Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces performers for the annual TRU Love Benefit on Sunday, November 14, 2010 at Caroline's on Broadway, 1626 Broadway between 49th and 50th Streets, NYC. There will be a cocktail hour at noon with passed hors d'oeuvres and a three-course luncheon at 1pm followed by entertainment and the awards ceremony.
Headlining will be Broadway performers Lewis Cleale (The Fantasticks, Monty Python's Spamalot, Amour, Once Upon a Mattress revival, the world premiere of the musical Giant at Signature Theatre in Arlington VA); Jill Paice (The Woman in White, Curtains, Scarlett O'Hara in the musical Gone with the Wind in London); Rita Gardner (the original Girl in The Fantasticks, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Wedding Singer); plus Erin Crosby and Trisha Rapier (The Boy from Oz, Newsical, Forbidden Broadway) from the original cast of Shout! The Mod Musical; song writer Ervin Drake ("I Believe," "It Was a Very Good Year," "Good Morning Heartache"); Dan Kohler (Blue Man Group); newcomer Bryn Holdsworth; and the Inside Broadway Kids, fifth graders from P.S. 97 in Brooklyn (Ashley Choi, Nicole Gallardo, Vako Gvelesiani, Arjona Kulla, Cindy Reka, Quinn Rosciano and Michael Tagliarini).
The afternoon will be co-hosted by the comedy team Stone and Stone (A pair of twin brother-comedians who have performed at Gotham Comedy Club, Caroline's, The Laugh Factory, 59E59 Theaters, and can be seen on a national Verizon FiOS commercial, as well as this season's Last Comic Standing on NBC). There will be pre-show magic by Michael Chaut of Monday Night Magic.
The program will honor the 2010 recipient of the "TRU Spirit of Theater" Award, producer Patricia Flicker Addiss. The award is given to a member of the theater community who has demonstrated exceptional generosity of spirit, and a willingness to support emerging artists and producers. TRU will also present a TRU Humanitarian Award to Michael Presser, founder and artistic director of Inside Broadway, for producing Broadway's classic musicals in city schools, and passing down the legacy of America's musical theater to future generations. Appropriately, the theme of the benefit will be "Fulfilling Promises, Fulfilling Promise," with a nod both to Ms. Addiss' work as a co-producer of the Broadway hit Promises, Promises and her tireless devotion to nurturing young artists, as well as an acknowledgment of Mr. Presser's work in tapping the artistic promise of more than 30,000 school children each year, throughout New York City.
New this year is an award for a successful self-producing artist. The TRU Entrepreneur Award will be given to TEd Greenberg, a comedian and Emmy Award-winning writer for "Late Night with David Letterman," who parlayed his one-person show The Complete Performer from the Fringe into a two-year run at the Soho Playhouse, which is still going strong. An announcement will also be made of the two finalists in this year's TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series scheduled for 12/13 and 12/20.
Besides Promises, Promises on Broadway, Ms. Addiss is currently represented off-Broadway with the long-running legend The Fantasticks. She has also been a producer on Little Women, Spring Awakening, Passing Strange, Bridge and Tunnel and the recent off-Broadway Housewives of Mannheim, to name a few. A former board member of Theater Resources Unlimited, Ms. Addiss was instrumental in the growth of TRU, a service organization created to educate and support producers, emerging theater companies, self-Producing Artists and anyone interested in learning the business of theater.
The Honorary Benefit Committee brought together to honor Addiss, Presser and Greenberg includes producer Judith Ann Abrams, media executive Janet Z. Barbash, publisher and entertainer Suzanna Bowling, author and entertainer Myra Chanin, executive coach Alisa Cohn, producer and reviewer Sandi Durell, educator Barbara Ziet Glickman, entertainment correspondent Magda Katz, producer Vasi Laurence, Snapple Theatre general manager Catherine Russell, Inside Broadway company manager Nicholas Sala, Jodi Schoenbrun Carter and gerontologist Merrill Stone.
Tickets for the event will be $175 Premium Patron Level reserved seating on the first tier near the stage and $150 for Patron Level reserved seating on the first tier sides and second tier. Non-reserved General Admission tickets may be purchased for $100. Tickets are available through the TRU Store at www.truonline.org/store-new.html.
