The New Group Honors Edie Falco And Serge Nivelle At Annual Gala

Off-Broadway's The New Group will honor Edie Falco and Serge Nivelle at the company's Annual Gala on Monday, March 11 at Tribeca Rooftop (2 Desbrosses Street between Hudson & Greenwich). The event will feature a performance by Brandon Victor Dixon and appearances by Peter Dinklage, Warren Leight, Erica Schmidt and Tarik Trotter. The evening, 6:00-10:00pm, includes cocktails, dinner and live auctions.

For tickets and further information about The New Group 2019 Gala, please visit TheNewGroup.org. An online auction, filled with an array of exciting items and one-of-a-kind experiences, is currently available at charitybuzz.com/support/NewGroup.

The New Group's Annual Gala is the organization's largest fundraising event of the year. Gala contributions benefit all of The New Group's programs including its contemporary staged productions; education programs like Scene 1, free for all New York City public high school students; and New Group/New Works, its new play and musical development program.

Founded in 2005, The Michael Mendelson Award for Outstanding Commitment to Theater recognizes individuals who show outstanding commitment to the theatrical community. Past recipients include Chloë Sevigny and Kumiko Yoshii; Sutton Foster and Robert J. Rosenberg; Ed Harris & Amy Madigan and Ellen Roth; Beth Henley and Geoff Rich; Peter Alkalay and Jonathan Marc Sherman; David Rabe and Nancy Manocherian; Wallace Shawn and Fred Wistow; Robyn Goodman and Ethan Hawke; Ruth and Stephen Hendel; Wendy Ettinger and Derek McLane. With the 2019 Mimi and Michael Mendelson Award for Outstanding Commitment to Theater, The New Group proudly celebrates recipients Edie Falco and Serge Nivelle.

Edie Falco is best known for her roles as Diane Whittlesey on the HBO series Oz, Carmela Soprano on The Sopranos, and in the title role of Showtime's Nurse Jackie. For her television work she has received multiple Emmy, Golden Globe and SAG Awards, as well as the American Film Institute's Award for Female Television Actor of the Year. Falco made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning play Sideman after appearing in its original Off-Broadway production. For her performance, she received a Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award nomination. She went on to make her London stage debut in the West End premiere of Sideman, and thereafter opened the London production of The Vagina Monologues. Other Broadway credits include Frankie And Johnny In The Claire De Lune, 'Night Mother, and The House of Blue Leaves (Tony Award Nomination). Off-Broadway she has appeared in The Madrid, This Wide Night and The True.

For her work in the feature film Cost of Living, Falco received the American Film Institute's Best Actress Award. Her performance in Laws of Gravity earned her an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Female Lead Actor, and she received the Los Angeles Film Critics Association and New York Film Critics Online Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in John Sayles' Sunshine State. Other film work includes A Price Above Rubies, Landline, Hurricane, The Funeral, The Addiction, Bullets Over Broadway, Freedomland, The Land of Steady Habits, Random Hearts and Judy Berlin.

Serge Nivelle (Chairman, Board of Directors for The New Group): Before being lured into the London mod fashion scene of the early 70's where he established his career as a fashion photographer, Serge Nivelle had been testing the waters of film and theatre. First as an actor in New York City's avant-garde world of The Open Theatre and La Mama, and then as Assistant Director to James Ivory and Ismail Merchant. Once photography became his main "focus", Serge established a TriBeCa studio and built a career shooting for clients that have included a significant cross-section of America's major fashion retailers. From 1997 to 2000 Serge produced and directed the Public Television show "Cinema," a weekly film commentary and review program that delved deeply into the world-wide film industry. Serge was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors for The New Group in June 2012.

The New Group (Scott Elliott, 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's 2018-2019 season launched with Sharr White's The True, directed by Scott Elliott, with Austin Cauldwell, Edie Falco, Glenn Fitzgerald, Michael McKean, John Pankow, Peter Scolari and Tracy Shayne, which enjoyed an extended engagement through October 28; and the sold-out run of Clueless, The Musical, by Amy Heckerling, with choreography by Kelly Devine, directed by Kristin Hanggi (November 20 - January 12). The company is currently represented Off-Broadway by Jeremy O. Harris' "Daddy," a co-production with Vineyard Theatre, directed by Danya Taymor (now through March 31).

Concluding the season will be Happy Talk by Jesse Eisenberg, directed by Scott Elliott featuring Marin Ireland and Susan Sarandon. Last season featured the world premiere of Seth Zvi Rosenfeld's Downtown Race Riot, directed by Scott Elliott; an extended run of Jerry Springer - The Opera, featuring music by Richard Thomas and book & additional lyrics by Stewart Lee and Richard Thomas and choreography by Chris Bailey, directed by John Rando, which received four Lucille Lortel Award nominations including Outstanding Musical and a Lucille Lortel Award for Tiffany Mann, as Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical; as well as an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical; the New York premiere of David Rabe's Good for Otto, also extended, directed by Scott Elliott; and the world premiere of Lily Thorne's Peace for Mary Frances, directed by Lila Neugebauer.

Other production highlights include the hit revival of Sweet Charity, which received Drama Desk, Drama League and Lucille Lortel Award nominations for Outstanding Revival; the U.S. premiere of Wallace Shawn's Evening at the Talk House; the revival of Sam Shepard's Buried Child and the world premiere of Jesse Eisenberg's The Spoils, which both enjoyed critically-acclaimed productions at Trafalagar Studios in London's West End directed by Scott Elliott, after successful runs of Off-Broadway. The company has collaborated with writers Thomas Bradshaw (Burning, Intimacy), Ayub Khan Din (East is East, Rafta, Rafta..., Bunty Berman Presents...), Mike Leigh (Ecstasy, Smelling a Rat, Abigail's Party, Two Thousand Years), Kenneth Lonergan (This is Our Youth, The Starry Messenger), David Rabe (Hurlyburly, An Early History of Fire, Sticks and Bones, Good for Otto); Wallace Shawn (Aunt Dan and Lemon, The Fever, Marie and Bruce) and more. The company has received more than 100 awards and nominations for excellence. The New Group is a recipient of the 2004 Tony Award for Best Musical (Avenue Q). In 2011, The Kid received five Drama Desk nominations and the Outer Critics Award for Outstanding New Off-Broadway Musical. That year, The New Group and Scott Elliott were honored with a Drama Desk Special Award "for presenting contemporary new voices, and for uncompromisingly raw and powerful productions." For more, please visit TheNewGroup.org.

To post a comment, you must register and login.