Theatre Communications Group Gala to Honor Tony Kushner, Rick Miramontez, and Martha R. Ingram

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) announces that its 2019 Gala will honor Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner; Broadway press agent, and President of DKC/O&M, Rick Miramontez; and arts philanthropist, and Chairman Emerita of Ingram Industries, Inc., Martha R. Ingram. The Gala will be held on Monday, February 4, 2019 at New York's famed Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street). Jordan Roth and Richie Jackson will serve as Co-Chairs of the event.

TCG's Executive Director and CEO Teresa Eyring said, "Our annual Gala has become a much-anticipated event, that bridges theatre worlds, from non-profit to commercial, from our New York-based resident theatres to the resident theatre community nationwide. We are humbled to be able to honor and celebrate individuals whose astounding vision and commitment have benefited all of these worlds."

TCG will also celebrate its long-standing commitment to advancing leaders of color in the field and the many programs that support these efforts. Proceeds from the Gala benefit TCG's wide-ranging programs to strengthen and promote the multi-generational theatre field, while making a better world because of theatre.

For ticket and sponsorship information to this year's TCG Gala or to purchase an ad in the 2019 Gala Journal, please contact gala@tcg.org or (212) 609-5931, or go to www.tcg.org/events/gala.aspx.

Tony Kushner's plays include A Bright Room Called Day; Angels in America, Parts Oneand Two; Slavs!; Homebody/Kabul; the musical Caroline, or Change and the opera A Blizzard on Marblehead Neck, both with composer Jeanine Tesori; and The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide To Capitalism And Socialism With A Key To The Scriptures. He has adapted and translated Pierre Corneille's The Illusion, S.Y. Ansky's The Dybbuk, Bertolt Brecht's The Good Person of Szechwan and Mother Courage and Her Children; and the English-language libretto for the opera Brundibár by Hans Krasa. He wrote the screenplays for Mike Nichols' film of Angels In America, and for Steven Spielberg's Munich and Lincoln. His books include Brundibar, with illustrations by Maurice Sendak; The Art of Maurice Sendak, 1980 to the Present; and Wrestling With Zion: Progressive Jewish-American Responses to the Palestinian/Israeli Conflict, co-edited with Alisa Solomon. Kushner is the recipient of a Pulitzer Prize, two Tony Awards, three Obie Awards, two Evening Standard Awards, an Olivier Award, an Emmy Award, two Oscar nominations, and the Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award, among other honors. In 2012, he was awarded a National Medal of Arts by President Barack Obama. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, Mark Harris.

Rick Miramontez began his career, direct from college, as the press director of the Center Theatre Group / Ahmanson Theatre where he organized the campaigns for more than 25 major productions. He was the press director for the 1987 and 1990 Los Angeles Festival (the latter under the direction of Peter Sellars), seminal events in the American cultural world, where he introduced Cirque du Soleil to the U.S. media, as well as Peter Brook's epic The Mahabharata. From 1988-1996, Miramontez headed his own firm, Rick Miramontez Company, which represented many of the major arts events on the West Coast. His office, located in the art deco headquarters of La Opinion, was a hub partly responsible for the renaissance of the new Downtown L.A. In New York As President and Founder of O&M Co. he has represented many of Broadway's Tony Award-winning hits, including Dear Evan Hansen; Hello, Dolly!; Fun Home; Kinky Boots, Beautiful; The Humans; Clybourne Park; Hair; School of Rock; Hello, Dolly!; Cats; and Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, to name a few, as well as the Curran theater in San Francisco.

Martha Rivers Ingram is the Chairman Emerita Ingram Industries Inc., one of America's largest privately held companies. Ingram Industries includes Ingram Marine Group and Ingram Content Group, which are leaders respectively in the inland marine and book industries. Mrs. Ingram has been widely recognized as a leader in educational and civic organizations and the arts. She has served as Board Chairman at Vanderbilt University, the Nashville Symphony Association, Spoleto Festival USA, and Vanderbilt's Blair School of Music. Currently, she is chair of the Gaillard Foundation in Charleston, SC and sits on the boards of the Symphony and the Nashville Opera. In 1985, she co-founded the Nashville Repertory Theatre, where she continues her board service today.

She has taken leading roles in supporting and developing spectacular cultural homes, among them the Nashville Symphony's Schermerhorn Symphony Center and the Tennessee Performing Arts Center. Among the numerous awards and honors Mrs. Ingram has received are the Americans for the Arts "Eli and Edythe Broad Award for Philanthropy in the Arts," and awards for lifetime achievement from the Kennedy Center, The Business Committee for the Arts Inc., and the Spoleto Festival USA. Mrs. Ingram is a native of Charleston, South Carolina, and a 1957 graduate of Vassar College. She has four children, twelve grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos