Rosie's Theatre Kids to Host PASSING IT ON Benefit, 4/23

Rosie's Theater Kids (RTKids) will present "Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship"to Benefit Rosie's Theater Kids at the Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater on April 23, 2013 at 7pm. This year's event will honor RTKids Board member and mentor Rosemary Kalikow, whose tremendous support and dedication has helped everyone at RTKids.

The benefit promises to be an exciting night of entertainment featuring some of Broadway's best talent. Multiple Emmy Award winning TV host and Actress, and RTKids founder Rosie O'Donnell, in a nod to "A League of Their Own", will participate this year by taking on the role of the Coach in an all-girls rendition of "Heart" from Damn Yankees. Bring It On: The Musical star, Adrienne Warren, will sing a Cy Coleman medley with two RTKids students. Executive producer and star of Disney Channel's "Johnny and the Sprites" and Avenue Q Tony Award nominee, John Tartaglia, has mentored a group in the art of puppetry as well as directed a puppet piece with a group of RTKids' high school students.Roberto Olvera from Pilobolus has choreographed an all-male physical theater piece. Board member, BD Wong returns with his latest RTKids project - a tribute to Groucho Marx and Margaret Dumont. It's a number that combines live performance and interactive video, and has proved to be a great mentoring experience for the kids in the mediums of both film and musical theater.

"Passing It On: An Evening of Mentorship" not only provides an exciting opportunity for the students to collaborate with some of Broadway's great talents, but also allows them to be part of a true ensemble. This is just part of the extraordinary work being done at Rosie's Theater Kids, which has been dedicated to enriching the lives of children through the arts since 2003. It proudly serves students who otherwise would not have the opportunity to experience theater, positively changing the trajectory of their lives by providing comprehensive classes in music, dance, and drama; thoughtful mentoring; and structured academic guidance. The goal is to inspire excellence, motivate learning, uplift the human spirit, build confidence, and spark a lifelong appreciation of the arts. RTKids benefits thousands of children who live near the "Great White Way," but never have had the opportunity to step inside one of the theaters and experience Broadway. As Rosie says, it's "like living in Hawaii and not having access to the beach."

Today, New York City public schools rely largely on private funding for arts education and they continue to struggle due to a constant shortage of public funding. In 2003, thanks to the generosity and vision of Founder Rosie O'Donnell, Artistic and Executive Director Lori Klinger created RTKids, dedicated to providing quality instruction in music, drama and dance at no cost to New York City public schools or students. Eighty-six percent of students who participate in Rosie's Theater Kids are from low-income families. Rosie's Theater Kids annually serves more than 5,000 teachers, students, and their family members at 17 schools. They are currently in schools in Harlem, Midtown West, Chelsea, Lower East Side, East Village, Inwood, and Chinatown.

For tickets to the event or more information, visit http://www.rosiestheaterkids.org