On Monday, April 4, 2022, Theatre Forward, a non-profit arts organization based in New York City, will hold its annual gala at the Edison Ballroom, 240 West 47th Street, New York City to honor Tony and Obie Award winning director, Kenny Leon, and global financial services provider, Prudential Financial. Kenny Leon will receive the Theatre Forward Artist Award presented by Phylicia Rashad, and Chief Marketing Officer, Susan Somersille Johnson, will accept the Corporate Leadership Award on behalf of Prudential Financial.

"On behalf of theatres across America, we are proud to acknowledge Prudential Financial's commitment to the arts, particularly during a time when people have a renewed appreciation for the comfort and inspiration they find in arts and theater," says Gretchen Shugart, Executive Director of Theatre Forward. "We applaud Prudential's executive team for providing meaningful support for nonprofit theatre, recognizing that these cultural institutions are vital to our quality of life and the health of our communities.

"Kenny Leon is an award-winning artist, director, producer, and actor, who has been recognized for his work on Broadway, in film and television, and on so many regional theatre stages." Shugart continued. "His work has created lasting impact on audiences nationwide, and continues to inspire and engage. We celebrate him for his enormous contributions to the field."

The star-studded evening includes cocktails at 6:30 p.m., dinner at 7:30 pm, followed by awards and entertainment with performances that will light up the stage in a celebration of Theatre Forward to support the return of theatre across the country and the role theatres play in vibrant communities across America. Performers and special guests include Tony and Emmy Award winning singer and actress, Kristin Chenoweth; Tony Award nominated singer and actor, Norm Lewis; Tony Award winning actress, Phylicia Rashad; Alexander Bello; and DeWitt Fleming Jr.

Gala Chairs: Audra McDonald and Richard K. Greene (Citi)

For tickets and tables, please visit our website theatreforward.org/2022gala/ or call us at 212-750-6895.

THEATRE FORWARD is a non-profit arts organization that supports a network of 19 prominent regional theatres in their efforts to enrich communities and make theatre accessible to all. By connecting these theatres to funding and resources on a national level, Theatre Forward champions the creation of thought-provoking performances for diverse audiences and helps drive education and community programs that fuel positive social change and meaningful engagement. Theatre Forward aims to increase access and opportunity for all to experience theatre. For more information, please visit www.theatreforward.org.

ABOUT THE HONOREES & PRESENTERS

HONOREE: Kenny Leon is a Tony and Obie Award-winning; Emmy-nominated; Broadway and Television director. Most recently, he directed Lifetime's Emmy-nominated Robin Roberts Presents: Mahalia. Last year, he directed the Tony Award-winning Broadway premiere of Charles Fuller's Pulitzer Prize winning masterpiece, A Soldier's Play, for which he also received a nomination for Best Director. Currently on Netflix, he has directed episodes of Colin in Black & White and Amend: The Fight for America. He also directed The Underlying Chris at Second Stage Theatre Company and the acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Delacorte/Shakespeare in the Park. Broadway: A Soldier's Play; American Son; Children of a Lesser God; Holler If Ya Hear Me; A Raisin in the Sun (Tony Award; 2014); The Mountaintop; Stick Fly; August Wilson's Fences, Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Off-Broadway: Everybody's Ruby, Emergence-See! (The Public); Smart People (Second Stage). Television: Colin in Black & White; 4400; Amend: The Fight for America; American Son (adapted for Netflix); Hairspray Live!; The Wiz Live!; Steel Magnolias; Dynasty; In My Dreams. Author: Take You Wherever You Go. Artistic Director Emeritus, Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company. Senior Resident Director: Roundabout Theatre Company.

HONOREE: PRUDENTIAL FINANCIAL is a global financial services company and premier active investment manager helping to make lives better by solving the financial challenges of our changing world. Our vision is to be a global leader in expanding access to investing, insurance, and retirement security. Prudential has operations in the United States, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. Prudential's iconic Rock symbol has stood for strength, resilience, expertise, and innovation for more than a century.

Prudential has been a supporter of the arts and the theater community. Most recently in 2021, in partnership with Playbill, The Broadway League and Times Square Alliance, Prudential was the title sponsor of Curtain Up, an electrifying musical festival that celebrated the return of Broadway in New York City. Prudential also donated to Black Theatre Coalition and The Actors Fund.

Over the past decade, Prudential has invested more than $1 billion to help revitalize and grow Newark with a focus on arts, real estate, and school programs.a??The company's commitment includes over $29 million towards New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC), one of the nation's largest arts centers, helping to attract leading artists to Newark and provide arts education to 70,000 students in New Jersey.

