NYTW to Honor Barbara Warner Howard & Thomas Schumacher at Spring Gala, 5/22

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) Artistic Director James C. Nicola and Managing Director William Russo just announced that the theatre will honor New York Theatre Workshop Board Chair Barbara Warner Howard and Disney Theatrical Group and its president Thomas Schumacher at its 2012 Spring Gala on Tuesday, May 22 at the Plaza Hotel.

The evening celebrates the unlikely artistic overlaps between Disney Theatrical Group and New York Theatre Workshop, and pays tribute to two remarkable people who both, in their unique ways, generously support and nurture the development of new work in American theatre.

Performers at the event will include Christian Borle, Adam Chanler-Berat, Merle Dandridge, Glen Hansard, Celia Keenan-Bolger, Adam Pascal, Roger Rees, Sherie Rene Scott, and the cast of Newsies. The performance will be directed by Jeff Lee with music direction by Jim Abbott.

The evening’s honorary committee includes Phil Collins, Rick Elice & Roger Rees, Harvey Fierstein, Sir Elton John & Mr. David Furnish, James MacDonald, Bob Mackie, Terrence McNally, Tim Rice, Stephen Schwartz, Julie Taymor, Alex Timbers, and Ivo van Hove & Jan Versweyveld.

Disney Theatrical Group, a division of The Walt Disney Studios, was formed in 1994 and operates under the direction of Thomas Schumacher. Worldwide, its seven Broadway titles have been seen by over 103 million theatergoers and have cumulatively run a staggering 189 years. With 15 productions currently produced or licensed, a Disney musical is being performed professionally somewhere on the planet virtually every hour of the day. This season two new titles developed by the company have opened on Broadway: the new American musical Newsies and Peter and the Starcatcher, which had its acclaimed New York premiere at NYTW last spring.

New York Theatre Workshop, now celebrating its 29th season, is a leading voice in the world of Off-Broadway and within the theatre community in New York and around the world. NYTW has emerged as a premiere incubator of important new theatre, honoring its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape our lives. In addition, NYTW is known for its innovative adaptations of classic repertory. Each season, from its home in New York's East Village neighborhood, NYTW presents three to five new productions, over 80 readings, and numerous workshop productions, for over 45,000 audience members. Over the past 28 years, NYTW has developed and produced over 100 new, fully staged works, including Jonathan Larson's Rent, Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul, Doug Wright's Quills, Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde, Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla, Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, and A Number, Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen’s Aftermath, and Rick Elice’s Peter and the Starcatcher. The 2002 remounting of Martha Clarke's seminal work, Vienna: Lusthaus and subsequent American tour was one of the longest-running productions in NYTW's history. NYTW’s acclaimed productions of Once and Peter and the Starcatcher are currently enjoying Broadway runs, having garnered 20 Tony Award nominations, and Rent, which premiered at NYTW, is currently playing an off-Broadway revival. NYTW supports artists in all stages of their careers by maintaining a series of workshop programs including work-in-progress readings, summer residencies, and minority artist fellowships. In 1991, NYTW received an OBIE Award for Sustained Achievement and in 2000 was designated to be part of the Leading National Theatres Program by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

For ticket information, visit www.nytw.org or phone 212 780-9037.

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski