Stew, Nancy Giles, Ted Keegan & More Set for SUPPER AT THE SALON at Dixon Place, 9/15

Dixon Place, Ellie Covan, founder and artistic director, proudly announces SUPPER AT THE SALON, a special evening of dinner and entertainment which will take place on the mainstage theater at Dixon Place on Monday, September 15th, with cocktails beginning in the lounge at 6:30 PM. The evening will include performances by Stew (Passing Strange), Nancy Giles ("CBS Sunday Morning"), Broadway's Ted Keegan (Phantom of the Opera, Cyrano, Camelot), award-winning aerial troupe LAVA, and more to be announced, and will be hosted by Bindlestiff Family Cirkus founder, Keith Nelson. Also that evening, four honorees will receive the iconic Dixon Place mini chair award for their contributions to the arts and support of Dixon Place: award winning actor-writer Peggy Shaw; The Jerome Foundation, celebrating its 50th Anniversary; Dixon Place Board member Eric Jensen, and theater supporter Yoshiko Kakuga.

Stew is the writer and co-composer of the 2008 Tony award-winning musical Passing Strange, which ran at Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Public Theater and The Belasco Theater (2006/2007/2008). He is a two-time Obie winner ('Best New Theater Piece' and, as a member of the PS acting family, 'Best Ensemble') and a four-time Tony nominee. Stew leads, along with his collaborator Heidi Rodewald, two critically acclaimed bands: The Negro Problem and Stew. Additional works include Post Minstrel Syndrome (TNP 1997), Joys and Concerns (TNP 1999), Guest Host (S 2000), The Naked Dutch Painter (S 2002), Welcome Black (TNP 2002), Something Deeper Than These Changes (S 2003) and the cast album of Passing Strange (2008), but he will ultimately be remembered for composing "Gary Come Home" for "SpongeBob SquarePants." Visit http://www.stewsongs.com/.

Ted Keegan starred in the National Tour of The Phantom of the Opera following a successful run in the Broadway Company. Ted has performed the role in over 24 States across the country. He has had the great pleasure of appearing as The Phantom on television, performing live from Rockefeller Center for the "Today Show" on NBC, and has the distinction of being the actor who has sung the role in front of the largest audience ever, when he made a spectacular flying entrance from the dome of Madison Square Garden singing "The Phantom of the Opera" during the half-time show of the NBA All-Star Game. Ted was deeply involved in the George Gershwin Centennial Celebration. He performed unpublished Gershwin at the opening of the George and Ira Gershwin Room at the National Archives in Washington, DC, which The New York Times reviewed as one of the ten best musical events of the year. Ted has also sung Gershwin with Audra McDonald in New York and with Marin Mazzie at the opening of the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. He appeared in the Frank Loesser Celebration at Symphony Space in New York City and was a soloist at Lincoln Center's Avery Fisher Hall, singing Unheard Bernstein. Ted has performed as a soloist with the Detroit, Syracuse, Charleston WV, Portland, Pittsburgh, Ottawa, Omaha, Baltimore, Las Vegas and Fort Worth orchestras, the Edmonton Symphonies and the Dayton Philharmonic, as well as the National Symphony at the Kennedy Center. Ted made his Broadway debut in the highly acclaimed revival of Sweeney Todd, where he was seen as Anthony. Other Broadway and National Tour credits include Cyrano: The Musical, Mordred in Camelot with Robert Goulet, Freddy in My Fair Lady, Herman in The Most Happy Fella, Constantine in Hollywood/Ukraine and another Phantom too - in the European Tour of the Kopit/Yeston version.

