Lindsay Mendez, Ethan Lipton & More Set for BROADWAY STANDS UP FOR FREEDOM Tonight, 7/23

Broadway Stands Up for Freedom, the annual benefit concert of the New York Civil Liberties Union (the state-affiliate of the ACLU), will be presented tonight, July 23 at the NYU Skirball Center for Performing Arts.

Newly announced for the evening are Lindsay Mendez (Godspell, Grease, Everyday Rapture), currently starring in Dogfight at Second Stage, and Ethan Lipton and His Orchestra (No Place to Go).

These artists join the previously reported 2012 Tony-nominee Celia Keenan-Bolger (Peter & the Starcatcher), Steve Pasquale (Rescue Me), Nikki Renée Daniels (Porgy & Bess, Aida), Julie Halston (Anything Goes), Darius de Haas (Rent, Marie Christine), The Broadway Boys, and founding performer Liana Stampur with Clinton Curtis.

Tony Award- and Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner, a longtime NYCLU member, is the honorary chairman for the event and will give opening remarks.

"This is not a snoozy that you pray will end before "Hoarders". It's great Broadway people being hilarious and/or singing great music. You will say 'brava!'" said Seth Rudetsky who hosts and musical directs. The show is staged by Daniel Goldstein, director of the recent Broadway revival of Godspell.

"This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Broadway community rallying around the work of the NYCLU," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "We are thrilled to honor the contributions these artists make to New Yorkers' lives and to celebrate the vital link between civil liberties and the arts at this year's show."

Celia Kennan-Bolger adds: "BSUFF is one of my favorite evenings of the whole year. It brings together two things I care about deeply: Civil Rights and Broadway. It's a fun, entertaining concert with amazing talent AND it raises awareness of the many issues the NYCLU is fighting for on our behalf. Also, I will never turn down the opportunity to hear Tony Kushner speak in public."

Proceeds from the show benefit the NYCLU's youth programs, including its work with LGBT teenagers; its Teen Activist Project, which engages New York City teens as organizers and peer educators on civil rights and civil liberties issues; and its work to stop overly aggressive policing and zero-tolerance discipline in the city's public schools.

VIP tickets and sponsorship packages, now on sale for $250 and up, can be purchased here. Individual tickets, $100/$60, will be available starting May 21 and can be purchased three ways: Online at www.nyuskirball.org; by phone at 212.352.3101, Monday through Friday between 9:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m., and 10:00 a.m. through 6:00 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday; or in person at the Shagan Box Office located in the Center's lobby at 566 LaGuardia Place. Regular box office hours are Tuesday-Saturday, from noon to 6 p.m. plus two hours prior to performance.

For more information about the show, including a complete list of performers, visit www.nyclu.org/broadway.