Peters at Acting Company Awards for Schoenfeld & Lansbury

Gerald Schoenfeld, Board Chairman of The Shubert Organization and The Shubert Foundation, will receive the Joan Warburg Humanitarian Award from The Acting Company on Monday, November 12. Legendary producer Edgar Lansbury, will be presented the John Houseman Award honoring his commitment to the development of classical actors and a national audience for the theater.

Founded 35 years ago by Houseman and current Producing Artistic Director, Margot Harley, The Acting Company has won Obie's, Audelcos and a special Tony award as it developed the careers of Patti LuPone, Kevin Kline, Jeffrey Wright, Frances Conroy, Jesse L. Martin, Rainn Wilson and hundreds of others – presenting 127 productions on and off-Broadway and touring all across America. Proceeds of the evening benefit the Company's Literacy Through Theater education programs for students in disadvantaged schools. Cocktails and a Silent Auction at 6:30PM will be followed by dinner, dancing, and a special performance by Bernadette Peters honoring Gerry Schoenfeld at Cipriani (Wall Street, 55 Wall Street). IMAGO (former members of Cirque du Soleil) and Vince Giordano and His Nighthawks will entertain along with Gender Illusionists, Stilt Walkers, Tattoo Artists and Magicians. For tickets call (212) 258-3111.

Gerald Schoenfeld, a recognized leader in the theater and theatrical production, is being honored for his humanitarian work for the nonprofit arts– The Warburg Award (named for noted philanthropist Joan Warburg) is given for outstanding philanthropic endeavor and has been presented four times previously, to Harry Belafonte for his work for civil rights and AIDS prevention; to Martin E. Segal, Chairman of Lincoln Center, to the Honorable Thomas Kean for contributions to arts and education and to Phyllis Newman for founding The Women's Health Initiative of the Actors' Fund of America.

Edgar Lansbury has been associated with The Acting Company since its inception, having worked with John Houseman as his Art Director in the early days of television. He served the Company as Board Chairman for over 30 years and currently is Chairman Emeritus. Lansbury's productions include the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Subject Was Roses (Martin Sheen, Patricia Neal), American Buffalo (Robert Duvall), Godspell, Gypsy (Angela Lansbury), Promenade (Madeline Kahn), Look to the Lilies (Shirley Booth), That Summer—That Fall (Tyne Daly, Irene Papas, Jon Voight), Long Day's Journey Into Night (Geraldine Fitzgerald, Robert Ryan, Stacey Keach, James Naughton), The Magic Show (Doug Henning), Waiting for Godot, As Bees in Honey Drown and To Be Young Gifted and Black (Cicely Tyson). Previous recipients of the Houseman Award include Joseph Papp, Hal Prince, James Earl Jones, Marian Seldes, Julie Harris and Jack O'Brien.

Houseman and Harley founded The Acting Company in 1972 with members of the first graduating class of The Juilliard School's Drama Division. Since then several million people in 49 states and 10 foreign countries have been introduced to the theater by the Company, which, in addition to New York, tours to over 50 communities each year, especially to those with little or no access to live performance.

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