The annual gala celebration offers an evening of dinner, dancing, auctions and entertainment with students from Paper Mill Playhouse’s arts education programs and Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award winner Laura Benanti, who is also a 2011 Tony nominee for her performance in Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

The evening will also feature the presentation of the Frank Carrington Excellence in the Arts Award to composer Alan Menken, who is currently represented on Broadway with the Tony-nominated musical Sister Act. The first Frank Carrington Award was presented posthumously to actress Lynn Redgrave, who appeared in Paper Mill Playhouse's The Important of Being Earnest.

Benanti was the first Paper Mill Playhouse Rising Star Award winner for a Leading Actress in a Musical. She was honored with the Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award and a Drama League nomination for her portrayal of Louise/Gypsy Rose Lee in the Patti LuPone revival of Gypsy. She was on Broadway earlier this season in the new musical Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown.

Tables and individual tickets are on sale. For more information contact Roberta Morton at (973) 315-1663, [email protected] or visit www.papermill.org.