Ricardo Khan and the Performing Arts Alliance to be Honored at Theatre Communications Group 2021 Gala

Theatre Communications Group has announced the 2021 TCG 60th Anniversary Gala: Our Stories will be held virtually on Tuesday, May 18, 2021 at 7:30pm ET with an afterparty to follow. The Gala will honor Ricardo Khan and the Performing Arts Alliance, and both the Gala and virtual live afterparty will be hosted by drag superstar Shequida. Dr. Michelle Ramos, the board chair of PAA and Vision Keeper of Alternate ROOTS, will offer remarks on behalf of PAA. To learn more about the Our Stories Gala, and the programming it supports, click here or email Gala@tcg.org. Please email Corinna Schulenburg for press reservations. Purchase tickets here.

"There's no better way to celebrate TCG's 60th anniversary than by honoring Ricardo Khan's ongoing legacy and celebrating the advocacy breakthroughs made by the Performing Arts Alliance," said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. "From founding the Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company, to serving as president of TCG's board, Ricardo's visionary leadership has championed a generation of Black artistry and transformed our field. Over this past difficult year, the power of PAA's coalition-building has helped secure the largest federal investment in the arts since the WPA, and fought for accountability to anti-racism in our arts advocacy efforts. While this will be TCG's first virtual Gala, with Shequida as our host, we have no doubt it will capture the same celebratory energy and community spirit of our in-person events."

The Our Stories Gala will be held virtually on Zoom and take place between the two parts of TCG's Virtual Conference: Our Theatre Ecology. The Gala will feature special guest appearances and performances, with specifics to be announced soon. Tickets begin at $60 and include a Pay What You Will Option. Recent honorees at the Our Stories gala included David Henry Hwang, the National Black Theatre Festival, and Rick Miramontez

The Performing Arts Alliance is the national policy advocate, leadership forum, and learning network for America's nonprofit performing arts organizations, artists, and allies.

Dr. Michelle Ramos applies critical race theory and lived experiences to disrupt long standing white supremacist structures and systems. Her work focuses on shifting power to black, brown people through pushing boundaries, challenging the status quo and reflecting values of equity and justice in her day to day practice. Before leading Alternate ROOTS, she worked as Managing Director for the Vera Institute of Justice New Orleans and Program Officer for the Women's Foundation of California. She serves on the boards of Dance/USA and Performing Arts Alliance. A licensed attorney with a PhD in Cultural Psychology, she has significant organizing experience and has committed her career to serving communities and individuals adversely impacted by issues of race, gender, disability, class, socioeconomics, inequitable laws and systemic oppression. She has consulted for over 20 years nationally and internationally. She is the proud mother Broadway choreographer, Ellenore Scott, and since retiring from her own dance career, Ramos has continued to teach dance, has competed as an Ironman triathlete and now enjoys her southern New Orleans lifestyle.

Ricardo Khan is a director, artistic director, writer, educator and the Tony Award recipient for the history-making African American theatre company he co-founded, the Crossroads Theatre Company. For two decades Khan nurtured and guided the creation of well over one hundred new works that have forever enriched the cannon of the American theatre, while launching countless careers for writers, directors, designers, composers, managers and actors of color. Through Crossroads he worked with and provided a creative home and premiering stage for Ntozake Shange, August Wilson, George C. Wolfe, Anna Deveare Smith, Melba Moore, Leslie Lee, Denise Nicholas, Kathleen McGhee-Anderson, Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee, Mbongeni Ngema from South Africa, Rani Moorthy from Malaysia, Linda Nieves-Powell, former United States Poet Laureate Rita Dove and many more. As the originating producer of the groundbreaking "The Colored Museum" and "Spunk", both by George C. Wolfe, "Black Eagles" by Leslie Lee, "The Love Space Demands" by Ntozake Shange, "Sheila's Day" by Mbongeni Ngema, and "Two Ha Ha's and a Homeboy" written and starring Ruby Dee, Ossie Davis and Guy Davis, Khan established Crossroads as a major creative force on the American theatre scene. Khan was the originating producer of the production of "Paul Robeson" starring Avery Brooks, which went on from Crossroads to Broadway in 1988, and in 1998, the Tony Award-nominated Broadway musical, "It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues". And shortly after the passing of esteemed playwright August Wilson in 2005, Khan returned to Broadway to write, stage, and together with co-producer Woodie King, Jr., present the New York tribute to August Wilson in the Broadway theatre that now bears Mr. Wilson's name.

Mr. Khan's New York directing credits include works at the Negro Ensemble Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center, the Signature Theatre and the world famous Apollo Theatre. He was Associate Producer for a number of Crossroads productions at the New York Public Theatre with the late Joseph Papp, and in 2006 served as Associate Director for "Hot Feet!", a Broadway musical developed by Maurice Hines with legendary songwriter Maurice White and featuring the music of Earth, Wind and Fire. In 2009 he co-wrote "FLY" with Trey Ellis about the esteemed Tuskegee Airmen of World War II, which has been produced in numerous major cities across the country and most recently, for its Pasadena Playhouse engagement, received the prestigious NAACP award for Best Theatre Production in Los Angeles, 2016. "Satchel Paige and the Kansas City Swing" followed that, a play inspired by myths and stories from Negro Leagues baseball and American jazz. Khan's latest projects, "Freedom Rider" and "Letters From Freedom Summer", will both receive world premiere productions at the Crossroads Theatre Company in 2021 and 2022. And of his most proud achievements recently, Ricardo Khan was the Producer and Director of the highly acclaimed opening night gala ceremonies for the Smithsonian's new National Museum of African American History and Culture in Washington, DC on September 24, 2016, with performers and creatives that included Yolanda Adams, Daniel Beaty, Dave Chappelle and Frederic Yonnet, Ava DuVernay, Savion Glover, Oprah Winfrey and Stevie Wonder.

Ricardo Khan holds an MFA in both acting and directing from Mason Gross School of the Arts, and an Honorary PhD from Rutgers University where he is also in the University's Hall of Distinguished Alumni. He served as President of the Board of Theatre Communications Group, the national organization of America's professional theatres, from 1995 to 1998, and is proud to have been named Artistic Director Emeritus at his celebrated Crossroads Theatre Company.

Shequida is a very witty, multi lingual, Jamaican born, Juilliard trained performer. She has performed in Hong Kong, Berlin, Sydney, Paris, Norway, Tel Aviv, Amsterdam to name a few. She played the first ever recurring drag character, Wendi Mercury on the ABC Soap Opera, One life to Live and performed on America's Got Talent. She also wrote and starred in two very successful, award winning Off-Broadway shows. She is currently hosting and performing her weekly shows in NYC.

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