The New Group Announces Spring 2022 Celebration DIONYSIA

A Spring Celebration "Dionysia," benefiting The New Group, is set to take place Monday, June 6 from 6:00-9:30pm at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street). This event will honor playwright Donja R. Love and New Group Board Members Jana Shea and Anita Waxman with the Mimi and Michael Mendelson Award for Outstanding Commitment to Theater.

Held in the spirit of the week-long theatrical festival founded by the ancient Greeks after a plague, Dionysia celebrates the resilience, the creativity, and the community in our lives. Proceeds from the event will benefit The New Group's education programs for middle and high school, college, and adult students; and the theater's ongoing development of new plays, musicals and digital projects. The evening will include cocktails and food, immersive and surprise performances, and secret password experiences.

Dionysia will feature performances by Lillias White and additional cast members from The New Group's most recent musical Black No More, and The Sound of (Black) Music performed by Mwenso and the Shakes. The evening's performances are directed by The New Group's Director of Artistic Projects, Shariffa Chelimo Ali, with movement direction and choreography by Antonio Brown and featuring choreography by Bill T. Jones.

Honoree Donja R. Love is a writer, most recently represented by the digital series i need space produced by The New Group Off Stage, currently available to stream on Broadstream (broad.stream). His play one in two had a world premiere production during The New Group's 2019-20 Season. New Group Board Member Jana Shea is a Tony Award-winning theater producer and a founder of Seaview Productions and co-founder of Broadstream. New Group Board Member Anita Waxman is a Tony Award-winning theater producer and the founder of Ceras Health and Alexis Productions.

Tickets to Dionysia start at $1,000 and are available at thenewgroup.org/event/gala-2022. For additional information visit thenewgroup.org or contact Emily Bookwalter, Director of External Affairs at emily@thenewgroup.org, or 212.244.3380 ext. 308.

The 2022 Dionysia Celebration Committee includes: Serge Nivelle (Chair), Eric Becker, Edie Falco, Robin Lathrop, Shara Mendelson, Abby Merrill, Chloë Sevigny and Michael Shannon.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, Founding Artistic Director; Adam Bernstein, Executive Director) is an award-winning, artist-driven company with a commitment to developing and producing powerful, contemporary theater. The New Group Off Stage division celebrates work at the intersection of art, multimedia, and social engagement by showcasing some of today's most compelling storytellers through web series, feature films, audio plays and more. The New Group also operates a variety of theater education programs that provide opportunities for artistically inclined middle and high school, college, and adult students. On stage, the company was most recently represented by the world premiere production of Black No More, a musical with Book by John Ridley; Lyrics by Tariq "Black Thought" Trotter; Music by Tariq Trotter, Anthony Tidd, James Poyser and Daryl Waters; Choreography by Bill T. Jones; and Direction by Scott Elliott. thenewgroup.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.