Norton & Nelson Co-Host SoHo Rep Biennial Spring Gala 5/4 At The Park In NYC

Academy Award-nominee & Golden Globe-winner Edward Norton ["American History X," "Primal Fear"] and Soho Rep board member Tim Blake Nelson ["The Incredible Hulk," "O Brother, Where Art Thou?"] - who worked together on 2008's "The Incredible Hulk" and "Leaves of Grass," set to be released in 2009 - will co-host the biennial Spring Gala for the nine-time Obie Award-winning Soho Rep on Monday, May 4th starting at 6:30 p.m. at The Park (118 10th Avenue btw. 17th & 18th Streets) in Manhattan.

Soho Rep's Spring Gala '09 - which will feature luminaries of stage and screen, including Parker Posey, Steve Buscemi, Marian Seldes, Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tim Blake Nelson, Edward Norton, Reed Birney and Louis Cancelmi, performing excerpts of plays by some of Soho Rep's favorite playwrights, such as Young Jean Lee, Jenny Schwartz, David Adjmi, Mac Wellman and others; with a special performance by Grammy Award-winning singer/songwriter Steve Earle - will cap off a truly exciting season for the downtown Off-Broadway company, which was kicked off in October with the sold-out/critically acclaimed New York premiere of Sarah Kane's BLASTED - which ran an unprecedented 12-weeks; followed by their co-production with Page 73 of Dan LeFranc's SIXTY MILES TO SILVER LAKE, directed by Obie winner Anne Kauffman; and which concluded with the return of Nature Theater of Oklahoma's RAMBO SOLO.

Also expected to be in attendance are Pulitzer prize winning playwright Edward Albee, Obie Award-winning director Anne Kauffman, playwright/director Richard Maxwell, playwright Young Jean Lee, actor/director/writer Buck Henry, Academy Award-winning filmmaker Jonathan Demme, and others.

The Spring Gala '09 committee members are: Olympia Dukakis, Edward Albee, Jonathan Demme, Jenny Schwartz, Aaron Stone, Adrian Fischer, Mike Shapiro, Peggy Stafford, Anne Hamburger, Suzanne Weinstock, Joe Melillo, Don & Maggie Buchwald, and Cynthia Round.

Under the leadership of new Artistic Director Sarah Benson and Executive Director, Tania Camargo, Soho Rep is dedicated to cultivating and producing visionary, uncompromising, and exuberant new plays. They perform to one of the youngest adult audiences in New York City, with over three-quarters of its audience aged 18-40.

Over the last nine seasons, Soho Rep productions have garnered nine OBIE Awards -- most recently NO DICE by Nature Theater of Oklahoma, and playwright Adam Bock and director Anne Kauffman for THE THUGS -- four Drama Desk nominations for their critically acclaimed production of FRANKENSTEIN, the Oppenheimer Award for EVERYTHING WILL BE DIFFERENT, and two Kesselring Awards for Melissa James Gibson and Mark Schultz. In recent years, Soho Rep has presented plays by established and emerging theatre artists such as Richard Maxwell, Mac Wellman, Young Jean Lee and The Flying Machine.

For ticket inquiries and information about Soho Rep, call 212-941-8632 ext. 208 or visit www.sohorep.org.