Billy Crudup to be Honored at Vineyard Theatre 40th Anniversary Gala

Vineyard Theatre's 40th Anniversary Gala will honor Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor Billy Crudup with celebratory toasts to Ken Greiner, Chair, Vineyard Board of Directors and Marcia Pendelton, President and Founder of Walk Tall Girl Productions, on February 13, 2023 beginning at 6:00pm at Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).

The Vineyard's 40th Anniversary Gala will include cocktails, dinner, an auction and live performance. The event will support Vineyard's 40th Season, and in particular its Good Neighbor ticket accessibility program, which provides free and low-cost tickets to thousands of New Yorkers each season, and its Fair Pay Initiative, a commitment to ensure that all Vineyard arts workers are paid a living wage. Gala performers will be announced at a later date.

Tickets will be available for purchase later this month at vineyardtheatre.org/shows/40th-anniversary-gala. For information on advance table purchase and gala sponsorship opportunities please contact gala@vineyardtheatre.org.

Billy Crudup

Honoree Billy Crudup made his professional debut with Vineyard Theatre in 1994 in Chiori Miyagawa's America Dreaming, returning to the Vineyard stage in Adam Rapp's The Metal Children and his award-winning performance in David Cale's Harry Clarke.

Equally memorable on the stage and screen, Billy Crudup has earned critical accolades for his performances. Currently, he stars as Corey Ellison in Apple's Golden-Globe nominated "The Morning Show" alongside Jennifer Aniston, Reese Witherspoon and Steve Carrell, which earned him an Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, the Critics' Choice Award for Best Supporting Actor in a Drama Series, as well as two Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. He recently earned a second Emmy nomination for this role. Upcoming, Crudup will star in and executive produce Apple's "Hello Tomorrow!", which centers around a group of traveling salesmen hawking lunar timeshares.

Recently, he starred in the film adaptation of Maria Semple's novel, Where'd You Go, Bernadette, alongside Kristen Wiig and Cate Blanchett and in Bart Freundlich's After the Wedding, alongside Julianne Moore and Michelle Williams.

Previously, Crudup starred in Ridley Scott's Alien: Covenant along with Michael Fassbender and Katherine Waterston and made his television debut in Netflix's psychological thriller Gypsy opposite Naomi Watts. He appeared in Jackie opposite Natalie Portman; Zack Snyder's Justice League, alongside Henry Cavill, Ben Affleck, Gal Gadot and Jason Momoa; 20th Century Women alongside Annette Bening, Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig; Spotlight, for which he won the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture; the film also won the 2016 Academy Award® for Best Picture; Youth in Oregon, which debuted at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival; and IFC Films' The Stanford Prison Experiment, which is based on the landmark experiment conducted at Stanford University in the summer of 1971.

Crudup made his motion picture debut in Barry Levinson's Sleepers, opposite Robert De Niro, Brad Pitt and Jason Patric, followed by Woody Allen's Everyone Says I Love You, and Pat O'Connor's Inventing the Abbotts. Crudup played the leading role in the critically acclaimed Without Limits, the story of legendary long distance runner Steven Prefontaine, for which he won the National Board of Review Award for Breakthrough Performance of the Year.

He then starred in the critically acclaimed Jesus' Son opposite Samantha Morton, Holly Hunter and Denis Leary, which earned him an Independent Spirit Award nomination, and he reunited with Jennifer Connelly in the acclaimed Waking the Dead. Crudup also starred in Cameron Crowe's Academy Award®-winning Almost Famous along with Frances McDormand and Kate Hudson.

Crudup's other film credits include: 1 Mile to You, based on Jeremy Jackson's novel Life at These Speeds; Noah Buschel's Glass Chin; William H. Macy's directorial debut Rudderless; Guillaume Canet's Blood Ties opposite Clive Owen; the box office hit Eat Pray Love starring alongside Julia Roberts, Javier Bardem, and James Franco; Michael Mann's Public Enemies alongside Johnny Depp and Christian Bale; Zack Synder's Watchmen opposite Patrick Wilson; Charlotte Gray opposite Cate Blanchett; Tim Burton's fantasy tale, Big Fish, also starring Ewan McGregor, Helena Bonham Carter, and Albert Finney; Stage Beauty opposite Claire Danes; Trust the Man with Julianne Moore; J.J. Abrams' Mission Impossible 3 opposite Tom Cruise; and Robert De Niro's The Good Shepherd alongside Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie.

