Bishop Arts Theatre Center Celebrates Two Big Anniversaries This North Texas Giving Day

Bishop Arts Theatre Center (BATC) turns 25 this year while celebrating another milestone anniversary with North Texas Giving Day, the online giving event for people to generate donations for North Texas nonprofits, which is turning 10. To commemorate the occasion BATC will present Denise Lee Sings Miss Simone a special North Texas Giving Day Giving Event & Concert featuring Denise Lee accompanied by a 4-piece band.

The concert will feature songs made famous by Nina Simone who is the focus of the 25th Anniversary Season opening play, The Champion by Amy Evans. This Giving Event and Concert will begin at 5:30 PM on Thursday, September 20th with a reception and giving opportunity so that patrons can make their North Texas Giving Day donations with the help of the BATC staff. At 6:00 PM Denise Lee will take to the stage to deliver her take on the iconic music of Nina Simone.

Following the concert, the BATC staff & volunteers will be on hand to continue to facilitate North Texas Giving Day gifts. This Giving Event & Concert is free to the public and they are encouraged to make their donations to Bishop Arts on North Texas Giving Day before the concert.

"I can't think of a better way or time to make my Bishop Arts Theatre debut than to help celebrate the 25th Anniversary of the theater! Executive Artistic Director Teresa Coleman Wash has done something quite amazing and I hope she sees her years of hard work paying off. I am honored to be a part of this great celebration and I wish Bishop Arts Theatre many more years of storytelling," offered Lee.

Denise Lee is an award-winning actress, a singer whose powerful voice, warm and friendly demeanor and her sassy and sensual performance style has charmed theater, nightclub and television audiences for more than three decades. Lee is based in Dallas but the world is her home. She has an impressively diverse local following at music venues and at area theaters. Her musical magic has also delighted international crowds at clubs in Shanghai, Beijing, Switzerland, and France.

When left to her own devices, Lee performs cabaret style, combining all of her favorite things-singing, acting and bantering with her fans. For the last six years, she has focused on bringing cabaret-style performances to the forefront of Dallas entertainment. She produces the Denise Lee Onstage Cabaret Series at the Bath House Cultural Center Underground. The series, started by Lee, is entering its 5th year and features the premiere Cabaret talent in the area. Ms. Lee also founded the Dallas Cabaret Festival, which closes the regular season of the series each year. Now in its 4th year, some of Broadway and Cabaret's finest have graced the DCF stage including Jim Caruso, Billy Stritch, Cynthia Scott, T. Oliver Reid, Saycon Sengbloh, Samuel James and many others. Her talents are also on full display in her one-woman shows, "Denise Lee Sings the Divas of American Music," and "Too Old, Too Fat, Too Black - Songs I'll Never Sing On Broadway" for which she won a Broadway World Award for 'Best Cabaret Performer'. She is the recipient of the Sammons Center for the Arts Cabaret Artist of the Year, multiple DFW Theater Critics and Dallas Readers Voice Awards.

Her television and film acting credits include roles in 'Mad Money', with Diane Keaton, 'Cowgirls & Angels', with James Cromwell, 'Dallas', 'Memphis Beat', 'Good Guys', 'Queen of the South'. as well as numerous commercials and corporate industrials.

She sits on the boards of Echo Theatre and the Dallas Street Choir. In addition to that, she hosts monthly 'Community Conversations' through her Change the Perception initiative. These monthly gatherings bring people of all backgrounds, from all walks of life together for respectful open honest dialogue in order to heal racial and community tension.

The North Texas Giving Day Concert is presented at the Bishop Art Theatre Center located at 215 South Tyler, TX 75208. The concert is FREE to the public and is a GIVING event. Staff will be set up at the please visit www.bishopartstheatre.org

About Bishop Arts Theatre Center (BATC)

Nestled in the heart of Dallas' Oak Cliff community, the Bishop Arts Theatre Center is an award-winning, multicultural, multi-discipline theatre company. Founded in 1993, the mission of the organization is to cultivate a diverse and vibrant arts community while creating opportunities for local and emerging artists through performances and education. The BATC offers a full season of theatre performances, jazz concerts, a speaker series and year-round arts education programs. Each year, the theatre impacts nearly 30,000 people nationwide.

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