McDonald, Ivey, Etc. to Attend Acting Company Masquerade

Cipriani Wall Street will be the site of The Acting Company's October 23 "Masquerade" as Patti LuPone receives the John Houseman Award for her outstanding contributions to the theater and Former Governor Thomas Kean is honored with the Warburg Award for his extraordinary humanitarian work.

Zoe Caldwell, Roseanne Cash, Megan Dodds, John Doyle, Tom Fontana, Dana Ivey, Thomas Kean, Audra McDonald, Phyllis Newman, Alan Rickman, Laila Robins, David Schramm, Marian Seldes and Francesca Zambello are expected to attend the event.

Angela Lansbury, Broadway's first Mrs. Lovett, will present the award to LuPone, the latest Mrs. Lovett. Four-time Tony-winner Audra McDonald will head the all-star cast of entertainment emceed by The Drowsy Chaperone's Martin. Emmy and Peabody Award winning producer-writer Tom Fontana ("Oz," "Homicide," "St. Elsewhere") will serve as Honorary Chair.

LuPone has been one of Broadway's foremost leading ladies since her star-making performance in 1979's Evita, for which she won a Tony Award.  She was also recently nominated for her turn in Sweeney Todd.  The star, who graduated from Julliard and was a member of John Houseman's famed Acting Company in the '70s. Broadway credits include Noises Off, The Old Neighborhood, Master Class, Anything Goes (Tony nomination), Accidental Death of an Anarchist, Oliver!, Working, The Three Sisters, The Robber Bridegroom (Tony nomination) and The Beggar's Opera; she has also starred in Pal Joey and Can-Can at Encores! Additionally, she originated the role of Fantine in the London production of Les Miserables, starred as Norma Desmond in the 1993 West End production of Sunset Boulevard (her last appearance in a fully-staged musical), and played Genevieve in the original production of The Baker's Wife.

Angela Lansbury garnered Tony Awards for her performances in Sweeney Todd, Mame, Dear World and Gypsy. She has also been seen on Broadway in Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle, Hotel Paradiso, A Taste of Honey, The King and I, a 1983 revival of Mame, and A Little Family Business. A long-time film star, her screen credits include National Velvet, The Harvey Girls, The Court Jester, The Dark at the Top of the Stairs, The World of Henry Orient, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, and The Pirates of Penzance; she received Oscar nods for her performances in Gaslight, The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Manchurian Candidate. Lansbury starred in the title role of Jerry Herman's telemusical "Mrs. Santa Claus," but is best known to TV audiences for her role as detective Jessica Fletcher on "Murder, She Wrote." This November, she will headline the Acting Company benefit reading "This is On Me, an Evening of Dorothy Parker."

Founded in 1972 by John Houseman, The Acting Company has won a special Tony award and nurtured the careers of LuPone, Kevin Kline, Jeffrey Wright, Frances Conroy, Jesse L. Martin, Rainn Wilson and hundreds of others while touring classical and new productions all across America as well as in New York City. Proceeds of the evening benefit the Company's Literacy Through Theater education programs for students in disadvantaged schools.

Cocktails and Silent Auction at 6:30 will be followed by dinner, dancing, entertainment and awards starting at 7:30 on Monday, October 23, 2006, Cipriani Wall Street, 55 Wall Street at William Street. Black Tie or Costume. Tickets, which are $550 and $1,000, can be purchased by calling The Acting Company at (212)-258-3111.