Tom Hanks & Rita Wilson Donate Cash Gift to Great Lakes Theater Festival's Hanna Theatre Campaign

Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) alumnus, and two-time Oscar award-winner, Tom Hanks and his wife Rita Wilson made a significant gift to the Festival over the holidays enabling the company to successfully achieve its Re-Imagine a Classic Campaign fundraising goal. Hanks has served as the Honorary Chair of the fundraising efforts to ‘re-imagine' the Hanna Theatre as the new home for the Festival and to establish an endowment for the classic theater company since 2008. Although the amount of the gift is confidential, the donation will be used to create a permanent endowment to support Festival artists called The Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Fund for Artists.

With Hanks' and Wilson's gift, GLTF successfully raised $18,293,926, meeting the terms of its Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant. Pending a review of a final report, The Kresge Foundation will award the Festival a $1M gift to complete its fundraising effort. To date, over 700 donors have made gifts to the campaign which was launched in the fall of 2007.

Tom Hanks encouraged Northeast Ohioans to join him in supporting the Festival. "Now it's your turn to give a gift to this gem of a theater by introducing a new theater-goer to the joy of the Great Lakes Theater Festival at the Hanna: gift some tickets to a college student, bring a grandchild, organize a birthday trip," urged Hanks in a recent statement. "Buy season tickets here in your own backyard to experience as great a moment in the theater as I've had anywhere in the world."

"We are truly grateful to our good friends Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson for their immense generosity in helping bring our campaign to its successful completion," said Charles Fee, GLTF's Producing Artistic Director. "For sharing his valuable time with us, for continually demonstrating his commitment to the classics in Cleveland, and for his grand efforts to help his home theater grow...all of us at the Festival and in Northeast Ohio say thank you Tom!" Fee continued, "I know Tom and Rita are standing with all of us at the Festival -- from our remarkable Board of Trustees, our visionary staff and artists, our partners at PlayhouseSquare-to give a well deserved ovation to the generous supporters across our region who have helped write this extraordinarily successful chapter in Great Lakes Theater Festival's history."

Tim Pistell, GLTF's campaign chair and Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin Corporation echoed Fee's sentiments. "What a tremendous achievement to reach our goal and secure The Kresge Foundation's Challenge grant. The fact that we accomplished this successful outcome in an economic downturn exemplifies the commitment and hard work of GLTF's staff, benefactors and audience. This is a big win for Great Lakes Theater Festival, PlayhouseSquare, the performing arts and the residents of Northeast Ohio. If you haven't yet experienced the re-imagined Hanna Theatre, we invite you to stop by for a visit to see the most exciting new performance space in Ohio."

Great Lakes Theater Festival opened its permanent, new home at the Hanna Theatre, PlayhouseSquare (designed by Cleveland-based architectural firm Westlake Reed Leskosky) on September 20, 2008. The company will conclude its second full season in the space this spring.

For more information, visit www.greatlakestheater.org/hanks.

 

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