Raúl Esparza Is 2024 ICON Award Recipient At Porchlight Theatre

Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre has announced that multi-award winner and star of stage, screen and television Raúl Esparza is the 2024 ICON Award recipient. Mr. Esparza is scheduled to attend the ICONS Gala, Sunday, Sept. 22 at 11 a.m. at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago at Water Tower Place, 160 E. Pearson St.

The ICONS Gala supports Porchlight's mission of celebrating the past, present and future of music theatre through its artistic, educational and community programming. Single tickets are $350 and $500 and table reservations are now on sale at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.

Porchlight launches the 30th season with its annual fundraiser and includes a full slate of entertainment with an interview between Mr. Esparza and WGN's Paul Lisnek and performances celebrating Mr. Esparza's stage career including numbers from tick, tick … BOOM!, Company, Sunday in the Park with George and others, directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber. The ICONS Gala also includes highlights from its educational and community initiatives, the presentation of the 2024 Luminary Award to longtime supporters Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro, an exciting auction and a deluxe brunch buffet with mimosas and wine sponsored by Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar.

The ICONS Gala was launched in 2012 and many icons have been honored throughout its history including Hal Prince, Elaine Stritch, Bob Fosse, Ethel Merman and Fred Astaire among others. In 2020, the ICON Award was established to celebrate a notable artist who has made an indelible contribution to American entertainment and has since been presented to living legends Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Donna McKechnie and Ben Vereen. 

The Luminary Award is bestowed annually at the ICONS Gala and this year it is presented to longtime supporters Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro. This honor recognizes an outstanding individual, family or family foundation with a history of philanthropic and volunteer leadership on behalf of Porchlight and music theatre in Chicago, and whose generosity inspires others to philanthropic action. Past honorees include Rick and Deann Bayless and the Bayless Family Foundation, Elaine Cohen and Arlen D. Rubin, Jim Jensen, Jean Klingenstein, Dan Ratner and the Ratner Family Foundation and Paul M. Lisnek.

ABOUT RAÚL ESPARZA, 2024 ICON AWARD RECIPIENT

Raúl Esparza is an American stage and screen actor, recently starring as “Galileo Galilei” in Galileo in the dazzling world-premiere musical at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, helmed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot) and written by two-time Emmy winner Danny Strong (Dopesick, Empire, The Butler). A four-time Tony Award-nominee and three-time Drama Desk Award winner, his Broadway and notable theater credits include Company, tick, tick... BOOM!, Taboo, The Homecoming, Speed-the-Plow, Leap of Faith, Arcadia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cabaret, The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver!, Seared, Road Show, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Cymbeline, The Cradle Will Rock, Twelfth Night, The Normal Heart, Comedians, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita, The Waves and Chess. On TV and film, Esparza is best known for his work on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Hannibal,” “Murder at the End of the World,” “Candy,” “Dopesick,” “The Path,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Ferdinand,” “My Soul to Take” and Sidney Lumet's “Find Me Guilty.”

In the immediate wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Esparza conceived of, executive produced and performed in the online concert event “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.” The concert received a special Drama League Award and is now preserved in the Library of Congress.

To post a comment, you must register and login.