New York Stage and Film Gala Honoring Billy Porter Adds J Harrison Ghee, Melissa Etheridge, and David Burtka

New York Stage and Film's 2023 Annual Gala on Sunday, November 5 at The Plaza Hotel will honor Emmy, Tony and Grammy Award-winning artist and producer Billy Porter and GLAAD President and CEO Sarah Kate Ellis. Porter has a deep and storied history with NYSAF as an actor, writer and director, including workshops of While I Yet Live and Being Alive, which he wrote and conceived, respectively.

Ellis has been a fierce advocate for representation in the arts and has spearheaded focus of GLAAD's advocacy through compelling initiatives, including as a behind-the-scenes consultant on hundreds of films and TV series. She recently expanded the GLAAD Media Institute's work to advocate for diverse storytelling in theater and support and amplify inclusive projects including the Tony Award-winning A Strange Loop. 

Scheduled appearances include Melissa Etheridge, David Burtka, Chuck Cooper, Wilson Cruz, J Harrison Ghee, Nathan Lee Graham, Dominique Jackson, Princess Lockerooo and The Fabulous Waack Dancers, Lenora Nemetz, Mia Pak, Joel Perez, Brian Quijada, Adina Verson, Lillias White, Virgina Woodruff and more.

Co-Chairs are Barbara Manocherian, Dasha Epstein, Judith Manocherian and Dean Vanech, with Vice-Chair Max Mayer.

The Gala Committee is Annaleigh Ashford, Suzi Dietz & Lenny Beer, Geoffrey L. Brackett, Kristin Chenoweth, Bruce Cohen, MaryMartha E. Ford, Michael R. Jackson, Sheryl Kaller & Scott Zaretsky, Joe King, Tony Kushner, Cody Lassen, Mark Linn-Baker, Jennifer Manocherian, Ian Meibach, Michael McElroy, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Jerry Mitchell, Stark Sands, Paula Silver, Nikk Thompson, and George C.Wolfe.

NYSAF's Fall Gala will begin at 6:30 PM at The Plaza Hotel with a VIP reception for Gala Committee Chairs and Artists. The cocktail reception will open at 7:00 PM, followed by a seated dinner and tribute performances.

Proceeds from the 2023 Annual Gala will directly support NYSAF's ongoing artistic development work, including the annual Hudson Valley-based Summer Season, NYC-bsaed programming, Filmmakers' Workshop, residencies for individual artist and small companies, awards and fellowships, and other opportunities for artists. 

For more information and to support the NYSAF Annual Gala  on Sunday, November 5 at The Plaza Hotel (768 5th Avenue), please visit https://www.newyorkstageandfilm.org/annual-gala

Billy Porter is an Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award-winning actor, singer, director, producer, composer, and playwright. Porter has numerous theater credits, including the role of “Lola” in the Broadway musical Kinky Boots, for which he won the Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as the Grammy for best musical theater album. He won his second Tony Award in 2022 for “Best Musical” as a producer on A Strange Loop. Porter released his first literary project, “Unprotected,” in October 2021, which was published by Abrams Press. As a recording artist, Porter recently released his singles “Fashion,” “Baby Was A Dancer,” and “Children” under his record deal with Island Records (UK) and Republic Records (US). His forthcoming album, The Black Mona Lisa, is due out this Fall.

Sarah Kate Ellis is the President and CEO of LGBTQ advocacy organization GLAAD and was most recently recognized on the 2023 TIME100 list of 100 most influential people in the world. During her eight years of leading GLAAD, she has run winning campaigns for marriage equality, representation of LGBTQ people in media, education on transgender people, and more. She has moderated and participated in official panels about global LGBTQ issues at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland. In 2018, Ellis launched the GLAAD Media Institute, a team of experts dedicated to behind-the-scenes advising on LGBTQ storytelling across media including film, television, news, gaming, social media, and theater. She works directly with CEOs, elected officials, and the most recognizable journalists and celebrities to advance LGBTQ acceptance. Sarah Kate is a regular expert on CNN, MSNBC, and across print and online media. Prior to GLAAD, Sarah Kate was a media executive. She and her wife Kristen co-authored a new children's book entitled ‘All Moms' and they reside in New York with their children.

New York Stage and Film (Liz Carlson, Interim Artistic Director; Natalie Gershstein, Executive Artistic Producer; Eric Kuhn, Executive Producer; Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Johanna Pfaelzer, Leslie Urdang, Producing Directors) is a not-for-profit company dedicated to artists developing new stories for theater, film and beyond by supporting responsive processes and by providing a home for artists free from critical and commercial pressures. Since 1985, New York Stage and Film has been a vital incubator for emerging and established artists and their work, a catalyst for stories that start with us and continue across the country and around the world. Through this work, NYSAF has established itself as a vital cultural institution for residents of the Hudson Valley and the New York metropolitan region. The New York Times calls the company a “formidable breeding ground for new work,” and dozens of notable works trace their developmental roots to NYSAF, including the Tony Award winners Hamilton, Hadestown, Side Man and The Humans; Broadway productions such as American Idiot, Junk, and Bright Star; and Pulitzer winners and finalists such as Doubt, The Wolves and Taylor Mac's A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. www.newyorkstageandfilm.org