Epic Theatre Ensemble to Honor John Guare & Stanley Tucci at 8th Annual Gala March 9th

New York's OBIE Award-winning Epic Theatre Ensemble (Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Ron Russell, Executive Directors) will honor Award-winning playwright John Guare and Golden Globe winner Stanley Tucci at their 8th Annual Winter Gala to be held at Twenty Four Fifth (24 Fifth Avenue) on Monday, March 9, 2009. The cocktail reception will begin at 6:00 p.m. followed by dinner, live auction, and festivities starting at 7:30pm. Proceeds benefit Epic's nationally acclaimed Arts-in-Education programs. Preeminent Arts-Educator, Eric Booth, will give the keynote greeting. Coleman Domingo (Passing Strange) will be the auctioneer.

Epic Theatre Ensemble is an OBIE winning artist-run company with the mission to create adventurous, provocative, and accessible theatrical events that serve as a centerpiece for a larger public dialogue about vital social issues. Epic is best known for their innovative, civic-focused residencies in public high schools throughout New York. In these programs students collaborate with professional theatre artists to adapt classic texts (Greek, Shakespeare, Ibsen, Durrenmatt, etc.) to address critical issues within their communities. These students also participate in programs directly linked to the new "socially-minded" plays the company commissions, develops, and premieres Off-Broadway such as Nilaja Sun's No Child..., Judith Thompson's Palace of the End, and Kate Fodor's Hannah and Martin (featuring Epic Board Member, David Strathairn)

For additional information, tickets and sponsorships contact Sarah Winkler at Epic Theater by calling (212) 239-1770, or via email at SarahWinklerEpic@aol.com.

John Guare's plays include Lydie Breeze, Bosoms and Neglect, House of Blue Leaves ( Obie and NY Drama Critics Circle Award, Six Degrees of Separation (NY Drama Critics Circle Award,Obie, London's Olivier Award Best Play). Atlantic City (Oscar nomination best screenplay), A Few Stout Individuals, Rich and Famous, Four Baboons Adoring the Sun (Tony nomination Best Play), and Landscape of the Body. In 2003 he won the PEN/Laura Pels Master Dramatist Award; in 2004, the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy of Arts and Letters; in 2005 the Obie for sustained excellence. He is a council member of the Dramatists Guild, co-editor of the Lincoln Center Theater Review, and teaches playwriting at the Yale School of Drama.

Eric Booth, as an actor, has performed in many plays on Broadway, Off-Broadway and around the country, playing over 23 Shakespearean roles, and winning acting awards on both coasts. As a businessman, he started a small company, Alert Publishing, that in seven years became the largest of its kind in the U.S. analyzing research on trends in American lifestyles-he was a frequent pundit on NBC and CNN, and quoted in the major print media. As an author, he has had five books published. The Everyday Work of Art won three awards and was a Book of the Month Club selection. He has written three dozen magazine articles, was the Founding Editor of the Teaching Artist Journal, and his new book The Music Teaching Artist's Bible will be published by Oxford University Press in February.

In arts education, he has been on the faculty of Juilliard (13 years), Stanford University, NYU, Tanglewood and Lincoln Center Institute (for 25 years), and The Kennedy Center (12 years). He was the Faculty Chair of the Empire State Partnership program for three years (the largest arts-in-education experiment in America), and held one of six chairs on The College Board's Arts Advisory Committee for seven years. He serves as a consultant for many organizations, cities and states and businesses around the country, including seven of the ten largest orchestras in the country, six major performing arts centers, and six national service organizations. Formerly the Director of the Teacher Center of the Leonard Bernstein Center, he is a frequent keynote speaker on the arts to groups of all kinds, and was asked to deliver the closing keynote speech to UNESCO's first ever worldwide arts education conference-the only American speaker.

Stanley Tucci has appeared in over 50 films and countless television shows. In the past few years he has appeared in films such as The Devil Wears Prada, The Terminal and Road To Perdition. The year of 2008 was an extremely busy year for Tucci. Most recently, he wrapped filming of Julie & Julia, opposite Meryl Streep and directed by Nora Ephron and The Lovely Bones opposite Mark Wahlberg and Susan Sarandon. Additionally he appeared in Swing Vote with Kevin Costner and Dennis Hopper, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl with Abigail Breslin and Joan Cusack and The Tale Of Despereaux with Matthew Broderick, Dustin Hoffman and Emma Watson.

 

Tucci, no stranger to the theater, has appeared in many plays including Frankie and Johnny at the Claire de Lune, Execution of Hope, The Iceman Cometh, Brighton Beach Memoirs and The Misanthrope. He has also performed in a number of Off-Broadway plays, at Yale Repertory Theater and SUNY Purchase, where he first studied acting.

