Laura Benanti Will Be Honored At The 2019 ASTEP Color Ball

ARTISTS STRIVING TO END POVERTY (ASTEP) announced today that it will honor Tony Award Winner Laura Benanti (My Fair Lady) at its annual Gala and Dinner, The 2019 ASTEP Color Ball on Monday, April 29, at Feinstein's/54 Below. She will join Mary-Mitchell Campbell (The Prom, Mean Girls), Founder and Co-Executive Director of ASTEP, on stage to celebrate Benanti's leadership and advocacy in the creation of the benefit album SINGING YOU HOME: Children's Songs for Family Reunification.

Dr. Keith Bell (Chair), Steven Farkas, Sheryl FitzGerald, Jaimie Mayer, Stephen Oremus, Cynthia Princi, Susan Vargo, and 2018 ASTEP Artist/Activist Honoree Georgia Stitt will serve as Host Committee for this special evening. The 2019 ASTEP Color Ball is a night to honor the Artists/Activists who inspire ASTEP students, the Sponsors who make our work possible and the Partners who join our efforts in giving children from underserved communities access to the power of the arts. The evening is conceived by Campbell and will allow ASTEP to give audience members an in depth look into our programs and the exciting work we have ahead of us.

The evening will begin with cocktails at 6:00 p.m. at Feinstein's/54 Below, followed by dinner and a performance including Benanti and many more from the Broadway community. Tickets start at $250 and are available online at https://54below.com/events/astep-color-ball-2019/. Sponsorships are available by contacting Katherine Nolan Brown at katherine@asteponline.org or 212-921-1227. Proceeds from The 2019 ASTEP Color Ball will help support ASTEP's mission of using the arts as a vehicle to teach young people the social emotional skills they need to be the best versions of themselves.

Tony Award winner and five-time Tony Award nominee Laura Benanti (Honoree) is a highly celebrated stage and screen actress, currently performing on Broadway as Eliza Doolittle in Lincoln Center's revival of My Fair Lady. Prior to that, Benanti was seen onstage in Steve Martin's hit Broadway play, Meteor Shower. Other Broadway roles include Amalia Balash in She Loves Me (Tony and Drama Desk Award nominee), Gypsy Rose Lee in Gypsy opposite Patti LuPone (Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards), Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Tony nomination, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards winner), Into the Woods (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle nominations), In the Next Room or The Vibrator Play, The Wedding Singer, Nine (starring Antonio Banderas). Other distinguished theater performances include Perdita in The Winter's Tale at the Williamstown Theatre Festival, Anne in A Little Night Music at the L.A. Opera, Eileen in Wonderful Town, and Rosabella in The Most Happy Fella, both for City Center Encores! Her television credits include recurring and guest appearances "Younger," "The Detour," "Supergirl," "Law & Order: SVU," "Nashville," "The Good Wife, "Elementary," "Nurse Jackie," "The Big C," NBC's "The Sound of Music Live" and as First Lady Melania Trump on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert."

ASTEP was conceived by Broadway musical director Mary-Mitchell Campbell and Juilliard students to transform the lives of youth using the most powerful tool they had - their art. With programs as local as New York City and as global as India and South Africa, ASTEP Volunteer Teaching Artists deliver after-school workshops and summer camps in schools and community organizations that serve youth affected by immigration status, homelessness, gun-violence, incarceration, the justice system, HIV/AIDS, systemic poverty, and the caste system..

ASTEP's Board of Directors includes Thomas Fitzgerald (Chair), Jaimie Mayer (Vice Chair), Sheryl FitzGerald (Secretary), Sheri Sarkisian (Treasurer), as well as Laura Bray, Mark Canavera, Laura V. Chittick, Trupti Doshi, Steven Farkas, Sameer Garg, Jeffrey Korn, Sam Mintz, Henry Sham, and Gabrielle Speaks.

For more information about ASTEP or to Sponsor this event, contact Katherine Nolan Brown, Director of Development, katherine@asteponline.org, or to purchase tickets to the Gala, visit https://54below.com/events/astep-color-ball-2019/.