Nancy Giles has been a contributor to the Peabody Award winning "CBS News Sunday Morning" for 10 years, and was honored with 2 "Gracie" awards from the Alliance of Women in Media for her work on "Sunday." She was also part of the ensemble cast of the critically acclaimed TV series "China Beach;" was the announcer and co-host of "Fox After Breakfast;" and her film work includes Joshua, Superheroes, Lover Boy, True Crime, Working Girl, Big, and the documentary Before the Music Dies. Off-Broadway: Love, Loss, and What I Wore, Urban Blight at Manhattan Theatre Club, a Theatre World Award winner for Mayor, toured with Chicago's Second City. Nancy's written and performed the solo pieces Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism and Notes of a Negro Neurotic (both developed with and directed by Ellie Covan at Dixon Place), and most recently Things My Afro Taught Me (2009 Summer Shorts at 59E59).

LAVA is a troupe of artists who develop and perform artistic works that combine dance, theater and acrobatics. Founded in 2000 by Sarah East Johnson, LAVA develops original works that integrate athletic physicality, intellectual rigor, social commentary, and relationship exploration. LAVA was awarded an OBIE and a Bessie Award for their show Lava Love, in 2000. In addition to creating and performing original theatrical productions, the troupe offers classes in their unique form of acrobatics and dance at their Brooklyn Studio. LAVA has performed in New York City at P.S. 122, The Kitchen, The Flea Theater, Dance Theater Workshop, The Joyce Theater, Movement Research at Judson Church, The New Victory Theater, Celebrate Brooklyn, Symphony Space, and Dixon Place. The troupe has received funding from the Jerome Foundation, New York State Council on the Arts, Brooklyn Arts Council, Bloomberg LP, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the Puffin Foundation, the Heathcote Foundation, the Greater Houston Community Foundation, Bossak Heilbron Charitable Trust, Joyce Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and hundreds of individuals. Visit: http://www.lavabrooklyn.org/.

Keith Nelson is the Co-founder and Executive Director of the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus. Born in Massachusetts, Keith was raised in North Carolina, where he played tuba in marching band, achieved Eagle Scout, taught archery, and toured with the Grateful Dead. In 1988, Nelson enrolled at Hampshire College, where he learned to eat fire and juggle. After graduation Keith moved to New York City to work with Autonomedia, a Brooklyn-based small press, and became the in-house fire-eater at the Blue Angel Cabaret. So began a career as a performer. That same year, he met Stephanie Monseu, and together they began the Bindlestiff Family Cirkus, a national touring non-profit variety arts troupe. Since then, Nelson and Monseu have devoted their lives to the growth of Bindlestiff and keeping live variety entertainment on the American stage. Nelson has swallowed swords at Avery Fischer Hall, spun six-guns at the Walter Reade, made balloon sculptures at the Apollo, performed for Cirque du Soleil productions, and toured with the World of Wonders, one of the last sideshows on the carnival circuit. Keith has toured nationally and abroad, performing for-and teaching-an increasingly diverse audience. He has also been featured on Late Night with David Letterman, the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, OZ (season one), and many other TV shows. For the past three years, Keith has been producing, directing and hosting Bindlestiff Open Stage Variety Show (NYC's Circus Open Mic night) at Dixon Place. Visit: http://www.bindlestiff.org.

Peggy Shaw is an actor, writer and producer. She co-founded the Split Britches Theater Company with Lois Weaver and the WOW Café Theatre in New York City. Peggy has also been a collaborator, writer, and performer with Spiderwoman Theater and Hot Peaches Theater. She played Billy Tipton in the American Place production of Carson Kreitzer's The Slow Drag. Recently, Split Britches were a part of Staging Human Rights, where they worked in prisons in Rio de Janeiro and England prior to being Artists in Residence at the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (NYU). They were associate artists on the Clod Ensembles' Performing Medicine project, which created workshops on gender and difference for medical students and health professionals. As part of this project Peggy created a new piece, in collaboration with The Clod Ensemble, MUST: The Inside Story, poetically examining the inside of her aging queer body, which she performed and toured in lecture and anatomy theaters. Following this work, Split Britches received a commissioning grant from Dixon Place to perform their new piece Lost Lounge in New York City, prior to an artist residency at the University of Richmond, Virginia. For her work with the company, Peggy has received 3 OBIE Awards for performances in Dress Suits To Hire, Belle Reprieve, and Menopausal Gentleman. She has also won the New York Foundation for the Arts Award for Emerging Forms in 1988, 1995, 1999, and 2005; the 1995 Anderson Foundation Stonewall Award for "excellence in making the world a better place for gays and lesbians;" and a 2003 Otto Rene Castillo Award for Political Theatre. The Foundation for Contemporary Performance recently awarded Peggy with Theatre Performer of the Year. Michigan Press has published a new book on Peggy, edited by Jill Dolan, which includes the scripts for her three solo shows You're Just Like My Father, Menopausal Gentleman and To My Chagrin, and will also include the script MUST: The Inside Story. Peggy is a freelance teacher of writing and performance around the world and has been awarded the PS122 Ethyl Eichelberger award for 2011.

