New York Theatre Workshop 2022 Gala to Honor Artistic Director James C. Nicola

New York Theatre Workshop announced today that the NYTW 2022 Gala will honor Artistic Director James C. Nicola, who will depart NYTW after 34 years on June 30, 2022. The Gala will be held on Monday April 11 at 6PM at Capitale (130 Bowery, New York, NY 10013).

"Jim has been an extraordinarily fierce advocate for artists throughout his entire accomplished career," said NYTW Board President Kelly Fowler Hunter. For over 34 years with New York Theatre Workshop, he has taken chances on thousands of daring artists, often at the very beginning of their careers, nurturing them with a simple strategy: give artists the space and time and resources to find their voice and to realize their vision. On the stage, he has brought audiences some of the most memorable theatrical experiences of a lifetime and helped shape the modern theatrical landscape. And just as important, he has forged a true creative workshop at NYTW - a place where artists can hone their craft, develop their work, and just be artists. We are tremendously grateful for the legacy and the theatre he has built. In his final year at the helm of the Workshop, there is simply no one more deserving of a celebration and tribute than Jim Nicola."

James C. Nicola has been the Artistic Director of New York Theatre Workshop since 1988. Under his guidance, NYTW has remained steadfast in its founding commitment of nurturing emerging, mid-career and established theatre artists and promoting collaboration and bold experimentation with theatrical forms. Mr. Nicola initiated an extensive series of workshop opportunities that have continued for decades, including summer residencies and fellowships for artists representing a broad spectrum of cultures and backgrounds. He forged a unique community of theatre artists, the Usual Suspects, which now totals over 600 members and whose work has shaped our very idea of what theatre can be. This group of writers, directors, designers and actors form the core of NYTW's artist development activities. As Artistic Director, Mr. Nicola has been instrumental in the development of many NYTW productions, including Jonathan Larson's Rent; Tony Kushner's Slavs! and Homebody/Kabul; Doug Wright's Quills; Claudia Shear's Blown Sideways Through Life and Dirty Blonde; Paul Rudnick's The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told and Valhalla; Martha Clarke's Vienna: Lusthaus; Will Power's The Seven and Fetch Clay, Make Man; Caryl Churchill's Mad Forest, Far Away, A Number and Love and Information; Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen's Aftermath; Rick Elice's Peter and the Starcatcher; Glen Hansard, Markéta Irglová and Enda Walsh's Once; David Bowie and Enda Walsh's Lazarus; Dael Orlandersmith's The Gimmick and Forever; Anaïs Mitchell's Hadestown; Heidi Schreck's What the Constitution Means to Me; Jeremy O. Harris's Slave Play; Sam Gold's production of Othello; and eight productions directed by Ivo van Hove. Before joining NYTW, Mr. Nicola spent seven years at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., first as a National Endowment for the Arts Directing Fellow and later as a Producing Associate. From 1975 to 1980, Mr. Nicola was a Casting Coordinator for the New York Shakespeare Festival where he developed his continuing, passionate commitment to new voices in the theatre. Mr. Nicola fueled his love of theatre during the early 1970s, when he was an Assistant Director at The Young Vic/National Theatre of Great Britain and an Assistant Stage Manager at London's Royal Court Theatre. Mr. Nicola is a graduate of Tufts University and is a recipient of Tufts University's P.T. Barnum Award, the Erwin Piscator Award, the 2015 Miss Lilly Award for supporting women in theater, and a 2019 Obie Award for Lifetime Achievement.

The NYTW Annual Gala raises nearly 10% of the Off-Broadway company's annual budget. Funds raised at this one-night-only event help NYTW to mount five world class productions each season and to share them with more than 50,000 audience members. Proceeds also support NYTW's Artist Workshop activities through which nearly 2,000 artists develop more than 80 projects each year and their Education Initiatives including Learning Workshop, Mind the Gap, and Public Programs that serve over 1,600 students of all ages.

Event tickets begin at $1,250 with tables starting at $12,500 and can be purchased at www.nytw.org or by calling 212-780-9037. The Gala will be chaired by Rachel Chavkin, Stephen Graham, Janet Harckham, Barbara Warner Howard and Heather Randall.

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