Photo Coverage: Go Inside Playwrights Horizons' Annual Spring Gala!

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons held its annual Spring Gala yesterday, May 4 at the event space 583 Park Avenue. Titled CELEBRATING PETER JAY SHARP'S NEW YORK, the evening honored the late philanthropist, hotelier and real estate developer Peter Jay Sharp and The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation (Foundation Directors: the late Mr. Sharp, Edmund Duffy, Dan Lufkin, the late Jack Nash and Norman Peck). Among several theaters in New York City, Playwrights Horizons' more intimate 128-seat theater was named after the late philanthropist. It premiered when the company's new building opened its doors in January 2003. BroadwayWorld takes you insode the special night below!

In its 30 years of operation, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation - established by Mr. Sharp in 1984 - has made a significant impact on the cultural and physical landscape of New York. It has contributed to both new programs and new space at many leading arts and community organizations, including BAM,Symphony Space, The Juilliard School, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York Botanical Gardens, and Playwrights Horizons. While Mr. Sharp passed away in 1992, his vision was carried forward by the continued generous contributions of the Foundation. In 2014, as the Directors had always planned, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation completed the spend-down of the majority of its funds and dissolved as a corporate entity.

The Spring Gala is the organization's largest fundraising event of the year, with donations earmarked to support six annual productions, the development of new plays and musicals, ticket subsidies and programs for students and early-career professionals. The programs cultivate the next generation of artists, arts managers and theatergoers.

For forty-four years, Playwrights Horizons has been the only major Off-Broadway theater dedicated solely to producing new American work. It's a mission that's always timely, always crucial, and it sets the organization apart from every other theater in the country. Six annual productions are the public face of the organization. Writers are also served by the New Works Lab, which includes script evaluations, readings, workshops and commissions. Playwrights Horizons operates Ticket Central, a box office service, as well as affordable rehearsal and performance spaces at 440 Studios. The next generation of artists, arts managers and theatergoers are cultivated through a Theatrical Residency Program, the Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU and audience development initiatives.

Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia