Ladies Night Out Raises Thousands for Phyllis Newman Fund

Last night, the League of American Theatres and Producers, Inc. launched a new initiative - "Ladies Night Out on Broadway" - a special evening on Broadway created for Broadway's most loyal group of theatregoers. Similar to other successful League audience development programs (including Kids' Night on Broadway and Singles Night on Broadway), the first-ever Ladies Night Out on Broadway, created only for women, included special show discounts and an important charitable tie-in which raised thousands of dollars in honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month with the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of The Actors Fund, a program created to address the myriad of concerns women face when dealing with a serious medical condition. The free party included food and drinks at Spotlight Live and included a variety of activities including a Women-in-Theatre panel and Broadway karaoke. Hundreds of women attended the party and then saw one of the participating shows.

The Women of Broadway Panel was moderated Lite FM's Valerie Smaldone, and included: Tony Award winning actress Marian Seldes, Former Miss America and Broadway Actress, Kate Shindle (Legally Blonde), Actress Deidre Goodwin (A Chorus Line), General Manager Nina Lanann (The Color Purple), General Manager Charlotte Wilcox (Grease), Producer/Writer/Director Dori Berinstein (ShowBusiness: The Road to Broadway), Producer Kristin Caskey (Legally Blonde), and Tony Award winning Lighting Designer Natasha Katz (The Little Mermaid, The Coast of Utopia - Salvage).

Serving as Ladies Night Spokespeople were Jackie Hoffman and Mary Testa, currently starring in Xanadu at the Helen Hayes Theater. Participating Shows Twelve Broadway shows participated in Ladies Night Out including, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple, Curtains, Hairspray, Legally Blonde the Musical, Les Miserables, Mamma Mia!, Mary Poppins, Monty Python's Spamalot, The Phantom of the Opera, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, and Xanadu. Two Off Broadway shows participated: including The Fantasticks and Stomp.

With the purchase of a Ladies Night theatre ticket to any of the participating Broadway or Off Broadway shows, ladies were invited to attend a free theatre themed party at Spotlight Live, the only restaurant where you walk in for dinner but walk out a star. Some of the participating shows hosted post-show talk backs that corresponded with online show discussion guides made available on the event website. These online discussion guides for women interested in creating "theatre clubs," provides the opportunity to form meaningful connections with like-minded women. In addition, Times Square area restaurants featured special offers, plus parking discounts. Please visit broadway.ivillage.com to chat with other Broadway theatre fans and enter a Broadway sweepstakes.

Ladies Night Out on Broadway's sponsors included Spotlight Live, The New York Times, Budweiser Select and shuzsociety.com, an online magazine and networking site for shoe lovers. As a part of the raffle, shuzsociety.com raffled one of a kind Broadway Boots decorated by a representative from each participating show. All proceeds were donated to the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative of The Actor's Fund. Media partners are WNBC 4, ivillage.com, and 106.7 LITE-FM