On stage, Crudup recently starred in the one-man play Harry Clarke at the Vineyard Theatre, for which he won an Outer Critics Circle Award, Off-Broadway Alliance Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Obie Award, Drama Desk Award and was nominated for the Drama League Award. Crudup starred in the repertory productions of No Man's Land and Waiting for Godot on Broadway, opposite Ian McKellen, Patrick Stewart and Shuler Hensley. In 2007, Crudup won a Best Performance by a Featured Actor Tony Award for his role in the Broadway production of The Coast of Utopia. He also received Tony nominations for his roles in The Elephant Man, The Pillowman and Arcadia.

He made his Broadway debut as Septimus Hodge in Tom Stoppard's Arcadia, directed by Trevor Nunn, which won him several awards, including the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Debut of an Actor and a Theater World Award. He was also honored with the Clarence Derwent Award from Actors' Equity for Outstanding Broadway Debut.

His other stage credits include William Inge's Bus Stop and the Roundabout Theater's production of Three Sisters, which earned him a Drama Desk nomination. He has appeared in Oedipus with Frances McDormand, starred in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of Measure for Measure at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, and starred in the off-Broadway run of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui opposite Al Pacino and Steve Buscemi.

Crudup received his Masters of Fine Arts from New York University and also attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He resides in New York City.

Ken Greiner

Ken Greiner has served on the Vineyard Theatre Board of Directors since 2005 and as Board Chair since 2014 where he has guided the organization through successful executive transition, a strategic plan, a pandemic and led the quiet phase of The Vineyard's 40th Anniversary Capacity Building and Capital Campaign. He founded and led the investment management firm Dalton, Greiner, Hartman, Maher & Co. as Vice-Chair for over 30 years. He has been investing in theatrical productions for over 25 years. His producing credits include Lieutenant of Inishmore, Fela!, Glengarry Glen Ross, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill, The Sound Inside and The Kite Runner. He was a founder of the theatrical advertising firm Art Meets Commerce.

Marcia Pendelton

Born and reared in Philadelphia, PA, Marcia Pendelton received a Bachelor of Science in Sociology from St Joseph's University (Philadelphia, PA) and earned an MFA in Theatre Management from the University of Maryland (College Park). She serves on the Board of Directors of the Black Theatre Network and the Black Public Relations Society - New York. She is also a member of the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and the Harlem Arts Alliance. Her work in audience development has been featured in Ebony Magazine, The New York Times, The New York Daily News, The Philadelphia Daily News, ABC.com, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Our Time Press, among others. She has been honored by the Ladies Auxiliary of the National Action Network, the Black Theatre Network, the AUDELCO Awards, What's the 411, BOLD/AEA Black History Month Honors, Riant Theatre Company Trailblazer Award, and Emmanuel Baptist Church.

Pendelton is the founder and president of Walk Tall Girl Productions, a boutique marketing, audience development and group sales agency for the performing arts with a special emphasis placed on the theater. The mission of the New York-based company is to make the arts accessible to the widest possible audience.

WTGP

has been immersed in assisting commercial theater producers and nonprofit theatre institutions with developing diverse audiences since 2000. The company specializes in bringing communities from the African diaspora into performance spaces.

Recent WTGP marketing clients on Broadway include Thoughts Of A Colored Man, Lackawanna Blues, MJ the Musical, Death of a Salesman, Skeleton Crew, Choir Boy, August Wilson's Jitney, and Sweat as well as providing significant group sales support for Tina: The Tina Turner Musical and Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations. Additionally, WTGP has served as an audience development consultant for multiple productions at The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Apollo Theater, MCC Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, Signature Theatre, Keen Company, Classic Stage Company, Vineyard Theatre, The Billie Holiday Theatre, National Black Theatre, New York Theatre Workshop, and Transport Group.

