New 42nd Street Gala Honors Irwin In Celebration Of New Victory Theater Ed Program

The New 42nd Street Gala on Monday, November 8, 2010, will honor Tony Award winning actor Bill Irwin. The annual event, which this year celebrates The New Victory Theater® Education Program, will launch with a 6:15 p.m. cocktail reception followed by a 7:00 p.m. performance honoring Irwin at The New Victory Theater, 209 West 42nd Street. (Program and participants TBA). Immediately following the performance, a dinner reception honoring Irwin will take place at the New 42nd Street Studios.

Co-Chairs for the event are Margaret Munzer Loeb and Daniel S. Loeb, Fiona and Eric Rudin, Liev Schreiber, and Diane and Mark Spilker. Vice-Chairs are Jonathan Demme, Anne Hathaway, Phoebe Cates Kline and Kevin Kline, Nathan Lane, Terrence McNally and Tom Kirdahy, Kathleen Turner, and Lynn and Sam Waterston.

Cora Cahan, President of The New 42nd Street, has said, "Bill Irwin has honored The New 42 Street by allowing us to honor him with the presentation of the first-ever New Victory Arts Award in recognition of all he has done over the years to bring kids to the arts and the arts to kids."

Since the New Vic opened in 1995, the nationally recognized, award-winning New Victory Education Program has partnered with 425 schools and after-schools and served 300,000 students and teachers. The comprehensive program provides pre-K-12th grade students access to exemplary live theatergoing experiences and correlating model arts education activities that turn the classroom into a stage. The high quality, compelling arts curriculum aligns with New York City Department of Education's Blueprint for Teaching and Learning in the Arts. During the 2010-11 season, The New Vic School Partnership Program will continue to provide opportunities for 33,000 students to attend 91 weekday school- time shows at the cost of only $2.00 per student/per show, as well as to participate in 850 free pre- and post-performance In-Classroom Workshops led by New Vic Teaching Artists.

TICKET INFORMATION:
Individual Gala tickets start at $1,000. Gala tables start at $10,000. For more information and tickets, visit www.new42gala.org or call 646-223-3082.

ABOUT Bill Irwin
Bill Irwin is a founding member of The New 42nd Street Board of Directors as well as a founding member of Kraken Theatre Ensemble and San Francisco's Pickle Family Circus. His original works include Fool Moon, Largely New York, The Harlequin Studies, Mr. Fox: A Rumination, The Happiness Lecture, and The Regard of Flight. Other theater credits include Broadway productions of Waiting for Godot, Bye, Bye Birdie, The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?, and Accidental Death of an Anarchist; Broadway and West End revivals of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2005 Tony Award, Helen Hayes Award); Waiting for Godot at Lincoln Center Theater; and 5-6-7-8 Dance!, Scapin, The Tempest, Garden of Earthly Delights, Texts for Nothing, A Flea in Her Ear, The Seagull, A Man's a Man, and 3 Cuckolds. The 2003-4 Signature Theatre season was devoted to his original work. His television credits include Lights Out, Bill Irwin: Clown Prince (PBS's Great Performances), Third Rock from the Sun, Northern Exposure, Sesame Street, Elmo's World, The Regard of Flight, The Cosby Show, The Laramie Project, Subway Stories, Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo, Law & Order, Life on Mars, CSI, and the closing ceremony of the 1996 Olympic Games. Film credits include Rachel Getting Married, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Igby Goes Down, Lady in the Water, Dark Matter, Raving, Across the Universe, Popeye, Eight Men Out, Silent Tongue, Illuminata, My Blue Heaven, A New Life, Scenes from a Mall, and Stepping Out. He has been granted a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellowship, as well as Guggenheim, Fulbright, and MacArthur fellowships.

ABOUT THE NEW VICTORY THEATER
The New Victory Theater is New York City's first and only full-time performing arts theater for kids, their families and classmates. Since it opened in 1995, The New Victory has quickly become an integral part of the cultural landscape in New York City, presenting a full season of adventurous multidisciplinary works from around the globe and close to home. The New Vic seeks out sophisticated, thought-provoking, professional productions that are as artistically rich as they are entertaining. Tickets are made affordable as a result of support from a variety of public and private sources and cost an average of $18, with seats for members available for as little as $9. In addition, The New Victory also offers daytime school performances ($2 per student), family workshops and jobs to high school and college students. Interactive Lobby Activities, FYIs (performance-related exhibits) and Talk-backs with the artists are offered in conjunction with select performances throughout the season. The theater's website, NewVictory.org, continues to be an excellent resource, providing video clips and more information about each production in the season.

ABOUT THE NEW 42ND STREET
Founded in 1990, The New 42nd Street is an independent, nonprofit organization charged with long-term responsibility for seven historic theaters west of Broadway on 42nd Street between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. In addition to running The New Victory, The New 42nd Street built and operates the New 42nd Street Studios -- a 10-story building of rehearsal studios, offices and a 199-seat theater named The Duke on 42nd Street -- for national and international performing arts companies. Since its opening on June 21, 2000, the New 42nd Street Studios have been fully occupied by both nonprofit and commercial theater, dance and opera companies. With these institutions and the other properties under its guardianship, The New 42nd Street plays a pivotal role in fostering the continued revival of this famous street at the Crossroads of the World.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/Retna Ltd.

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