McNally, Daigneault Honored At SpeakEasy Stage's 20th Anniversary Gala 4/4

Broadway Playwright Terrence McNally and SpeakEasy Stage Company Founder and Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault will be honored at SpeakEasy Stage Company's 20th Anniversary Gala on Monday, April 4th, 2011, from 6-9PM at the Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel.

In addition, Thomas M. Menino, Mayor of the City of Boston, has declared Monday, April 4th, 2011, to be "Terrence McNally Day" in the city of Boston in recognition of "the tremendous contribution that Mr. McNally has made in the theatre community throughout his illustrious career."

Terrence McNally has won four Tony Awards thus far in his career, two for his plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion!, and two for the books of the musicals Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman.

Mr. McNally holds the distinction of being the most produced playwright at SpeakEasy Stage, with five of his shows having been produced by the company during its 20 seasons:
Lips Together, Teeth Apart (1996); Love! Valour! Compassion! (1996); A Man of No Importance (2003); Kiss of the Spider Woman (2005) and Some Men (2008).
His latest work, a musical adaptation of the hit film Catch Me If You Can, opens on Broadway April 10th.
A native of Cape Cod, MA, and a graduate of Boston College, Paul Daigneault founded SpeakEasy Stage in 1992, and has overseen more than 90 Boston premieres over the course of the company's 20 seasons.
He has twice been named the city's Outstanding Director by the Boston Theatre Critics Association, and has helmed over 40 award-winning shows for SpeakEasy, including Bat Boy: the Musical; Take Me Out; Caroline, or Change; Jerry Springer - The Opera; and Parade.

Mr. Daigneault also serves on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory, and in 2007 received the Boston College Arts Council's Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement.

The April 4th gala, billed as Men of Great Importance: An Evening with Terrence McNally and Paul Daigneault, also includes dinner, a silent auction and entertainment from a star-studded group of local performers including Leigh Barrett, Kerry A. Dowling,
Will McGarrahan, Kathy St. George and Val Sullivan.

Tickets to Men of Great Importance! An Evening Honoring Terrence McNally and Paul Daigneault are $175 and may be purchased online at www.SpeakEasyStage.com.

Honoree Bios:

Terrence McNally is a four time Tony Award-winner for his plays Master Class and Love! Valour! Compassion! and his books for the musicals Ragtime and Kiss of the Spider Woman. His other plays include Corpus Christi; A Perfect Ganesh; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; The Lisbon Traviata; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Deuce; The Stendhal Syndrome; Some Men; Dedication or The Stuff of Dreams; Unusual Acts of Devotion; and It's Only a Play. Earlier stage works include Bad Habits; The Ritz; Where Has Tommy Flowers Gone?; And Things That Go Bump in the Night; Next; and the book for the musicals The Full Monty; A Man of No Importance; and The Rink. He is currently represented on Broadway with his book for the musical Catch Me If You Can. For San Francisco Opera he wrote the libretto for an opera based on Sister Helen Prejean's Dead Man Walking, with music by Jake Heggie. Mr. McNally has written a number of TV scripts, including Andre's Mother, for which he won an Emmy. He is this year's recipient of the Dramatists Guild Lifetime Achievement Award. He and attorney/producer Tom Kirdahy were married in Washington, D.C. in April 2010.

Paul Daigneault is the Founder and Producing Artistic Director for SpeakEasy Stage. SpeakEasy directing highlights include: Body Awareness; The Great American Trailer Park Musical; [title of show]; The Savannah Disputation; Jerry Springer -The Opera; The New Century; Some Men; Zanna, Don't!; Parade (2008 Elliot Norton Award - Outstanding Director Midsize Company); The Mystery of Edwin Drood; Almost, Maine; Caroline, or Change; Take Me Out; Company; Elegies: A Song Cycle; A Man of No Importance (co-production Súgán); Bat Boy: The Musical (2003 Elliot Norton Award - Outstanding Director, Small Company); Passion; A New Brain; Violet; Merrily We Roll Along; Songs for a New World; Floyd Collins; Jeffrey; and Love! Valour! Compassion! Regional credits: Grand Hotel and Nine (The Boston Conservatory and Cincinnati Conservatory of Music); Rent, City of Angels and Wonderful Town (The Boston Conservatory); and Urinetown and Blue Window (Boston College). Paul is also on the Faculty at The Boston Conservatory. In 2007, Paul was honored with the Boston College Arts Council's Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement.

Men of Great Importance! An Evening Honoring Terrence McNally and Paul Daigneault

A benefit gala for SpeakEasy Stage Company

Presented by SpeakEasy Stage Company, a resident theatre company at the Boston Center for the Arts; Paul Daigneault, Producing Artistic Director

Honorees: Broadway Playwright Terrence McNally and
SpeakEasy Founder and Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault
Location: Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel

606 Congress Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02110

Date: Monday, April 4, 2011 - 6:00PM - 10PM

Evening to Include: Dinner, a silent auction plus performances by

Leigh Barrett, Kerry A. Dowling, Kathy St. George &Val Sullivan.

Ticket Prices: $175 per person

To Purchase Tickets: 617-482-3279 or www.SpeakEasyStage.com

The Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) is a non-profit performing and visual arts center whose mission is to support working artists to create, perform and exhibit new work; to develop new audiences; and to connect the arts to a broad public. For more information, visit www.bcaonline.org.

SpeakEasy Stage Company operates under the NEAT rider to the Small Professional Theater contract with Actors' Equity Association and is a member of NEAT (The Producers' Association of New England Area Theaters). SpeakEasy is also proud to be the Pavilion Resident Company at the Boston Center for the Arts, and is a member of ArtsBoston, BAMA, Greater Boston Business Council, South End Business Alliance, StageSource, TAMA and Theatre Communications Group. www.SpeakEasyStage.com.