Vanguard Theater Company Announces Lin Manuel Miranda Tee Rico As 2018 Sponsor

Vanguard Theater Company announced today that Lin Manuel Miranda TeeRico has become the main sponsor of Vanguard's 2018 season.

Lin Manuel Miranda Tee Rico is Miranda's officially-licensed merchandise site, where every design benefits a cause and/or a creative artist. www.TeeRico.com Lin-Manuel Miranda is an American composer, lyricist, playwright, and actor best known for creating and starring in the Broadway musicals Hamilton and In the Heights.

"Having TeeRico as our main sponsor is a perfect fit," says Artistic Director and Vanguard co-founder Janeece Freeman Clark. Lin Manuel Miranda's shows celebrate our diverse culture, and feature communities not usually seen on Broadway. Mr. Miranda founded TeeRico to be able to bring awareness to and raise money for causes about which he cares deeply, such as raising money for hurricane relief in Puerto Rico, and Broadway Cares, Equity Fights Aids, after the Orlando massacre."

Ads Freeman Clark: "Vanguard's mission is to develop and produce transformational theater with an emphasis on D.R.E.A.M. - which stands for diversity, reciprocity, education, awareness and mentorship. So TeeRico is a perfect fit - no pun intended."

TeeRico came to Vanguard through managing director Jessica Sporn of Montclair, who designed the artwork for Miranda for both the Orlando and Puerto Rico relief campaigns.

The relationship between Vanguard and TeeRico is especially meaningful to both companies as:

• the star of Vanguard Theater Company's recent production of The Music Man in Concert, was Juan Drigo Ricafort, who had just finished playing Graffiti Pete in the Olney Theater production of Miranda's In the Heights;

• Linedy Genao, who starred as Vanessa in the Olney Theater production, was one of the mentors in Vanguard's 2017 Broadway Buddy Mentorship Cabaret;

• Freeman Clark's husband, Dwayne Clark, who starred in Vanguard's 2017 MainStage production of Memphis the Musical, was in the Broadway production of In The Heights; and

• Gabrielle Ruiz, currently a co-star in My Crazy Ex-Girlfriend, was in the original Broadway production of In the Heights, and was a mentor in Vanguard's 2016 Broadway Buddy Mentorship Cabaret.

ABOUT VANGUARD THEATER COMPANY

Founded in 2015 by veteran actors and educators Janeece Freeman Clark and Daryl Stewart, Vanguard Theater Company, a 501(c)3 not-for-profit, produces original, collaborative and re-imagined works of theater that transform actor's and audience's experiences, perceptions and stereotypes. Dedicated to D.R.E.A.M. - diversity, reciprocity, education, awareness and mentorship - Vanguard is committed to imaginative, non-traditional and multi-cultural casting, and professional artistic mentorship. Vanguard Theater Company's year-round programming is made possible through generous support from TeeRico by Lin-Manuel Miranda; The New York Community Trust; Seton Hall University; Investors Bank, and many individual donors. For more information about Vanguard Theater Company, visit www.VanguardTheaterCompany.org

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