Raúl Esparza & Amanda Lipitz to be Honored at New York Stage and Film 2024 Gala

New York Stage and Film's 2024 AnnualGala will honor award-winning director, producer, and writer Amanda Lipitz and four-time Tony Award nominee Raúl Esparza (Galileo, “Law & Order: SVU”). The event will take place on Monday December 9, 2024, at 6:30pm at City Winery NYC.

“Amanda Lipitz and Raúl Esparza are treasured members of the extensive New York Stage and Film artistic community, whose commitments to exceptional storytelling for both stage and screen are richly deserving of recognition at our Annual Gala this year,” says Interim Artistic Director Liz Carlson. “Amanda has a distinct capacity to identify and amplify stories that may be otherwise overlooked, and Raúl is one of the defining talents of his generation. We look forward to celebrating their respective and shared accomplishments in theater, film, television, plays, musicals, and beyond through joyous performances and tributes.”

Amanda Lipitz

is an award-winning director, producer, and writer. Her directorial debut and first feature-length documentary, STEP, premiered in competition at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival. The film was purchased by Fox Searchlight and won the Special Jury Award for Inspirational Filmmaking and the NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Documentary. Lipitz’s second documentary, FOUND, which she directed and produced, was released on Netflix in 2021. She co-created (with her writing partner, Sandi Farkas) and directed MOTHERHACKER, a scripted podcast with Gimlet Media and Spotify starring Carrie Coon. Her Broadway producing credits include Merrily We Roll Along (Tony Award, Best Revival of a Musical), The Humans (Tony Award, Best Play), A View From the Bridge (Tony Award, Best Revival of a Play), The Performers, Legally Blonde the Musical, and Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. Off Broadway, Amanda developed and produced Brooklynite at The Vineyard Theatre (New York Times Critic’s Pick). On television, Amanda served as executive producer and creator of MTV's groundbreaking series "Legally Blonde the Musical: The Search for Elle Woods."

Lipitz cofounded Key to the City Productions, a multimedia production company, with producing partner Henry Tisch in 2021. Upcoming stage projects include the new musical Galileo (directed by Michael Mayer with book by Danny Strong and music and lyrics by Zoe Sarnak and Michael Weiner), which had its world premiere developmental production in spring 2024 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, as well as the upcoming Broadway premiere of the acclaimed The Picture of Dorian Gray starring Sarah Snook (Olivier Award, Best Actress). Film projects include a narrative film adaptation of STEP and a musical film adaptation of Brooklynite directed by Lipitz, as well as original films in development. Key to the City created and produced the historic Shabbat on Broadway, which held its inaugural service in January 2024 at the St. James Theatre. Lipitz is the recipient of the Women in Cinema Lena Sharpe Directing Award and graduated with a BFA in theater from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (where she serves on the Dean’s Council). She lives in New York City with her husband Greg Smith and their three children.

Raúl Esparza

is an American stage and screen actor, recently starring as Galileo Galilei in the world-premiere of the musical Galileo at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, helmed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer and written by Zoe Sarnak, Michael Weiner and two-time Emmy winner Danny Strong. In addition to performing in a staged reading of Galileo at New York Stage and Film (2019), Esparza was featured in NYSAF’s production of The Waves (2018), a musical based on Virginia Woolf’s novel, with a book and direction by Lisa Peterson, music and lyrics by David Bucknam, and additional music and lyrics by Adam Gwon.

A four-time Tony Award-nominee and three-time Drama Desk Award winner, his Broadway and notable theater credits include Company, tick, tick... BOOM!, Taboo, The Homecoming, Speed-the-Plow, Leap of Faith, Arcadia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cabaret, The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver!, Seared, Road Show, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Cymbeline, The Cradle Will Rock, Twelfth Night, The Normal Heart, Comedians, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita, and Chess.

On TV and film, Esparza is best known for his work on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Hannibal,” “Murder at the End of the World,” “Candy,” “Dopesick,” “The Path,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Pushing Daisies,” Ferdinand, My Soul to Take, and Sidney Lumet’s Find Me Guilty. 

In the immediate wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Esparza conceived of, executive produced, and performed in the online concert event Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration. The concert received a special Drama League Award and is now preserved in the Library of Congress.

For almost forty years, NYSAF has offered developmental opportunities to emerging and established artists in-process with new stories for the stage and screen, giving visionaries and innovators permission to dream, take risks, make mistakes, and succeed in ways they didn’t know were possible before they’re asked to polish a final product. The Annual Gala supports NYSAF’s Summer Season at Marist College, year-round New York City Programming, Stories That Move workshops for dance-driven projects, Residencies for individuals and colleague organizations, Awards & Fellowships, Apprenticeships for emerging technicians and administrators, and audience engagement.

Single tickets for the NYSAF 2024 Annual Gala are $1,250 - $2,500, with tables starting at $12,500. For more information, please call 845-232-0673 or visit newyorkstageandfilm.org/annual-gala. 

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