Meryl Streep, Tom Oppenheim, Kate Mulgrew Tribute Laurette Taylor Award Winner Elizabeth Parrish Tonight

Theatre East and Yale Alumni Association of New York will present Elizabeth Parrish with the Laurette Taylor Award tonight, May 28th at Ramscale Studio South, 463 West Street, in the West Village Highline district, NYC. The benefit starts at 7pm with an exclusive cocktail reception, followed by dinner at 8pm. The award will be presented to Ms. Parrish by Kate Mulgrew (Orange is the New Black). The ceremony will include tributes by alumna Meryl Streep and the Stella Adler Studio's Artistic Director, Tom Oppenheim.

Tables start at $2,500 (premium tribute dinner seating; quarter page ad in journal). Individual tickets start at $250. For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit theatreeast.org or email rsvp@theatreeast.org.

A three-time Academy Award winner, Ms. Streep, who studied under Ms. Parrish at Yale, has publicly credited Ms. Parrish's teachings in connection to her performance as the Witch in the recent film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's musical Into The Woods.

Mr. Oppeneheim is a former Laurette Taylor honoree, and has headed the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where Ms.Parrish teaches, for over 15 years. He originated the Harold Clurman Laboratory Theater Company in 2002. Directing credits include Three Sisters and Our Town.

Elizabeth Parrish has touched many through her decades of performance and teaching. She performed on Broadway in Deathtrap and La Cage Aux Folles, Off-Broadway in Little Mary Sunshine and Riverwind. Select film credits include Orphans, See You In The Morning, andTootsie. Recurring television credits include Kate and Allie, As the World Turns, Edge of Night, All My Children and Law And Order. She most recently united with Canadian dance icon Margie Gillis in Bulletins from Immortality, a tribute to the work of Emily Dickinson. She trained with Stella Adler, who would then direct her and associate with her as a teacher. Ms.Parrish taught at Yale School of Drama, where she was an adjunct professor. Her teaching career has also included The High School for Performing Arts, The Metropolitan Opera Studio, and Circle in the Square. She is currently a Master Teacher at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, where she teaches Character and Acting Technique.

The Theatre East Laurette Taylor Award is named after a pioneer of acting whose work on the stage influenced many generations of artists. The Award was founded in 2009 to pay tribute to the exceptional artistic contributions of Laurette Taylor, and to honor those industry members who have made vital contributions, on stage or off.

Theatre East is a 501(c)3 nonprofit theatre company whose mission is to advance the dialogue of the shared human experience through works that utilize simple storytelling, providing their community with a platform to deepen their understanding of themselves, each other and the world they share.

The company was founded in 2008 by husband-and-wife producing partners Judson Jones (Artistic Director) and Christa Kimlicko Jones (Associate Artistic Director), along with Joseph Mitchell Parks, after producing such hits as the premiere of Christopher Durang's The Vietnamization of New Jersey (NY Times Critic's Pick), and the premiere of Texas playwright David W. Crawford's Harvest (BackStage Critic's Pick, Smith & Kraus Best New Plays of 2008), as well as earning a spot as producers to watch in 2008 on PBS's Theater Talk. The New York based company believes that theatre is not a luxury, but should be accessible to all, regardless of economic or social status. theatreeast.org