TFANA Spring Gala to Honor Teacher, Artist, And Hero Marie Maignan

Theatre for a New Audience announces details of its Spring Gala Celebrating Shakespeare's Birthday and online silent auction, held virtually and emceed by actor and TFANA Board Member Harry Lennix.

This year's Gala takes place Monday, June 7 at 7:30pm EST (with a pre-program virtual reception at 6:30pm). The public may watch at no charge, but reservations are required. Please visit www.tfana.org.

TFANA's Gala helps support TFANA's productions and developmental activities for artists and education programs which serve public school students in every borough of New York City.

Horowitz observed, "We are celebrating Shakespeare's birthday 457 years on, because Shakespeare is, of course, never over. A production of Hamlet ends, but the play doesn't. Shakespeare's work keeps getting reinvented. Last year, like so many other plans, our annual Spring gala was cancelled due to the pandemic. For a while, it was a question: should we postpone again? But gathering as a TFANA community, even remotely, seemed more important than ever this year-to take stock of what we've been through, lost, and accomplished, and to look ahead to the future."

During the pandemic, so many of our neighbors have rightly come to be recognized as heroes. Teachers and artists are among them. All of us have a teacher in our lives who gave us something priceless. At the Gala, TFANA recognizes Marie Maignan, a teacher and artist who stimulates imagination, curiosity and life-long learning, and Amanda Riegel and The Thompson Foundation, for extraordinary support of the arts.

The Gala incudes the participation of some extraordinary theater-makers and friends of TFANA including Arin Arbus, Anne Bogart, Bill Camp, Will Eno, Simon Godwin, Kathryn Hunter, Taibi Magar, John Douglas Thompson and Awoye Timpo. TFANA is particularly delighted to convene them to help celebrate a deeply impactful member of the community: educator and artist Marie Maignan.

In 2005, Maignan began teaching Social Studies, Math and Science, and English Language Arts to 5th and 6th graders at P.S. 235. She had never taught Shakespeare, but loved poetry, literature and worked in libraries as a teenager. In 2006, she began teaching in partnership with TFANA and Ms. Erin McCready, teaching artist for the company's Shakespeare program, World Theatre Project.

The students investigated a particular play. They saw that same play performed in a full TFANA production at Polonsky Shakespeare Center and then returned to the classroom. Maignan inspired her 21st century students to discover their own interpretations and express their understanding of the language and ideas of Shakespeare.

With McCready, Maignan has now explored over fifteen years, fifteen different plays of Shakespeare-from All's Well that Ends Well, Merchant of Venice, Othello to Timon of Athens- kindling a love of and kinship with the Bard.

Last year, after Maignan's class saw Timon of Athens, the pandemic closed schools. But Maignan and McCready did not give up. Maignan's class created online performances of Timon. This year, as public schools remained closed, 2,100 students, including Maignan's classes, participated in World Theatre Project. Students first studied A Midsummer Night's Dream remotely. They then watched online Julie Taymor's film of the acclaimed stage production she directed, with music composed by Elliot Goldenthal, that opened TFANA's home in 2013.

By special arrangement, Taymor; Lynn Hendee, the film's producer; and Michael E. Rosenberg, President, Film Movement, the film's distributor waived all licensing fees. Midsummer was streamed to the 2,100 students who watched from their homes. Maignan's class is now performing monologues and scenes from the play deriving inspiration and nourishment during an extraordinary challenging year.

The Honorable Jahana Hayes, U.S. Representative, Fifth Congressional District of Connecticut and the 2016 Teacher of the Year, will present this year's Scripps Award to Maignan at the Gala. Fittingly, the award is a sculpture of Shakespeare, designed by the late celebrated artist and graphic designer Milton Glaser, another longtime TFANA collaborator.

Amanda Riegel and the Thompson Family Foundation-whose work funding historic preservation, arts and culture, medical research, and community services in and around New York has had an incalculable impact on the life of the city, and on TFANA-will receive the 10th annual Life in Art Award, honoring an individual, company or foundation whose support for theatre has set a standard for leadership and generosity, and whose example has inspired others to ensure that theatre remains a vibrant part of our cultural life. The Award, inspired by the autobiography of the great theatre artist Constantin Stanislavski, will be presented by Olivier Award-winner Kathryn Hunter and is an authenticated giclée print by Milton Glaser.

Gala Sponsorship and Ticket packages starting at $1500 include a private Zoom cocktail reception before the program and include special food/wine packages delivered directly to attendees. For more information on the Gala, visit TFANA.org or contact Barbara Toy at btoy@tfana.org.

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