The Players Presents A Pipe Night Honoring Joe Iconis On Monday

The Players announces its next Pipe Night, honoring Tony Award-nominated composer and writer Joe Iconis (Be More Chill). A favorite Players tradition that has celebrated significant cultural figures for over a century, the Pipe Night for Mr. Iconis will be held on Monday, September 9th starting at 6:30 pm at The Players, located at 16 Gramercy Park South.

The evening will feature performances by Liz Lark Brown, Nate Buccieri, Seth Eliser, Amanda Flynn, Danielle Gimbal, Morgan Siobhan Green, Rachel Lee, Lorinda Lisitza, Lauren Marcus, Eric William Morris, Jeremy Morse, Shakina Nayfack, Rob Rokicki, Will Roland, Mike Rosengarten, Jared Weiss, and Jason SweetTooth Williams.

The Pipe Night's hosts, referred to as "Pipemasters," will be frequent Iconis collaborator and producer Jennifer Ashley Tepper (Be More Chill) and producer Michael Barra of Lively McCabe Entertainment (Punk Rock Girl).

Joe Iconis is a writer and performer. As a composer - lyricist - book writer, he has authored the musicals Be More Chill (Broadway, Signature Theater, Two River Theater), Broadway Bounty Hunter (Greenwich House Theatre, Barrington Stage Company), Things to Ruin (Second Stage), Bloodsong of Love (Ars Nova), The Black Suits (Center Theater Group), ReWrite (Urban Stages), Theaterworks USA's The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks and We The People, and the currently in development Hunter S. Thompson Musical (for La Jolla Playhouse) and Love In Hate Nation. Joe has also written the book for the upcoming musical Punk Rock Girl. Albums: Be More Chill (Original Cast Recording), Two-Player Game (with George Salazar), Things To Ruin (Original Cast Recording) and The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll Jamboree all available on Sh-K-Boom/Ghostlight Records. Joe's songs appeared on Season 2 of NBC's "Smash." His concert act, Joe Iconis and Family, frequently plays Feinstein's/54 Below, The Laurie Beechman Theater, Weston Playhouse, and other venues around the country. He has been nominated for a Tony Award, two Drama Desk Awards, a Lucille Lortel Award, and is the recipient of an Ed Kleban Award, a Jonathan Larson Award, an ASCAP Harold Adamson Lyric Award, a Doris Duke Grant, and a MAC John Wallowitch Songwriting Award. www.MrJoeIconis.com.

The first Pipe Night was held at The Players in 1905. In the early gas-lit era, the gatherings were held after the theatre at midnight, the Players smoked clay churchwarden pipes during the gathering, and entertainment was informal and unplanned. Pipe Nights are now formal dinner events (tobacco-free) with a complete program. A brief list of past Pipe Night honorees and entertainers includes John Barrymore, Charlie Chaplin, Eddie Cantor, Harry Houdini, John Gielgud, Maurice Evans, Sarah Bernhardt, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, Paul Robeson, Eugene O' Neill (honored posthumously), Jason Robards, Jose Quintero, Peter Ustinov, George Burns, Maurice Chevalier, Victor Borge, Marlene Dietrich, Charlotte Rae, Glenn Miller, James Cagney, George and Ira Gershwin, Brooks Atkinson, Frank Sinatra, Danny Aiello, and Audra McDonald.

The Players is a private social club founded in 1888 by Edwin Booth, America's pre-eminent Shakespearean actor, and 15 other incorporators, including Mark Twain and General William Tecumseh Sherman. Located in Booth's former residence, a Greek Revival townhouse facing historic Gramercy Park, The Players is modeled after London's famed Garrick Club, and it was the first American club of its kind. Its purpose: "The promotion of social intercourse between members of the dramatic profession and the kindred professions of literature, painting, architecture, sculpture and music, law and medicine, and the patrons of the arts." The Players has always been a club where people of the theatre meet and mingle with individuals from a variety of professions and businesses. In addition to the warm camaraderie and convivial atmosphere, The Players Grill has long been recognized as "one of the best bars in New York." The Players offers many different types of events throughout the year from readings and lectures, through musical evenings and theatrical presentations.

Past and present members of The Players include: Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain), George M. Cohan, John Barrymore, Eugene O'Neill, James Cagney, Gregory Peck, Alfred Lunt, Robert M. McBride, Walter Cronkite, Alexander Woollcott, Judy Collins, Rue McClanahan, George S. Kaufman, Angela Lansbury, Sidney Poitier, Martha Plimpton, Tony Bennett, Tony Roberts, Carol Burnett, Liza Minnelli, Dick Cavett, Billy Connolly, Vartan Gregorian, Hal Holbrook, George Innes, Eli Wallach, Robert Vaughn, Ben Gazzara, Alan Cumming, Christopher Plummer, Budd Schulberg, Ethan Hawke, Jimmy Fallon, Marian Seldes, Peter O'Toole, Rosemary Harris, Roger Moore, Russell Miller, Sidney Zion, Edward Albee, Maxwell Anderson, Lauren Bacall, John Barrymore, L. Frank Baum, Harry Belafonte, Ludwig Bemelmans, Tony Bennett, Eve Best, Humphrey Bogart, Sam Bottoms and Jose Ferrer.

The Players Pipe Night Honoring Joe Iconis will be held at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South, on Monday, September 9th beginning at 6:30 p.m. with an open-bar cocktail hour in the Great Hall and Kinstler Room, followed by dinner and program in the Dining Room. As with all events at The Players, Pipe Nights are for members and their guests only.

For information about membership, visit http://www.theplayersnyc.org/membership or call The Players at 212- 475-6116.

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