Signature Theatre, Ghostlight Project Team for WHO'S YOUR NEIGHBOR Volunteer Campaign Launch

Signature Theatre will co-host a free event with The Ghostlight Project to kick off The Ghostlight Project's Who's Your Neighbor campaign, a week-long initiative that encourages people to volunteer. The event will take place Monday, May 1 at The Pershing Square Signature Center (480 West 42nd Street between 9th and 10th Avenues).

The event will begin at 6PM in the Ford Foundation Studio Theatre with a panel discussion moderated by January LaVoy, featuring representatives from A Broaderway Foundation, Broadway Advocacy Coalition, CIDNY, Columbia University's Institute for Social Change, Foster Your Dream, Harlem Grown, and iMentor.

Attendees will learn more about the services these local organizations provide and find out what volunteer opportunities are available. Starting at 7PM after the panel discussion, attendees will have the chance to mingle with panelists and sign up to volunteer while enjoying light refreshments in the Center's lobby.

Panelists include: Ben Wexler, Head of Music Instruction at A Broaderway Foundation; Brittan Smith, Founder at Broadway Advocacy Coalition; Robb Nanus, Director of the Invitation at Broadway Advocacy Commission; Margi Trapani, Education & Training at CIDNY; Jess Powers, Communications and Education Director at CIDNY; Susan Strum, Founding Director of the Institute for Social Change at Columbia University, Corridors Project; Sue Wolf, Founder at Foster Your Dream; Vanessa Vincent, Director of Development at Harlem Grown; Jordan Calhoun, Volunteer Manager at iMentor; and Liz Hensler, Recruiter, NYC Volunteers at iMentor. Participants subject to change.

No RSVP required. Seating during the panel discussion is limited and will be accommodated on a first come first serve basis. All are welcome at the 7PM mixer.

Signature celebrates playwrights and gives them an artistic home. By producing multiple plays by each of its resident writers, Signature offers an in-depth look at these writers' bodies of work. In addition, Signature engages the writer in every aspect of the creative process.

Signature serves its mission through its permanent home at The Pershing Square Signature Center, a three-theatre facility on West 42nd Street designed by Frank Gehry Architects to host Signature's three distinct playwrights' residencies and foster a cultural community. At the Center, opened in January 2012, Signature continues its founding Playwrights-in-Residence model as Residency One, a first-of-its-kind, intensive exploration of a single writer's body of work. Residency Five was launched in 2012 to support multiple playwrights as they build bodies of work by guaranteeing each writer three productions over a five-year period. The Legacy Program, launched during Signature's 10th Anniversary Season, invites writers from both residencies back for productions of premiere or earlier plays. In 2014 Signature became the first New York City theatre to receive the Regional Theatre Tony Award.

The Pershing Square Signature Center provides a cultural venue that supports and encourages collaboration among artists throughout the space. In addition to its three intimate theatres, the Center features a Studio Theatre, a rehearsal studio, and a public café, bar and bookstore. Through the groundbreaking Signature Ticket Initiative: A Generation of Access, Signature has made an unprecedented commitment to making its productions affordable by underwriting the cost of initial run tickets, currently priced at $30, through 2031. Serving as a model for theatres and performing arts organizations across the country, the Initiative was founded in 2005 and is made possible by lead partner The Pershing Square Foundation. Additional support provided by the Howard Gilman Foundation, the Ford Foundation, Margot Adams, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs.

Founded in 1991 by James Houghton, Signature has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, María Irene Fornés, Athol Fugard, John Guare, A.R. Gurney, David Henry Hwang, Bill Irwin, Adrienne Kennedy, Tony Kushner, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, Naomi Wallace, August Wilson, Lanford Wilson, and a season celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company. Suzan-Lori Parks is the current Residency One playwright. Signature's current Residency Five playwrights are Annie Baker, Martha Clarke, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara Alegría Hudes, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenneth Lonergan and ReGina Taylor. In addition to the Regional Theatre Tony Award®, Signature's productions and its resident writers have been recognized with the Pulitzer Prize, Lucille Lortel Awards, Obie Awards, Drama Desk Awards, and AUDELCO Awards, among many other distinctions.

The Ghostlight Project was launched on January 19th, 2017, in the wake of a presidential inauguration foreboding dark times ahead. A ghost light connotes safety, and The Ghostlight Project emboldens the American theater to continue to be safe for disparate voices. The Ghostlight Project is rooted in the fundamental values of inclusion, participation, and compassion for everyone, regardless of race, class, religion, country of origin, immigration status, (dis)ability, age, gender identity, or sexual orientation.

The Ghostlight Project's mission is to expand the role of artist/citizen to include social action - supporting vulnerable communities and amplifying the voices of those that seek to be heard within the theater's walls; to be an engine and resource for theaters that seek to diversify their voices and engage actively with the community around them; and to purpose bravery in the theater - in the spaces, stories and people who tell them. For more information, visit theghostlightproject.com.

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