Houses on the Moon Will Honor Reggie Van Lee at AMPLIFY 2024 Gala

Off-Broadway theatre company Houses on the Moon will honor Reggie Van Lee at their AMPLIFY 2024 Gala Celebration on Monday, October 7, 2024, at 6:30 PM, at Green Room 42 (4th Floor, Yotel, 570 10th Avenue). The event will feature a rooftop cookout, open bar, live performances, and more. The benefit will also celebrate this year's Mauricio Leyton Award recipients, Modesto “Flako” Jimenez and Sarita Covington.

The Mauricio Leyton Award honors the memory of the late Chilean actor and Houses on the Moon artist Mauricio Leyton by annually recognizing an organization or artist that champions the unheard voice through community service. The award includes a $1,000 cash grant to support their work within communities in need, funded by a percentage of the proceeds from Houses on the Moon’s annual AMPLIFY fundraiser and private donors.

"As we gather to celebrate the extraordinary achievements of our 2024 AMPLIFY Gala honorees, Reggie Van Lee, Sarita Covington, and Modesto 'Flako' Jimenez, we are reminded of the profound impact that dedication, creativity, and leadership can have on our communities and beyond. Each of these individuals has not only excelled in their respective fields but has also used their platforms to champion diversity, equity, and inclusion in the arts. It is an honor to recognize their incredible contributions to the arts and their tireless efforts to uplift and inspire others, embodying the spirit of innovation and advocacy that drives our mission at Houses on the Moon." 

—Emily Joy Weiner, Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Houses on the Moon

This Year's Honorees

Reggie Van Lee is an Executive Partner & Managing Director at the global consulting and advisory firm AlixPartners, in its Performance & Technology Practice, bringing more than three decades of global experience as a senior advisor to corporations and their boards of directors. Prior to AlixPartners, Reggie served as the Chief Transformation Officer at the Carlyle Group, where he led a series of broad organizational change programs across culture, structure, design, corporate strategy, diversity, and talent. Prior to that, Reggie had a distinguished career, spanning over three decades, at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, retiring as an Executive Vice President, where he worked with clients in the areas of strategic transformation, pre- and post-merger integration, and high-performance organizational design.

Reggie has a leadership role in the Executive Leadership Council, America’s preeminent organization for developing global black leaders. He was also successful in tying diversity to executive compensation at Carlyle and as a Trustee of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, helped embrace diversity by championing and elevating diverse programming across dance, music, and theatre for black and brown performers.

Reggie is a member of the board of directors of the Women’s Venture Capital Fund II, National CARES Mentoring Movement, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Blair House Foundation, the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) and Studio Museum in Harlem. He also serves as the Chair of the Washington, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser, and co-founded the Black Theatre Coalition in New York City and the Gospel Music Haus Museum in Houston. He is also a member of the Tony Award Nominating and Voting Board for Broadway plays and musicals. He was a past Chair of Washington Performing Arts and a past Vice Chair of Washington Ballet. He was named one of the top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine, selected as a Washington Minority Business Leader by the Washington Business Journal, and named Black Engineer of the Year by Black Engineer magazine.

He holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from MIT and has served as a member of the MIT Corporation. He also earned an MBA from Harvard University.

Sarita Covington is a multi-disciplinary artist/ activist from Harlem. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and co-founded ACRE (Artists Co-Creating Real Equity), an organizing body of artists and cultural workers committed to undoing racism within arts and culture work. She is a collaborating artist with social impact organization B3W Performance Group. Her work has received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Open Meadows Foundation, The Puffin Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation. She has been an artist in residence through SPARC (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) and BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) and currently serves on the Advisory Council for The Field Leadership Fund and supported and coached Race Forward’s Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab. Sarita has taught and facilitated workshops among a variety of communities, including the inmates at the Fishkill Correctional Facility, the Yale Schools of Divinity and Drama through a course entitled, ‘The Quest for Social Justice; Through Music, Theater and Religion’, Artspace’s City Wide Open Studios community dialogue addressing The Dynamics of Temporary, Site-Based Interventions, NYC Public Schools, Philadelphia Charter School students, Danish High School students, Mexican youth in a Tijuana orphanage and the 59th Street Project.

Modesto “Flako” Jimenez is a Dominican-born, Bushwick-raised, multi-hyphenate artist. As a poet, playwright, educator, actor, producer, and director, his work exists in and explores the intersections of identity, language, mediums, cultures, and communities found in his personal life and beyond. Jimenez’s recent work includes Taxilandia, a site-specific performance in a moving taxi that received a Critic’s Pick from Time Out New York and The New York Times and was recently recognized with an Obie Special Citation Award. Jimenez is the founder of ¡Oye! Group, a nonprofit that serves as an incubator for artists, both native and immigrant to New York City. Jimenez is addressing gun violence as a Public Artist in Residence at NYC Health + Hospitals as part of the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs’ PAIR program in 2023. Jimenez has been selected as a Princeton Hodder Fellow for 2023-2024. In 2021, Jimenez received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts award in performing arts and theater. Jimenez received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2024. Currently, Jimenez is working on Mercedes, a multi-disciplinary art experience exploring the relationships between matriarchy and ancestors, familial bonds and inherited trauma, and how our own identity can impact our mental health.

The AMPLIFY 2024 Honorary Committee includes Laurie Bernhard, Kate Cerulli, Rashad Chambers, R. Erin Craig, Jane Dubin, Hal Luftig, Nelle Nugent, Jessica Sporn, Aaliytha Stevens, Cheryl Wiesenfeld, and Ruth Zowader.

Houses on the Moon's Board of Directors and Advisory Board are Rashad V. Chambers, Kevin Connor, R. Erin Craig, Melvina Douse, Jane Dubin (Board Chair), Amy Gottlieb, Jeremy Handelman, Jennifer Isaacson, Jeffrey Rosenstock, Susan Shah, Jeffrey Solomon, Melissa Springs, Emily Joy Weiner, Warren Adams, Jamie deRoy, Susan Griffin, Dina Janis, Hal Luftig, Nelle Nugent, Lisa Rothe, David Rothenberg, Drew Tagliabue, and Cheryl Wiesenfeld.

Tickets for the AMPLIFY 2024 Gala Celebration on Monday, October 7, 2024, at 6:30 PM at Green Room 42 are now on sale. Tickets are $250 (all-inclusive) and $1000 (premium ticket for two). 

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