Photos: Clive Davis and More Turn Out for The Acting Company's 50th Anniversary Gala

The Acting Company's 50th Anniversary Gala celebrated the company's impact across America and new artistic vision for the future on Monday, June 13, 2022 at Capitale in New York City.

The Acting Company honored Peter Darrow with The Joan M. Warburg Award and formally introduced their upcoming season under the new direction of Kent Gash, The Acting Company's new Artistic Director. The Acting Company's 2022-23 touring and New York season will perform in 21 states beginning with a world premiere adaptation of Alexandré Dumas' The Three Musketeers by Kirsten Childs under the direction of Gash. The troupe will also perform William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in repertory, directed by Leah C. Gardiner.

At this event, alumni and proud supporters of The Acting Company came together to celebrate 50 years of iconic classical theatre productions. Esteemed alumni with decorated careers in the acting world such as Duane Boutté, Jimonn Cole, Keith David, Stephen DeRosa, Ezra Knight, JD Mollison, Mary Lou Rosato, Roslyn Ruff, Derek Smith, and Henry Stram performed for actors and actresses alike as well as friends, family, and advocates for The Acting Company. They were introduced by Jack O'Brien and directed by former Artistic Director Ian Belknap. Funds were raised through a silent and live auction to go towards professional productions and education programs, in-school residencies, and teacher training workshops to thousands of audience members and students in underserved communities and schools each year. Over 5,000 students in New York City and across the country benefit from The Acting Compnay's in-school residencies and educator workshops every year. Annually over 30,000 audience members see an Acting Company production across the country who otherwise lack access to professional classical theatre.

Darrow is a Senior Counsel at the international law firm Cleary Gottlieb, Steen and Hamilton. He is a 1964 graduate, magna cum laude, of Harvard College and a 1967 graduate of the University of Chicago Law School where he was a member of The Law Review. Over the last 30 years, he has served in several not-for-profit leadership positions in the fields of public media, education, and the performing arts. His prior board service includes terms chairing the boards of New York Public Radio, Public Radio International, and the visiting committee of The University of Chicago's School of Social Work, as well as serving as Board President of the Saint Ann's School. Mr. Darrow is currently Chair of the Board of Trustees of The CUNY Graduate Center Foundation, Vice Chair of the Ronald O. Perelman Performing Arts Center at the World Trade Center, and a Trustee of BRIC Community Media in Brooklyn.

Previous Warburg Award recipients include Harry Belafonte, Tom Viola, Abigail Disney, Gerald Schoenfeld, Phyllis Newman, Barbara Fleischman, the Honorable Thomas Kean, Barbaralee Diamonstein-Spielvogel and Ambassador Carl Spielvogel, among others.

Event co-chairs include Claudia Held, Timothy K. Saunders Jr., and Tejal P. Wadhwani. Alumni co-chairs include Harriet Harris, Ezra Knight, and Angela Pierce. The gala committee includes Sarah Brown, J. Barclay Collins II, Kevin Conroy, Nanci Czaja, Peter Darrow, Jodi Della Femina, John N. Gilbert, Carson Quarngesser Gleberman, Douglas Gray, Harriet Harris, Jessie Kelly, Ezra Knight, Dakin Matthews, Richard J. Reilly Jr., Louis Rodriguez, Beth Rosenthal, Jean-Luc Sinniger, Alice Stock, Lori-Ann Wynter, Earl D. Weiner and Betsy Eyring Young.

Under the new leadership of Artistic Director Kent Gash and Managing Director Erik Schroeder, The Acting Company brings professional productions and education programs, in-school residencies, and teacher training workshops to thousands of audience members and students in underserved communities and schools each year. Founded by John Houseman and Margot Harley, the company seeks to develop emerging actors and build enthusiastic, knowledgeable audiences for the theater in towns across the United States. The Acting Company launched the careers of nearly 500 actors, including Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, Mary Lou Rosato, Keith David, Rainn Wilson, Lorraine Toussaint, Frances Conroy, Harriet Harris, Lisa Banes, Jeffrey Wright, Hamish Linklater, Jesse L. Martin, Roslyn Ruff, Jimonn Cole and Kelley Curran.

Among many accolades, The Acting Company received the 2003 Tony Award for Excellence in the Theater, and recently won the 2019 Audelco Award for Best Play for its production of Nambi E. Kelley's Native Son directed by Seret Scott.

Since 1972, The Acting Company has performed for over 4 million people in 48 States, 10 foreign countries, on and Off-Broadway, and at leading resident theaters including The Guthrie and The Kennedy Center. New works commissioned by the company include plays by William Finn, Marcus Gardley, Rebecca Gilman, John Guare, Beth Henley, Tony Kushner, Lynn Nottage, Meg Miroshnik, Ntozake Shange, Maria Irene Fornés, Spalding Gray, Marsha Norman, Charles Smith, Samm-Art Williams, and Wendy Wasserstein.

Over 5,000 students in New York City and across the country benefit from The Acting Compnay's in-school residencies and educator workshops every year. Annually over 30,000 audience members see an Acting Company production across the country who otherwise lack access to professional classical theatre. The Acting Company's 2022-23 touring and New York season will perform in 21 states beginning with a world premiere adaptation of Alexandré Dumas' The Three Musketeers by Kirsten Childs under the direction of Gash. The troupe will also perform William Shakespeare's Romeo & Juliet in repertory, directed by Leah C. Gardiner.

www.theactingcompany.org

Photo Credit: Travis Hackett

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