Phylicia Rashad, Aaron Tveit, Billy Porter, and More Join Tonight's DGF Virtual Benefit 'Write In The Dark'

Tune in tonight as the Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) gathers award-winning writers, directors and performers for a virtual benefit to support the playwrights, composers, lyricists and librettists who get the story started. The event is free to the public, with donations accepted to support DGF's Emergency Grants program, which has distributed more than $1 million in immediate financial relief to dramatists this year. The benefit will broadcast live at 7pm ET on www.dgfwriteinthedark.org

"Write in the Dark," DGF's first virtual benefit, will shine the spotlight on how, in unprecedented times like our world is facing, writers have captured cultural and societal shifts in words and song. Writers are a vital time capsule of movements, not just moments.

The evening will feature performances by Award-winning stars of stage and screen, including Shoshana Bean, Jordan Fisher, Joshua Henry, Khiyon Hursey, Michael R. Jackson, Sarah Jones, Nathan Lane, Tamika Lawrence, L Morgan Lee, Caissie Levy, Jim Parsons, Eliseo Romȧn, Jackie Sibblies Drury, and Aaron Tveit, along with appearances by Jason Alexander, Sara Bareilles, Kristin Chenoweth, Darren Criss, Raja Feather Kelly, Tom Kitt, Young Jean Lee, Melissa Li, Judith Light, Jane Lynch, Dominique Morisseau, Billy Porter, Heidi Schreck, Shaina Taub, Doug Wright, Kit Yan; DGF President Andrew Lippa; DGF Board Members Lin-Manuel Miranda, Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, Stephen Sondheim; and DGF Advisory Board Member Lynn Nottage.

The evening will also celebrate the new Legacy Playwrights Initiative Awards, honoring established American Playwrights for their sustained influence on American theater and giving renewed attention to their body of work. As previously announced, this year's winners are Ed Bullins, Constance Congdon, and Philip Kan Gotanda. The Awards will be presented by the winners' friends and colleagues, including Lou Bellamy, Oskar Eustis, David Henry Hwang, Phylicia Rashad, and Paula Vogel.

The benefit will conclude with a special reunion performance of cast members from the 2009 Broadway Revival of Hair, including Steel Burkhardt, Allison Case, Kaitlin Kiyan, Andrew Kober, Darius Nichols, Brandon Pearson, Paris Remillard, Maya Sharpe, and Kacie Sheik.

All proceeds from the evening will benefit DGF's Emergency Grants program. During the Covid-19 theatrical shutdown, DGF has distributed more than four times the financial relief to writers than they have in past years, due to the immediate and urgent need. Dramatists use this support to pay for vital life expenses, including rent, utility bills, groceries, medical expenses, and more.

"Write in the Dark" is presented by C. Graham Berwind, III, Director of Spring Point Partners.