Norton & Nelson Co-Host Starry 'Soho Rep Spring Gala '09' 5/4

Academy Award-nominee Edward Norton and Award-winning actor/director Tim Blake Nelson set to co-host Soho Rep SPRING GALA '09 on Monday, May 4th at 6:30 p.m.
at The Park (118 10th Avenue btw. 17th &18th Streets)

Featuring works by Young Jean Lee, Jenny Schwartz, David Adjmi, Mac Wellman and others performed by John Tuturro, Matt Dillon, Lili Taylor,
Michael Stuhlbarg, Marian Seldes, Tim Blake Nelson, Edward Norton the cast of BLASTED Reed Birney, Louis Cancelmi, Marin Ireland and more...

With a special musical performance by Grammy Award-winner Steve Earle

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 John Tuturro, Marian Seldes, Matt Dillon, Lily Taylor, Michael Stuhlbarg, Tim Blake Nelson, Edward Norton and the cast of BLASTED (Marin Ireland, 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; and 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 will conclude with the return of Nature Theater of Oklahoma's - the company who brought Soho Rep the much acclaimed NO DICE last season - new work RAMBO SOLO.

Additional details - including additional luminaries and the 2009/2010 Soho Rep Dorothy Strelsin Playwrighting Fellow - will be announced in the coming months.

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

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.