Krysta Rodriguez & Tony Kushner Join NYCLU's BROADWAY STANDS UP FOR FREEDOM Benefit, 7/22

Additional performers have been announced for "Broadway Stands Up for Freedom," the annual benefit concert of the New York Civil Liberties Union (the state affiliate of the ACLU), which will be presented Monday, July 22 at 7:30pm at the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South, New York City.

Newly added to the "Broadway Stands Up..." company are National Medal of Arts-, Olivier-, Tony- and Pulitzer-Prize-winning playwright and screenwriter Tony Kushner (Angels in America, Munich, Lincoln) and Broadway star Krysta Rodriguez (The Addams Family, Spring Awakening, In the Heights; Ana on NBC TV'sSmash). Kushner, whose honors include Emmy and Oscar nominations, serves as the evening's honorary chairman.

Kushner and Rodriguez are joining dozens of Broadway's finest, including Tony-nominated Charl Brown (Motown); Lauren Molina (Rock of Ages, Sweeney Todd); and Andrew Lippa, Tony- and Grammy-nominated composer and librettist of The Addams Family, The Wild Party, and Big Fish, opening on Broadway in October.

Show-stopping Tony winners Tonya Pinkins (Jelly's Last Jam, Caroline or Change) and Randy Graff (City of Angels) will perform; Tony nominees Kate Baldwin (Finian's Rainbow) and Anthony Rapp (Rent); Julie Halston (Anything Goes), Nellie McKay (Threepenny Opera, Old Hats), Lisa Kron (Well), Zachary Prince (Baby, It's You) and founding performer Liana Stampur with Clinton Curtis and the Clinton Curtis Band add their myriad talents to the evening.

And the stellar Keenan-Bolgers - Tony-nominated Celia and big brother Andrew - have created a tribute video that taps the talents of dozens of enthusiastic Broadway gypsies whose performance schedules don't permit them to join in person.

The show is directed by Daniel Goldstein (Godspell). Georgia Stitt (America's Got Talent, Broadway Divas) serves as music director.

"From our defense of Arthur Miller and Joseph Papp a half-century ago to our efforts to protect and advance free speech today, the NYCLU has always supported and recognized the contributions of the Broadway community to civic life and to civil liberties," said NYCLU Executive Director Donna Lieberman. "We are delighted to celebrate our 11th Annual "Broadway Stands Up..." concert with such a talented array of artists - especially the next generation, and the student activists who work to sustain the vital link between civil liberties and free expression, in all media."

Proceeds from the show benefit the NYCLU's youth programs, including its work with LGBT teenagers; its Teen Activist Project, which engages New York City teens as organizers and peer educators on civil rights and civil liberties issues; and its work to stop overly aggressive policing and zero-tolerance discipline in the city's public schools.

VIP tickets and sponsorship packages, now on sale for $250 and up, can be purchased here. Individual tickets, $100/$60, can be purchased at www.nyuskirball.org; by phone at 212.352.3101 (M-F, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sat, Sun, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.) or in person at the Shagan Box Office, at 566 LaGuardia Place.

For more information about the show, including a complete list of performers, visit www.nyclu.org/broadway.

Photo by Walter McBride