The award, which honors women exhibiting exemplary service to the theatre, will be presented by Rivera's daughter, singer/dancer/choreographer Lisa Mordente.
Past recipients of the LPTW Lifetime Achievement Award include Dorothy Olim, Betty Comden, Ellen Stewart, Fifi Oscard, Martha Swope, Sylvia Herscher, Rosetta LeNoire and Lucille Lortel, among others.
The recipients of The Lee Reynolds Award (Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist Lynn Nottage) and The Josephine Abady Award (Kamilah Forbes, artistic director of the annual three-week Hip-Hop Theatre Festival) will also be honored at the luncheon.
Born Dolores Conchita Figueroa del Rivero in 1933, Chita Rivera is one of the theatre's most acclaimed performers. She has won Tony Awards for her performances in two Kander and Ebb musicals, The Rink and Kiss of the Spider Woman, and was also nominated for her work in Bye Bye Birdie, Chicago, Bring Back Birdie, Merlin, Jerry's Girls and her most recent outing, the Tony-winning revival of Nine. Rivera's other Broadway credits include the musical Seventh Heaven, her Broadway debut; Mr. Wonderful; the original production of West Side Story; and Bajour. She appeared in the film version of "Sweet Charity," starred in the world premiere of Kander and Ebb's The Visit, and also headlined Bernarda Alba at the Mark Taper Forum. Rivera was most recently on Broadway in Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life. She was recently seen in the Signature Theatre's production of The Visit. Rivera's new solo recording is titled "And Now I Swing" and is available on the Yellow Sound label.
The LPTW 2010 Awards Luncheon will be held at Sardi’s (234 West 44th Street) beginning at noon. Tickets are $65 and are available at www.brownpapertickets.com/event/122700 or by phone at (800) 838-3006 option 1 (use event code 122700). *
The League of Professional Theatre Women (LPTW) is a non-profit organization committed to promoting visibility and increasing opportunities for women in the professional theatre. For more information visit www.TheatreWomen.org.