ACCEPTING ON BEHALF of Prudential Financial: SUSAN SOMERSILLE JOHNSON is chief marketing officer for Prudential Financial, Inc. In this role, she is responsible for leading the company's global marketing and brand strategy to help drive profitable growth for Prudential. Johnson will leverage her background in technology to spearhead new marketing innovation and bridge traditional marketing with emerging digital tools and analytics.

Previously, Johnson was corporate executive vice president and chief marketing officer of Truist Financial, the bank holding company formed in 2019 following the merger of SunTrust Bank and BB&T. While at Truist, Johnson led the post-merger enterprise rebranding for the new organization, which had over $504 billion in assets. She also championed the launch of onUp, a cultural movement empowering financial confidence for over 6.1 million participants across America.

Johnson began her career as an engineer at Apple before taking on a series of high-profile global marketing leadership roles at organizations including NCR Corporation and Nokia. While at Nokia, she developed and deployed targeted initiatives that drove customer demand, setting record levels of performance for Nokia channel partners around the world. She served as vice president of Global Marketing at NCR Corporation, overseeing the company's worldwide marketing, communications and business intelligence programs to drive increased awareness and consideration of NCR products and services across 180 countries.

Johnson serves on the board of directors of Constellation Brands and National Vision. Passionate about philanthropy and volunteerism, she also is a board member of United Way U.S.A., and HOPE Global Forums. She was named "Marketer of the Year" by Target Marketing (2018), among the "50 Most Powerful Women in Corporate America" by Black Enterprise (2016 and 2017) and "Top Influential Women in Corporate America" by Savoy Magazine (2016).

She holds a bachelor's degree in engineering sciences from Harvard University and an MBA in finance from The Wharton School.

PRESENTER to Kenny Leon: Phylicia Rashad, an accomplished actress and stage director, became a household name when she portrayed 'Claire Huxtable' on The Cosby Show, a character whose enduring appeal has earned numerous awards and honors for over two decades. Her film and television credits include: A Fall From Grace, Creed and Creed II, For Colored Girls, Soul, Jingle Jangle, and Black Box; This is Us (three Emmy nominations), David Makes Man, and Empire.

Inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 2016, Ms. Rashad received Tony and Drama Desk Awards for her performance as 'Lena Younger' in A Raisin in the Sun, the Lucille Lortel Award for her performance as 'Shelah' in Head of Passes, and a Tony nomination for her portrayal of 'Aunt Ester' in August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. Ms. Rashad has directed plays by August Wilson (Gem of the Ocean, Fences, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone), Stephen Adly Guirgis, (Our Lady of 121st Street) and Paul Oakley Stovall (Immediate Family) at prestigious regional and 0ff-Broadway Theaters. Rashad, who serves as Co-Chair of the Advisory Council for the African American Cultural Heritage Fund, is currently Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Kristin Chenoweth TONY® and EMMY® Award-winning actress and singer Kristin Chenoweth's career spans film, television, voiceover and stage. Stage, (You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, Wicked, On the Twentieth Century), film (Rio 2, My Little Pony: The Movie, Four Christmases) and television (Trial & Error, The West Wing, Pushing Daisies, Glee, Descendants, Hairspray and American Gods).

Chenoweth recently released her latest Holiday/Christmas album "HAPPINESS is...Christmas!." Previously in 2019, she released "Fora??Thea??Girls," a heartfelt tribute to the great female singers throughout history. To celebrate the release of "Fora??Thea??Girls," Chenoweth returned to the Broadway stage in November 2019 for an eight-performance concert engagement at thea??Nederlandera??Theatre. She was recently seen starring in the STX films sports drama National Champions. Chenoweth also co-starred in Applea??TV+'s acclaimed musical-comedy seriesa??Schmigadoon!. In 2020, Chenoweth starred in the Netflix film Holidate, voiced the character Daisy in the HBO Max film The Witches, and hosted the Food Network competition series Candy Land. In 2019, Chenoweth starred alongside Scott Wolf in the holiday film A Christmas Love Story, which premiered on Hallmark Channel. Along with the holiday season, Chenoweth released a stand-alone Holiday e-single titled "White Christmas." Also in 2019, Chenoweth performed with iconic The Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra in their annual Christmas concert. In 2009, Chenoweth wrote an upliftingly candid, comedic chronicle of her life so far, A Little Bit Wicked, which debuted on the New York Times Hardcover Non-Fiction Best Seller List. Chenoweth will soon release her first picture book What Will I Do with My Love Today?. The heartwarming story, available for purchase March 8, 2022 is a sweet tale about a young girl named Kristi Dawn, who shares her love through acts of generosity around New York City. Kristin has joined Kathy Najimy, Linda Perry, Chely Wright and Lauren Blitzer as an editor of My Moment: 106 Women on Fighting for Themselves, a book that includes essays from figures including Cynthia Erivo, Carol Burnett, Brooke Baldwin, Brandi Carlile and Debra Messing. The book will be released on April 26, 2022.

