On Wednesday evening, June 20th, a private reading of QUILT - A Musical Celebration at Rosie O'Donnell's Maravel Arts Center, home of Rosie's Theater Kids in New York, took place to mark the 25th anniversary of The NAMES Project AIDS Memorial Quilt in advance of its planned summer return to the nation's capital.
Stories for, from, and about The Quilt were read by political royal Kick Kennedy, Daytime Emmy Award winner Elizabeth Hubbard ("As the World Turns"), recording artists Carrie Manolakos and Morgan Karr, Helen Hayes Award winner Steven Cupo, Rosie's Theater Kids student Autum Serraty, and some of Broadway's brightest talents, including: Julia Murney (WICKED); Hunter Ryan Herdlicka (A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC); Stephanie Gibson (The Addams Family); Leah Hocking (Billy Elliot); Mike Evariste (HAIR); and Stephanie Umoh (RAGTIME), along with Daniel Rowan Johnson and Matthew Naclerio.
Check out photos of the stars on stage below!
The event's producer Faisal Al-Juburi also took part in the reading, which featured music direction by Jesse Vargas and piano accompaniment by Mark Mitchell. Concert staging was by John Schak, one of the playwrights behind QUILT.
Keli Goff (MSNBC, Huffington Post), Darren Bagert (Tony Award winning Broadway producer), Juleanna Glover (The Ashcroft Group), Ivan Bart (IMG Models), Felicia Taylor (CNN), Lisa Simonsen (Douglas Elliman), Shannon Currie (Bad Boy Worldwide), David Beahm (event designer to the stars), Christopher Reiter (Muleh), Benton Whitley (New York casting director), Kelly Smith Beaty ("The Apprentice"), and many more notables attended the reading.
Photo Credit: Oresti Tsonopoulos
Faisal Al-Juburi and Carrie Manolakos
Daniel Rowan Johnson
Playwright John Schak
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