 

In addition to his accomplishments in movies last year, Stanley was also nominated for an Emmy for his guest role as Dr. Moretti on "ER." In 2007, his appearance on "Monk," received critical attention as well as an Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series.

 

Tucci's multiple talents have led to a very diverse career. Not only an accomplished and gifted actor, he is also a writer, director and producer. At last year's Sundance Film Festival, Stanley premiered the film Blind Date, which after seven years, brought him once again behind the camera, as he has directed and co-wrote, as well as starred in the Van Gogh remake of this film.

 

Additional directorial credits include USA Films' Joe Gould's Secret, which starred Ian Holm as bohemian writer ‘Joe Gould' and Tucci as ‘Joseph Mitchell,' the famed writer for The New Yorker, and Big Night, Tucci's first effort as co-director, co-screenwriter and actor on the same film, that earned him numerous accolades, including the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival, a recognition of Excellence by the National Board of Review, an Independent Spirit Award, The Critics Prize at the 1996 Deauville Film Festival and honors from the New York Film Critics and the Boston Society of Film Critics. Tucci's second project, The Imposters, a film which he wrote, directed, co-produced and starred, was an Official Selection at the 1998 Cannes Film Festival and was acquired by Fox Searchlight Pictures later that year.

 

In 2002, Stanley won a Golden Globe Award for his brilliant portrayal of Lt. Colonel Adolf Eichmann in the television film entitled, "Conspiracy." He also received a Golden Globe, as well as an Emmy Award for his portrayal of Walter Winchell, a founder of American gossip, in the HBO original film, "Winchell."

 

Tucci's work on television includes his appearance as a re-occurring guest star on TNT's "Bull." His other television credits include appearances on "Equal Justice," "Wiseguy," "The Equalizer," "Thirtysomething" and "The Street." Tucci also starred as ‘Richard Cross' in the Steven Bochco drama "Murder One," a performance for which he earned an Emmy Nomination.

 

Epic Theater Ensemble is the recipient of OBIE, Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics, and OTTO Awards. The artist-run company was founded by Zak Berkman, Melissa Friedman, Teri Lamm, Ron Russell and James Wallert. Additional Producing Artists are Will Pomerantz, Godfrey L. Simmons Jr. and Sarah Winkler.

 

Epic's first official day of operations was September 11, 2001. Rather than be deterred by world events, Epic's Founders were galvanized to work even harder to create a company that embraces theatre and theatre-artists as unique instruments for empowering diverse voices, fostering public dialogue, and inspiring social change. The artists who participate in Epic's Off-Broadway Season are also part of the company's nationally acclaimed Arts-In-Education residencies that are presented in public high schools and community centers in New York, New Jersey, and New England.

 

Epic's past productions include Nilaja Sun's No Child..., which Epic commissioned, developed and premiered before its commercial transfer and national tour, as well as premieres of Palace of the End by Judith Thompson (Epic Commission, 2008 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize Winner), A Hard Heart by Howard Barker (featuring Kathleen Chalfant), Beauty on the Vine by Zak Berkman (featuring Olivia Wilde), Hannah and Martin by Kate Fodor (featuring David Strathairn), Einstein's Gift by Vern Thiessen (featuring Aasif Mandvi and Shawn Elliott), Habitat by Judith Thompson (featuring Rebecca Schull) and revivals of GB Shaw's Widowers' Houses (featuring Peter Jay Fernandez, Rachael Holmes, & Jacob Ming-Trent), Little Eyolf by Henrik Ibsen and Time and the Conways by J.B. Priestley. Epic's annual Sunshine Series Readings Festival shining light on new political playwriting has nurtured and presented work by numerous socially-minded writers including Bathsheba Doran, Marcus Gardley, Jeanne Sakata, Nilaja Sun, Judy Tate, Vern Thiessen, Judith Thompson, Daniel Voll, Patricia Wettig, and David Zellnik. In June 2008, Epic's New Play Wing was in residence at The Orchard Project developing a number of projects including Lear de Bessonet/Todd Almond's OLIVER!

 

Throughout our 8 Seasons our company has deepened the connection between our Off-Broadway and School Communities and Programs through "Bridge Projects" such as our annual Shakespeare Bridge Productions and First Time Voter Celebrations. In addition, we established Epic NEXT, an apprentice company comprised of former students from our in-school residencies.

 

Epic Theatre Ensemble is a Member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for the American theatre, as well as ART/NY.

 

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