Chenoweth received a coveted star on The Hollywood Walk of Fame in the category of Live Performance, Stage/Theatre in 2015. Chenoweth is a graduate of Oklahoma City University with a Master's degree in Opera Performance. She formed a charity partnership with the Broken Arrow Performing Arts Center (BAPAC) Foundation in her home state of Oklahoma. Chenoweth's accomplishments were honored by her hometown with BAPAC naming "The Kristin Chenoweth Theatre" in 2012. Partnering with the BAPAC, she launched an annual Broadway Bootcamp in 2015. Chenoweth is an inductee into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame, as well as the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Norm Lewis is an Emmy, Tony, and SAG-nominated performer with a career spanning film, television, and theater. He most recently starred in the hit Broadway comedy Chicken & Biscuits, which marked Lewis' first turn in a Broadway play. The play was one of seven new plays in the 2021 season written by Black playwrights (Douglas Lyons); it was also directed by the youngest Black director in Broadway history (Zhailon Levingston). Most recently, Lewis made his solo debut at the iconic Carnegie Hall on March 4, 2022 with the New York Pops.

Lewis' Broadway credits include The Phantom of the Opera - making history in 2014 as Broadway's first African American Phantom - the Tony Award-winning revival of Once on This Island, The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess, Sondheim on Sondheim, The Little Mermaid, and Les Misérables. He also starred in the 2017 Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, receiving the AUDELCO Award for his performance. Lewis' screen credits include Spike Lee's critically acclaimed film, Da 5 Bloods, FX's Pose, Hulu's Mrs. America, NBC's Jesus Christ Superstar Live in Concert!,

ABC's Scandal, Lifetime's Christmas in Tune, six PBS specials, and most recently, ABC's Women of The Movement.

Lewis is also a proud founding member of Black Theatre United, an organization which stands together to help protect Black people, Black talent and Black lives of all shapes and orientations in theater and communities across the country.

Alexander Bello is that rare quadruple threat: actor, singer, dancer and full-time eighth grader. At the age of eight Alexander made his professional acting debut in the Off-Off-Broadway play A Real Boy after listing "an audition" third on his Christmas list. Less than two years later he made his Broadway debut in the 2019 revival of Arthur Miller's All My Sons. Two more roles on Broadway soon followed: the 2019 revival of Tennessee Williams' The Rose Tattoo and the critically acclaimed 2021 revival of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's Caroline, or Change.

But Alexander's favorite role to date is that of Willie Sheridan-the title character in New York City Center's 2022 Encores! production of The Tap Dance Kid. Under the thoughtful direction of Tony Award-winning director Kenny Leon, Alexander was able to use Lydia Diamond's shrewdly revised book to challenge his acting in new ways and Jared Grimes' dazzling choreography to take his tapping skills to new heights.

On the small screen Alexander may be seen in And Just Like That on HBO, Rise Up, Sing Out on Disney Jr. (voice of Kingston) and John Mulaney & The Sack Lunch Bunch on Netflix singing and dancing opposite Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford.

Alexander is overjoyed to join Theatre Forward as they honor Kenny Leon for his brilliant and vital contributions to the American theatre and Prudential Financial for their commitment to the arts. (IG: thealexanderbello)

DEWITT FLEMING JR. is a world renowned Tap Dancer. He has toured the world as a featured tap dancer with Riverdance, Cirque du Soleil, danced with Grammy award winning artist Alicia Keys, Wynton Marsalis, Bobby McFerrin, and was featured on the HBO Emmy Award winning show Boardwalk Empire. Some of his favorite theater productions are NY City Center's The Tap Dance Kid (Daddy Bates), Signature Theater's Scottsboro Boys (Ozie/Robie), National Black Theater Festival's Jelly's Last Jam (Jelly), and Alpine Theater Project's Jesus Christ Superstar (Simon). He was awarded the Dancer of the Decade Award from Broadway World, and was honored with the NYC Flo Bert award. DeWitt also made history by releasing the first jazz album recorded live at Dizzy's Club Jazz at Lincoln Center with tap dancing on it; Sax and Taps INTERSPLOSION! (Live at Dizzy's Club). For more info please visit www.dewittflemingjr.com social media @dewittflemingjr