Because of its commitment to making productions that center Black narratives accessible to multicultural, multigenerational, and multiracial audiences, WTGP produces A Black Theatre Preview (BTP). BTP brings attention to and celebrates the presence of Black artists on stage and behind-the-scenes on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and beyond through an evening of conversations, panels, and performances. The event also includes a theater marketplace that offers production details and discounts, as well as information from Black Theater service organizations and conferences. BTP producing partners have included AUDELCO, Inc., Project1Voice, The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, and The Kumble Theatre/LIU Brooklyn. The company also publishes a weekly e-newsletter (Walk Tall Girl Productions presents Black Theater Online Weekly) that features interviews, reviews, special events and news from the Black Theater community. Pendelton is also the producer and host of "Backstage Stories," a popular arts, culture and entertainment program heard weekly on WBAI 99.5 FM and streaming on WBAI.org

Sandra by David Cale is the first show in the Vineyard Theatre's 40th Season. Tickets are now on sale through December 18 at www.vineyardtheatre.org or by calling 212-353-0303. Following Sandra will be the world premiere of the musical White Girl in Danger, a co-production by Vineyard Theatre and 2ndStage, written by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop) and directed by Tony Award nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz (The Skin of Our Teeth). White Girl in Danger will be presented at 2ST from March 15, 2023 - May 21, 2023 with an opening night on April 10, 2023. Vineyard's final production of their 40th season will be the world premiere of This Land Was Made by Tori Sampson (If Pretty Hurts Ugly Must be a Muhfucka), directed by Taylor Reynolds (The Movement Theatre Company) and presented at Vineyard Theatre (108 East 15th Street).

About Vineyard Theatre

Under the artistic leadership of Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern, Vineyard Theatre develops and produces new plays and musicals that push the boundaries of what theatre can be and do. For nearly 40 years, The Vineyard has nurtured a community of fearless theatre makers whose work has expanded the form, the field, and the larger culture. Vineyard Theatre has transferred eleven shows to Broadway, seven directly after their acclaimed Vineyard premieres: Lucas Hnath's Dana H. and Tina Satter's Is This A Room (both New York Times Best Theatre of 2021); Paula Vogel's Indecent; Nicky Silver's The Lyons; Kander, Ebb and Thompson's The Scottsboro Boys; Bell and Bowen's [title of show]; and Avenue Q by Marx, Lopez and Whitty (Tony Award, Best Musical). In recent years, four additional shows launched at The Vineyard have been revived in their first Broadway productions: Paula Vogel's Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive; Lanie Robertson's Lady Day At Emerson's Bar And Grill; Becky Mode's Fully Committed; and Edward Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning Three Tall Women.

From our home in NYC's Union Square, The Vineyard develops and premieres new plays and musicals which go on to be seen around the country and the world. Recently, Jeremy O. Harris' play "Daddy" (2019) received its London premiere at the Almeida; Ngozi Anyanwu's Good Grief (2018) and David Cale's Harry Clarke (2017) were recorded by Audible; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Gloria (2014), a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, transferred to Chicago's Goodman Theatre; Paula Vogel's Tony Award-winning Indecent (2016) aired on PBS's "Great Performances" and was one of the most-produced plays nationwide in 2019; and Colman Domingo's Dot (2016) is being adapted into an AMC series. The Vineyard's first major digital work, Lessons in Survival, was named one of the top theatrical experiences of 2020 by the New York Times and has been viewed by audiences in more than 40 countries.

The Vineyard's Paula Vogel Playwriting Award, Susan Stroman Directing Award, and Colman Domingo Award provide residencies to early-career artists and our education programs serve over 700 New York City public high school students annually, culminating in Developing Artists' REBEL VERSES Youth Arts Festival. The Roth-Vogel New Play Commission is awarded annually to a mid- to late-career playwright to create and develop a new play with The Vineyard. Our work and artists have been honored with numerous awards including Pulitzer Prizes and Tony Awards, and the company is proud to be the recipient of special Drama Desk, Obie, and Lucille Lortel Awards for artistic excellence and support of artists.

Vineyard Theatre's leadership includes Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern and Managing Director Suzanne Appel.

For more information visit: www.vineyardtheatre.org

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