Stars of WAR PAINT, Idina Menzel, Ben Platt, Annaleigh Ashford and More Set for NYTW's 2017 Gala Honoring Michael Greif

New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) announced today that the NYTW 2017 Spring Gala will celebrate partnerships with honorees Dartmouth College, whose residency partnership with NYTW spans a quarter of a century; along with longtime NYTW Usual Suspect and Tony Award-nominated Director Michael Greif (Dear Evan Hansen, War Paint), who was an inaugural member of NYTW's "New Directors Project" in 1984 and rose to prominence with his direction of Machinal at the Public and Rent at NYTW. The Gala will be held on Monday, May 15 at the Edison Ballroom (240 W 47th St., New York, NY 10036).

Dartmouth College alumna '88 Rachel Dratch (Saturday Night Live) and Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family) will serve as Masters of Ceremony for the evening, which will feature performances from Tony Award-winners Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens, War Paint), Patti LuPone (War Paint), Idina Menzel (RENT, If/Then), Daphne Rubin-Vega (RENT) and other members of the original cast of RENT; David Harbour ("Stranger Things"), Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen), Alice Ripley (Next to Normal), Annaleigh Ashford ("Masters of Sex"), Brandon Victor Dixon (Hamilton), and Tamika Lawrence (Beautiful - The Carole King Musical).

The evening's program will be scripted by Tim Federle (Tuck Everlasting), will be directed by Kevin Cahoon (Tastiskank), and features musical direction by Charlie Alterman (Pippin). The live auction will be conducted by C.K. Swett.

In a unique 25-year-long relationship, Dartmouth College and New York Theatre Workshop have worked together to offer a residency serving artists and students. At the core of this residency is an opportunity for artists to build new relationships, continue longstanding collaborations, and make work free from the daily pressures of life in New York. NYTW invites artists to spend a week in Hanover, NH to further the development of a new play or solo performance piece. Over the course of the three-week residency, six projects receive an intensive workshop, constructive feedback, and a staged reading for the public at Dartmouth's Hopkins Center for the Arts. Celebrated theatre-makers such as Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Paula Vogel and Tony Award-winning director John Tiffany as well as the creatives behind last season's hit production of Hadestown, Anaïs Mitchell and Rachel Chavkin, have benefitted from this extraordinary partnership with Dartmouth. Over the years, hundreds of Dartmouth students enrolled in the Theater 65 "New Plays in Development" course have also received innumerable experiential learning opportunities and become an integral part of the residency.

Founded in 1769, Dartmouth is a member of the Ivy League and offers the world's premier liberal arts education, combining its deep commitment to outstanding undergraduate and graduate teaching with distinguished research and scholarship in the arts and sciences and its three leading professional schools: the Geisel School of Medicine, Thayer School of Engineering and Tuck School of Business.

Michael Greif most recently directed Dear Evan Hansen at the Music Box and the upcoming War Paint at the Nederlander. Additional Broadway credits: Rent, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal (Tony noms.); Never Gonna Dance; If/Then. Recent work includes War Paint (Goodman Theatre); Our Lady of Kibeho and Angels in America (NY's Signature Theatre); The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide... (Public); and The Tempest, A Winter's Tale and Romeo and Juliet at The Public's Delacorte Theater. Off-Broadway, he's received Obie Awards for Machinal, Dogeaters (Public) and Rent (NYTW), and has directed new plays and musicals at Playwrights Horizons, Roundabout, MTC, MCC, New York Theatre Workshop and at Second Stage, where he directed Next to Normal and Dear Evan Hansen. Regional work includes premieres and revivals at Williamstown Theatre Festival (ten seasons), La Jolla Playhouse (AD, five seasons), Arena Stage, Center Stage, Mark Taper Forum, Dallas Theater Center, Trinity Repertory Company. Mr. Greif holds a BS from Northwestern University and an MFA from the University of California, San Diego.

The NYTW Annual Spring Gala raises nearly 10% of the Off-Broadway company's annual budget. Funds raised at this one-night only event help NYTW to mount four world class productions each season and to share them with more than 40,000 audience members. Proceeds also support NYTW's Artist Workshop activities through which nearly 2,000 artists develop more than 80 projects each year and their Education Initiatives including Learning Workshop, Mind the Gap, and Public Programs that serve over 1,600 students of all ages.

Tickets starting at $1,250 and tables starting at $10,000 can be purchased at www.nytw.org, via e-mail at BreannaF@nytw.org, or by calling (212) 780-9037. Please note that the schedule for the evening is subject to change. The Gala will be chaired by Kelly & André Hunter and David Stone.

The current production of NYTW's 2016/17 season is THE OBJECT LESSON, written by NYTW Usual Suspect Geoff Sobelle (all wear bowlers), directed by NYTW Usual Suspect David Neumann (Restless Eye), with scenic installation design by Steven Dufala; now in previews and opening Thursday, February 9. The final production will be NYTW Usual Suspect Mfoniso Udofia's SOJOURNERS and HER PORTMANTEAU, presented in repertory, directed by NYTW Usual Suspect and former NYTW 2050 Fellow Ed Sylvanus Iskandar (The Mysteries) in Spring 2017.

New York Theatre Workshop, now in its fourth decade of incubating important new works of theatre, continues to honor its mission to explore perspectives on our collective history and respond to the events and institutions that shape all our lives. Each season, from its home in New York's East Village, NYTW presents four new productions, over 80 readings and numerous workshop productions for over 45,000 audience members. NYTW supports artists in all stages of their careers by maintaining a series of workshop programs, including work-in-progress readings, summer residencies and artist fellowships. Since its founding, NYTW has produced over 100 new, fully staged works, including Jonathan Larson's Rent; Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul; Doug Wright's Quills; Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde; Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla; Martha Clarke's Vienna: Lusthaus; Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, A Number and Love and Information; Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's Aftermath; Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová and Enda Walsh's Once; Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher; David Bowie and Enda Walsh's Lazarus; Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown; and seven acclaimed productions directed by Ivo Van Hove. NYTW's productions have received a Pulitzer Prize, seventeen Tony Awards and assorted Obie, Drama Desk and Lucille Lortel Awards.