Playwrights Horizons Auctions Celebrity Events, Memorabilia & More Beginning 4/9

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced details for a special online Auction in connection with its annual Spring Gala Benefit. Bidding for the auction, which will feature an exceptionally eclectic array of items and unique opportunities, will begin online Thursday morning, April 9 at 9AM at www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com. Online bidding will continue until Thursday, April 23rd, a few days prior to the Gala event itself on Monday evening, April 27th.

The auction features a vast array of item categories, including:

CELEBRITY EVENTS

Including learning how to fly on the trapeze with Jonathan Groff, a power lunch with Steve Buscemi and his producer, a double date with Tony Award winner Julie White and playwright Theresa Rebeck, golfing for 5 with comedian Lewis Black, a CNN tour and lunch with senior political analyst Jeffrey Toobin and having a song written for you by Tony Award-winning Broadway composer/lyricist William Finn.
ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCES

Including 2 tickets to a New York Giants game with an on-field, pre-game tour; an African dance class for 14; a poetry class for 10; having your story mixed and ready for public radio; and the chance to be a Theater Casting Director for a day.

Including packages and events involving Montreal, Palm Springs, Boston, Seattle, Washington DC and a luxury 4-day, 3-night getaway to Ecuador.

Including handwritten and signed music by composer Scott Frankel from a cut song from Grey Gardens, a poster signed by the entire cast of Dead Man's Cell Phone starring Mary-Louise Parker and Kathleen Chalfant and a CD of the original interviews by Doug Wright which were the source material for his Tony Award-winning Best Play, I Am My Own Wife.

For most Broadway shows, including The Little Mermaid (featuring a backstage tour with book writer Doug Wright) and Wicked (featuring a backstage tour with Broadway star Julia Murney).

Many more items, including Dining opportunities and Sporting events, are listed online. Please note: a second round of major items, to be announced, will be added online during the second week of bidding.
All interested bidders must go to www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com to register to bid. Items will be added to the auction on a daily basis over the next two weeks. Online incentives will be offered for those who refer friends to the site.

The Gala evening, titled "I can see so far..." (after a lyric from the Playwrights Horizons musical Floyd Collins), will be held on Monday evening, April 27th at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street). Commemorating and celebrating the theater company's 30 years as a leader in the development and production of new American musicals, the evening will feature performances by Tony Award winners LaChanze and BD Wong and Tony Award nominee Jonathan Groff, among additional performers to be announced.

William Finn and James Lapine will be Honorary Artistic Co-Chairs of the evening.
Trustees Lawrence B. Buttenwieser and Rachel Wilder will serve as Gala Benefit Board Co-Chairs. Carole Schwartz, David Skovron and Dr. Jeff Rubin will be Gala Benefit Patron Co-Chairs. Playwrights Horizons' Director of Musical Theater, Kent Nicholson, will direct the entertainment portion of the evening.
Cocktails and a Silent Auction will begin at 6:00 PM, followed by dinner at 7:45 PM and the evening's entertainment. Complete details on the evening, including additional entertainment, will be announced in the coming weeks.
Ticket prices for the Gala Benefit start at $800 and can be reserved by calling Alyssa Biber at 212-564-1235 extension 3146.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. In its 38 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, most recently being honored with a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work." Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as Adam Rapp's Kindness, John Dempsey, Michael Friedman and Rinne

Groff's Saved, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (3 2007 Tony Awards), Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Craig Lucas's Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.
www.playwrightshorizons.org