Photo Flash: Jessie Mueller & Heather Headley Featured at Chicago Shakespeare's GALA 2017

Chicago Shakespeare Theater (CST) celebrated the culmination of the 30th Anniversary Season with GALA 2017 on Friday, June 9, 2017 at the Theater's home on Navy Pier-raising a record-breaking $1.74 million for Chicago Shakespeare in Classrooms and Communities initiatives. Four hundred and fifty of Chicago's civic, corporate and cultural leaders were given an exclusive first look at the Theater's dynamic new performance venue in-progress The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare and were treated to performances by Broadway powerhouses Heather Headley and Jessie Mueller. Leading GALA 2017 were honorary co-chairs Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Amy Rule and event chairs Carole and Gordon Segal.

Check out photos from the evening below!

Through the generosity of Headline Sponsor Northern Trust, the Lead Consortium, the Host Committee and the advocacy of CST's Board of Directors, funds raised benefit Chicago Shakespeare in Classrooms and Communities initiatives-which include the Theater's nationally recognized education programs and free citywide Chicago Shakespeare in the Parks tour.

GALA 2017 brought together the City's civic community to toast the Theater's milestone anniversary and showcased the soon-to-be-completed performance space of The Yard at Chicago Shakespeare with theatrical flourishes. As guests promenaded to dinner, hard-hat-wearing servers with trays of signature cocktails lined the crescent-shaped lobby that adjoins CST's existing venue, and attendees took in a dazzling skyline view through the glass curtain wall. The elegant atmosphere of the dinner and performance area featured striking visuals from MDR Creative Inc., which included dramatic, dynamic lighting elements that echoed the versatility of the new venue, and lush floral arrangements from Bukiety.

Dinner and the event program took place in The Yard, giving attendees an engaging preview of the innovative new space before the first production-a limited engagement of James Thierrée's The Toad Knew from France-is presented in September 2017. In attendance at the event were members of the architectural design team from the UK-based Charcoalblue and Chicago's famed AdrIan Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, as well as leaders from project builder Bulley & Andrews-including Chairman Allan E. Bulley, Jr. and President Allan E. Bulley III, who is a member of CST's Board of Directors.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel declared, "I can't wait to experience the artistic virtuosity of this new venue -one that will host local and internationally acclaimed artists and, most importantly, double this theater's service to students in the years ahead."

Photo credit: Michael Litchfield and Johnny Knight Photo