The Jerome Foundation, celebrating its 50th anniversary and founded by? artist and philanthropist Jerome Hill (1905-1972), seeks to contribute to a dynamic and evolving culture by supporting the creation, development, and production of new works by emerging artists. The Foundation makes grants to not-for-profit arts organizations and artists in Minnesota and New York City?, and as supported Dixon Place for over 20 years.?

Yoshiko Kasuga was born in a small industrial town near Tokyo, Japan. In the 70s, she followed an innovative underground theater called Situation Theater (a.k.a. Red Tent) and experienced magical moments that have stayed with her forever. After moving to New York in late 80s, she discovered the same spirit and creativity in Dixon Place. She is delighted and honored to be considered as a small part of DP, the incubator of such magical moments.

Eric Jensen is a Dixon Place board member for over 20 years. He served as the Aviation Manager of Newark, Kennedy and LaGuardia for 30 years. Eric is a native of the Midwest and has lived in NYC for 40 years.

Dixon Place, an incubator for performing and literary artists since 1986, is a non-profit organization committed to supporting the creative process by presenting original works of dance, theater, music, puppetry, literature, performance and visual art at all stages of development. Presenting over 700 artists each year, this local haven inspires and encourages diverse artists of all stripes and callings to take risks and push personal and professional limits. Dixon Place's foremost priorities are to serve as a safety net for artists, and to provide vivid experiences for audiences. Many artists, such as Deb Margolin, Blue Man Group, John Leguizamo, Lisa Kron, David Cale, Penny Arcade, and Reno began their careers at Dixon Place. In addition to emerging artists, Dixon Place has also been privileged to present evenings of new and experimental work by more established artists, such as -- Theater/Performance: Justin Vivian Bond, Taylor Mac, Lily Tomlin, Wallace Shawn, Craig Lucas, BD Wong, John Fleck, Kate Bornstein, Ethyl Eichelberger, Holly Hughes, Karen Finley, Kate Clinton, Peggy Shaw, Alan Cumming, Big Art Group; Literary: A.M. Homes, Rick Moody, and Oscar Huelos; Dance: Mark Dendy, Jane Comfort, Douglas Dunn, and Yoshiko Chuma; Music: Vernon Reid, Rodney Crowell, Diamanda Galas, Martha Wainwright, Loudon Wainwright, Lucy Wainwright Roche, Suzzy Roche, Maggie Roche, Rodney Crowell, Cyndi Lauper, and They Might Be Giants.

In 1989, Ellie Covan, founding director, was a recipient of a Bessie, a New York Dance and Performance Award, for her service to the community; and Dixon Place received Village Voice Obie Grant Awards in 1990 and 1999. Additionally, in 1999, Dixon Place was awarded an Edwin Booth Award for Excellence in Theater.

Dixon Place is located at 161A Chrystie Street (between Rivington & Delancey), New York City 10002-2885.

Individual tickets for SUPPER AT THE SALON are priced $200 - $500, and are now on sale by calling 212.219.0736.

To post a comment, you must register and login.