Las Vegas Shooting Survivor Ashley Hoff To Attend A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK Followed By A Talkback Thursday, May 24

The musical, A Letter to Harvey Milk, will host Los Vegas shooting survivor, Ashley Hoff on Thursday, May 24 at 7pm. She will be part of a post- show talkback.

A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK explores the relationship with a Kosher butcher and Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected politician, who was gunned down on the streets of San Francisco by Dan White.

Ashley Hoff serves as Critical Content's Vice President of Development under Tom Forman, most widely known for creating, "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition." Focusing primarily in unscripted television development, Ashley and team will develop, sell, and produce many series for a variety of content platforms (broadcast, cable, streaming, and digital) this year. The company's series include MTV's "Catfish," Food Network's, "The Great Food Truck Race," "Case Closed: Jon Benet Ramsey" for CBS, and many more.

Prior to her current roll, Hoff developed, under Ellen Rakieten the co-creator and long-time Executive Producer of "The Oprah Winfrey Show" and helped produce over 70 makeovers for deserving women on Style Network's, "How Do I Look?" An advocate for female empowerment, she also co-produced the Emmy-nominated documentary The Empowerment Project: Ordinary Women Doing Extraordinary Things, which was distributed by IndieFlix and has screened over 700 times in countries across the globe. After touching down in every aspect of the industry, from casting and production to development and post production, Ashley strives to take on projects that start conversations, entertain the public, and share important stories.

On October 1, 2017, Ashley and her husband, Shaun were in the fourth row of the Route 91 Harvest Festival when our country's largest mass shooting occurred. Although the night will never fully be in her peripheral, Hoff walked away with only bad memories, a broken arm, and a desire to share her story in an effort to inform and inspire change.

""If enough of us hold hands no one can hold a gun" is the musical refrain to the central song in our musical, A Letter to Harvey Milk, along with its message of acceptance, inclusion and understanding, gun violence is the core of why this story is so moving and necessary to tell. Harvey Milk celebrates a birthday this week, and even though his life was cut short by gun violence, he made a lasting impression on future generations. We welcome Ashley to our show and are eager to hear her thoughts and tale of survival. Ultimately, we as a company want to see a change in the way we address these senseless acts if gun violence. There should never be a world were more students and teachers are killed by guns than soldiers in combat." Executive Producer, Lisa Dozier King.

A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK, recently a released its original cast album and extending it run through June 31 at Theatre Row's Acorn Theatre (410 W 42 Street) through June 30,2018. Tickets are $79 - $99 and can be purchased at Telecharge.com or by calling 212-239-6200.

A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK opened on March 6, 2018 and has caught the attention of audiences and critics alike who have said: "This is one of those musicals that stows away in your heart without you even noticing." Zach Stewart, Theatermania; "The musical is not just the clichés or the humor; instead, it shines a light on Judaism and homosexuality, on loss and on loneliness. "A Letter to Harvey Milk is a moving exploration of Judaism and the trauma that comes from publicly being who you are. I was laughing through my tears." Plays To See; "A true gem that is totally fulfilling. They don't get much better than A Letter to Harvey Milk. Put it on your must-see list. The songs are fresh and emotionally rewarding with tears that are inspired by both razor-sharp humor and poignancy. There is nothing in this musical that doesn't work. The chemistry between Heller, Knitel, and Stern is sublime, and the entire cast is superbly talented." ELJ NYC; "A Letter to Harvey Milk seeds into your heart, and blossoms with love." Diandra Reviews it All; "Fun and laughable, in the good way." Times Square Chronicles; "A Letter to Harvey Milk offers an honest truth in a time that needs it." Curtain Up; "This is a letter worth reading and seeing, and well worth the wait." Front Mezz Junkies; "An inspiring musical about Harvey Milk, voiced by an unlikely source. A Letter to Harvey Milk is one of those rare musicals that dares to confront both LGBTQ history and Jewish history. And it does so with visceral wit, grace, and a full heart." Gay City News; "A Letter to Harvey Milk is a breath of fresh air." Stage Buddy; "Touching and Schmaltzy. There's a lot to like about this show!" BroadwayWorld; "Genuinely affecting and enjoyable. It is a rewarding and touching piece of musical theater." Jewish Standard.

Based on the short story by Lesléa Newman, the musical A Letter to Harvey Milk has music by Laura I. Kramer, lyrics by Ellen M. Schwartz, with additional lyrics by Cheryl Stern, book by Jerry James, Laura I. Kramer Ellen M. Schwartz and Cheryl Stern and will be directed by Evan Pappas with music direction by Jeffrey Lodin, orchestrations by Ned Ginsburg, casting by Stephanie Klapper. A Letter to Harvey Milk is presented by Letter Productions LLC, Associate Producer/Production Supervisor SenovvA Production Core and is executive produced by Lisa Dozier King.

A LETTER TO HARVEY MILK stars Adam Heller (Broadway: It Shoulda Been You, Elf, Caroline or Change), Julia Knitel (Broadway and National Tour: Carole King in Beautiful, Bye Bye Birdie), Cheryl Stern (Broadway: La Cage Aux Folles, The Women) along with Michael Bartoli (National Tour: Joseph/Dreamcoat), Jeremy Greenbaum (Broadway: Newsies), Aury Krebs (Regional: Rent, Hairspray), and CJ Pawlikowski (National Tour: Book of Mormon, Memphis).

Creative team includes set design by David Arsenault (Off- Broadway: Terms of Endearment. Broadway: The Color Purple (associate)) costumes by Debbi Hobson (Liberty: A Monumental New Musical), lighting design by Christopher Akerlind (Tony Award for INDECENT, Waitress), sound design by David Margolin Lawson (The Crusade of Connor Stephens).

Photo Credit: Russ Rowland