Magic Theatre's 2020 Gala To Honor Loretta Greco And Kary Schulman

Magic Theatre (Loretta Greco, Artistic Director and Kevin Nelson, Interim Managing Director) announced today that the Company's 2020 Gala Fundraiser, Magic Masquerade: Spring Forward, will be held at Gallery 308 (Fort Mason Center, Landmark Building A, 2 Marina Blvd, San Francisco, CA 94123) on Thursday, March 19, 2020 at 6:00 p.m.

The recipients of Magic Theatre's 2020 Annual Sam Shepard Legacy Award will be Magic Theatre's Artistic Director Loretta Greco and Kary Schulman, the longtime former director of Grants for the Arts - the San Francisco agency responsible for distributing the city's hotel tax funds to various organizations and nonprofits. 2020's Gala, Magic Masquerade: Spring Forward, celebrates the first day of spring while looking back at the last dozen years of visionary playwrights and breathtaking new work, as Magic prepares to spring forward to new adventures. Guests will enjoy an enchanting night of art, masked cocktail attire, drinks, dancing featuring DJ Wonway Posibul, and a delicious three-course meal with an unforgettable view of the bay!

Sean San José, Campo Santo member who has worked with Greco on numerous occasions during her tenure Magic Theatre, describes Greco's impact on the theatre and the community: "What Magic has achieved through Greco's vision, heart, and perseverance - is to create home where there was none. From day one with Loretta-it was about meeting who is here; who is amazing and has to be there; and how to get as many of US in there as she could. The mission was exceeded by virtue of her incredible gift at working with great artists only; her commitment to create new work for now; her belief in nurturing and navigating community here; and her allegiance to the legacy of Magic's history of loving and supporting writers and their new works."

The 2020 Gala Committee Co-Chairs are Maureen Sullivan and Meagan Levitan; the Committee is comprised of Alan Stewart, Sarah Nina Hayon, Ciera Eis, Leigh Wolf, Stephanie Holmes, Kathryn Kersey, Larry Goldfarb, Katrina Wong, Karen Donovan, and John Marx. The 2020 Honorary Gala Committee includes Missy Kirchner, Ed Harris, Jim & Cecilia Herbert, Judy Sheldon, Karen Rose, Peggy Knickerbocker, Joshua Harmon, Jessica Hagedorn, Nilo Cruz, Emily Mann, Sean San José, Richard Montoya, Taylor Mac, John Kolvenbach, Carl Lumbly, and Octavio Solis.

From 1980 until 2019 Kary Schulman was the Director of Grants for the Arts, the municipal funding agency for San Francisco's arts community, granting over $300 million dollars to hundreds of arts organizations and cultural projects ranging from ethnic neighborhood celebrations to the San Francisco Opera, Symphony and Ballet. During her tenure Grants for the Arts was widely regarded as one of the most generous and progressive city arts funders in the United States. Ms. Schulman has served on numerous panels and advisory committees for such agencies as the National Endowment for the Arts, California Arts Council, The Non-Profit Management Program of the University of San Francisco, Golden Gate University, the National Council on Foundations, and the Seattle Art Commission. Among her awards and honors are the City of San Francisco's Managerial Excellence Award, the SPUR Public Managerial Efficiency Award, the Silver Cable Car Award from San Francisco Travel, and the Business Arts Council Trustee's Award.

Loretta Greco (Magic Artistic Director) is celebrating her twelfth and final season as Magic Theatre's sixth Artistic Director. Ms. Greco is proud to have developed, premiered, and championed the country's most innovating and cutting-edge writers, including Taylor Mac, Mfoniso Udofia, Lloyd Suh, Luis Alfaro, John Kolvenbach, Jessica Hagedorn, Linda McLean, Han Ong, and Octavio Solis. Under her watch, twenty of the twenty-six world premieres produced here have gone on to have between two and seventy-one productions each throughout the country and beyond. Magic directing credits include the world premieres of Barbara Hammond's Eva Trilogy, Ong's Grandeur, Hagedorn's Gangster of Love, Sharr White's Annapurna, and Octavio Solis' Se Llama Cristina. She has also reimagined West Coast premieres such as Sharr White's The Other Place, Liz Duffy Adams' Or,, and Theresa Rebeck's Mauritius, among many others.

At Magic, Greco is grateful for her longstanding collaborations with playwrights Sam Shepard, Luis Alfaro, and Taylor Mac. Greco worked closely with Shepard on Magic's five-year Bay Area Sheparding America series and directed the critically-acclaimed legacy revivals of Buried Child and Fool for Love. She developed and directed the world premieres of Alfaro's Oedipus el Rey, Bruja, and This Golden State: Delano. She produced Taylor Mac's five-hour The Lily's Revenge, the world premiere of Hir, and Associate Produced the West Coast premiere (with Curran, Pomegranate Arts, and Stanford Live) A 24-Decade History of Popular Music. She has commissioned and will direct Mac's upcoming premiere, Calamity Joy for 2021.

Her New York directing credits include the premieres of: runboyrun and A Park in Our House at New York Theatre Workshop; The Story, Lackawanna Blues, and Two Sisters and a Piano at The Public Theater; Meshugah at Naked Angels: Mercy at The Vineyard; Under a Western Sky at INTAR; and Victoria Martin Math Team Queen, Touch, and Gum at Women's Project. Her regional directing credits include: Sweat, The Realistic Joneses, Speed-the-Plow, and Blackbird at American Conservatory Theater; Life is a Dream at California Shakespeare; Romeo and Juliet and Stop Kiss at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; and productions for McCarter Theatre, South Coast Repertory, Long Wharf, La Jolla Playhouse, Intiman Theatre, Williamstown, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Repertory Theatre of St Louis, Cincinnati Playhouse, and Playmakers Rep, among many others. Ms. Greco directed the National Tour of Emily Mann's Having Our Say, as well as the international premiere at the Market Theatre in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Off stage, Ms. Greco is dedicated to the Bay Area community and developing the next generation of theater leaders through Making Magic: Arts and Community, which includes a decade-long robust cross-curricular partnership with Oakland's Laney College, a season-long competitive professional apprenticeship program now in its twelfth year, and multi-generational residencies throughout San Francisco's underserved Tenderloin neighborhood focusing on legacy, literacy, and performance, now in its third year. Free Magic matinee performances can be seen at both Laney College and the Tenderloin Museum. With the generosity of developer Group i, Ms. Greco has acquired an additional flexible theater space for Magic to further serve the community due to open as part of 950-974 Market in July 2021.

Prior to her Magic post, Greco served as Producing Artistic Director of New York's The Women's Project, where she was proud to help launch the careers of Liesl Tommy, Anne Kauffman, Lisa D'Amour, and Annie Dorsen, and as the Associate Director/Resident Producer at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton. She received her MFA from Catholic University, her BA from Loyola University, New Orleans. She is the recipient of Bay Area Critic's Association Awards, two Drama League Fellowships, a Princess Grace Award, a Sundance/Luma Director's fellowship, and the 2018 Zelda Fichandler Award.

Individual tickets to the Gala are available now for $600.00, with Gold Tier Tables (including 10 tickets with Premier seating) available for $5,000.00 and VIP Tier Tables (9 tickets with VIP seating, with an Artist at your table) are available for $10,000.00. Tickets and tables may be purchased online at magictheatre.org/engage/magic-gala, by calling 415-441-8822, or by emailing Ciera Eis at cierae@magictheatre.org.

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