Michael C. Hall, Steven Lutvak & Robert L. Freedman to be Honored at 2015 NYU Tisch Gala

NYU Tisch School of the Arts will host its annual gala honoring Michael C. Hall, Steven Lutvak and Robert L. Freedman, with a special tribute to Mel Silverman, on Monday, May 4, at the Jazz at Lincoln Center's Frederick P. Rose Hall.

Awards presented that evening will include:

Tisch Big Apple Award for Outstanding Achievement in Theatrical Arts:

Steven Lutvak '83 and Robert L. Freedman '83, co-creators of the 2014 Tony Award-winning musical A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder. Lutvak and Freedman met as students in the first class of the Graduate Musical Theatre Writing program.

Tisch Big Apple Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Performing Arts:

Michael C. Hall, '96 MFA Graduate Acting alumnus, known for HBO's Six Feet Under, Showtime's Dexter, films such as Kill Your Darlings and Cold in July and numerous theatrical roles including The Realistic Joneses and most recently Hedwig and the Angry Inch on Broadway.

This year's event will also pay tribute to Mel Silverman, who established the Mel Silverman Scholarship of Tisch School of the Arts in 1984 to provide support to students in Tisch's Graduate Acting, Graduate Musical Theatre Writing and Graduate Film programs.

"The gala is an evening for us to celebrate what is outstanding at the Tisch School of the Arts. Our faculty has an incredible ability to identify brilliant young storytellers around the world. They come to our school. We nurture them. We educate them, and we prepare them for a lifelong career in the arts. Alumni like Michael, Steven and Robert are shining examples of what we aim to do at the school," said Dean Allyson Green. "And then there's Mel Silverman. For 31 years, this extraordinary man has provided scholarships to Tisch students. His personal way of giving has truly changed one student at a time."

The gala performance, directed by Bill Castellino, is a celebration of the incredible accomplishments of Tisch students, both past and present. The annual event showcases the depth and breadth of the arts school's program offerings, which include acting, dance, cinema studies, design for stage and film, dramatic writing, film and television, game design, interactive telecommunications, moving image archiving and preservation, musical theatre writing, performance studies, photography, public policy and recorded music. Proceeds from the gala will support the education of talented young artists from around the world.

In addition to Hall, Lutvak and Freedman, thousands of Tisch alumni have gone on to enjoy fulfilling careers in the arts. Tisch graduates include renowned artists such as Pulitzer Prize winners Tony Kushner, Doug Wright and Chang Lee; Academy Award winners Marcia Gay Harden, Keiko Ibi and Ang Lee; Tony Award winners Nina Arianda, Steve Kazee, George C. Wolfe, Idina Menzel, Stephen Spinella, Jeff Whitty and Frank Wood; Emmy Award winners Alec Baldwin, Billy Crystal, Kristen Johnston, John Leguizamo, Camryn Manheim and Debra Messing; and acclaimed filmmakers Martin Scorsese, Spike Lee and Amy Heckerling.

Photo by Walter McBride