Playwrights Brooke Berman (Hunting & Gathering), Lee Blessing and A.R. Gurney are among the attendees, who will also include Richard Easton, Penny Fuller, Charles Busch, Marsha Mason, Jerry Mitchell, David Hyde Pierce, Elaine Stritch, Marc Shaiman, Scott Whitman.
"At the Primary Stages Gala Benefit each year, we honor an individual who has made significant contributions to the American theater," stated Primary Stages artistic director Andrew Leynse. "This is certainly true of Daryl Roth, who has produced an extraordinary number of news plays and musicals, and has provided significant support to the non-profit and commercial theater communities."
Leynse added, "Jack O'Brien is a very talented director of new plays and musicals as well as an accomplished writer, lyricist and producer, and an avid supporter of non profit theater. It is a great honor to recognize these two worthy individuals."
Producer Roth is currently represented on Broadway by Curtains and also has a hand in the Broadway-bound stagings of A Catered Affair and Is He Dead? She has five Pulitzer Prize-winning plays to her credit — Proof, Wit, How I Learned to Drive, Three Tall Women and Anna in the Tropics. Other recent Broadway credits include Deuce, Coram Boy, Inherit the Wind and The Year of Magical Thinking.
O'Brien has earned Tony Awards for his direction of The Coast of Utopia, Henry IV, Hairspray and The Invention of Love. Other credits include Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Imaginary Friends, The Full Monty, Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Two Shakespearean Actors, Two Trains Running, The Piano Lesson and Porgy and Bess. The artistic director of San Diego's Old Globe Theater is also at work on the developing musical Catch Me If You Can. The evening will include a silent auction as well as cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, dinner and entertainment.
Past recipients of the honor have included Julie Harris (2006), Susan Stroman (2005), Horton Foote and Primary Stages founder and executive producer Casey Childs (2004), Harvey Fierstein (2003), A.R. Gurney (2001), John Guare (2000), Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1998) and Stephen Sondheim (1997).
Primary Stages is currently the resident company at 59E59 Theaters. The company next presents the world premiere of Brooke Berman's Hunting and Gathering (Jan. 22-March 1, 2008) and the New York premiere of Willy Holtzman's Something You Did (March 18-April 26, 2008).
Tables and individual tickets ($400-$10,000) are now on sale by contacting Erica Raven at (212) 840-9705 ext. 214 or via email at [email protected]. For more information visit primarystages.com.
