Annual Benefit At Arena Stage To Take Place 3/16

The Annual Benefit at Arena Stage is a fun evening that raises over one-third of the funds necessary to run Arena's Community Engagement programs, which educate, excite and enrich the lives of over 20,000 students from across the region. This year's event on Monday, March 16, 2009 at Arena Stage in Crystal City highlights Arena's temporary home in the Crystal City neighborhood of Arlington, VA, with co-chairs Angela Fox, President/CEO, Crystal City Business Improvement District and Mitchell N. Schear, President, Vornado/Charles E. Smith.

This year's benefit is sponsored by Clark Construction Group, LLC; Vornado/Charles E. Smith; Crystal City Business Improvement District; ExxonMobil; Geico; and PEPCO.

The evening will begin with a Taste of Crystal City dinner reception and live auction at 2121 Crystal Drive, 8th Floor. Signature items that will be offered in a live auction format include a springtime New York getaway weekend including a two-night hotel stay, tickets to Wicked and lunch at the Bryant Park Grill with Project Runway's Tim Gunn; exclusive use of box seats to a Washington Nationals game; and more.

At the conclusion of the dinner reception and live auction, guests will move to the Arena Stage theater to enjoy Arena Stage in Oz, an original musical revue written and directed by Arena artist Michael Bobbitt. Inspired by The Wizard of Oz and The Wiz, the show includes Arena Stage performers Alice Ripley (Next to Normal); E'Faye Butler, Marva Hicks and Natasha Yvette Williams from this spring's Crowns; Diego Pietro (Cabaret, Damn Yankees) and Brad Oscar (The Mystery of Irma Vep, Cabaret). The show is emceed by The Honorable William T. Newman, Jr. Joining the all-star performers are political notables Councilmember Jack Evans, Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr., Representative Jim Moran, Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton and Councilmember Tommy Wells.

Before the show commences, two awards will be given to deserving members of the Arena Stage and D.C.-area arts community, The American Voice Award and The American Artist Award.

The American Voice Award, established to honor individuals recognized as both advocates for the arts and leaders who articulate all that is passionate and profound in the American spirit, will be presented to outgoing Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, Dana Gioia. Past recipients include Representative Bob Matsui (D-CA), Senator Daniel Inouye (D-HI), Delegate Eleanor Holmes Norton (D-DC), and Representatives Tom Davis (R-VA) and Jim Moran (D-VA).

The American Artist Award honors an artist who has made a significant contribution to American theater and who represents all that is passionate, exuberant, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. The recipient for 2009 is Robert "Bob" Alexander. The founder and 30-year artistic director for Living Stage, Arena's community outreach theater company, Alexander died on February 10, 2008. This award has been given previously to August Wilson and to Arena Stage co-founder Zelda Fichandler.

Single tickets for this event start at $250. For more information contact Sarah Denhardt at sdenhardt@arenastage.org or (202) 554-9066 extension 266.

ABOUT ARENA RESTAGED

With construction well underway on the 47-year-old Southwest D.C. theater campus, Arena Stage has launched ARENA RESTAGED, a two-year festival celebrating the rich mosaic of our nation's voices. ARENA RESTAGED, which will lay the foundation for a new home for theater artists and audiences, will take place throughout the time it takes to finish the expansion of the new theater complex, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater. At the Center, the two existing performance spaces-the Fichandler Stage and the Kreeger Theater-will be fully renovated and a new 200-seat space dedicated to premiering American theater, The Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, will be added. Arena Stage at the Mead Center is scheduled to open for the 2010/2011 season.

To allow for a timely and cost-effective renovation, Arena currently operates out of Arena Stage in Crystal City (1800 S. Bell Street, Arlington, VA) and at the historic Lincoln Theatre (1215 U Street, NW, Washington, D.C.). As information changes and/or becomes available throughout the transition, Arena will keep its website at www.arenastage.org as up to date as possible with Frequently Asked Questions, directions and other relevant information. Information on Arena Stage's 2008/09 season is also available online.

 

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