Mary Rodgers Guettel Set for Coterie Under the Stars Benefit, 6/30

Confirmed as special guest for the Coterie Theatre's Coterie Under the Stars benefit on June 30th will be Mary Rodgers. Mary Rodgers Guettel is the composer of musicals, including Broadway's Once Upon a Mattress,which the Coterie performs this summer. She is the author of children's books (Freaky Friday, contributor toFree To Be...You and Me) and has served as President of The Julliard School. She is a daughter of composer Richard Rodgers and the mother of Adam Guettel, who carries on the family Broadway composer tradition (Floyd Collins, A Light in the Piazza.)

This year's benefit in the Crown Center Square will coincide with the World Premier of a theatre-for-young-audiences version of Once Upon a Mattress, developed in the Coterie's Lab for New Family Musicals. In it's original Broadway outing, …Mattressmade Carol Burnett famous and subsequently has been revived on Broadway as well as television numerous times.

For the gala, the Crown Center Square will be turned into a magical kingdom of gourmet food stations, luscious libations and pop up cabaret entertainment to benefit the Coterie Theatre's education programs.

The proceeds support the extraordinary reach of these education programs, including: classes in six satellite locations; Coterie storytelling at Children's Mercy Hospital; Sundays at the Plaza library; Reaching the Write Minds/Young Playwright's Festival; and the award winning Dramatic Health Education Project, which educates teens about transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS and STDs and servers 9,000 students at no cost to schools or host organizations.

Once Upon A Gala will be held Saturday, June 30 on the Crown Center Square. At this same event, Cyndi and Bill Lucas will presented with a Coterie Lifetime Achievement Award. Cyndi is a former Coterie Board member and Bill is the President of Crown Center Redevelopment Corporation. Longtime supporters, Cyndi and Bill Lucas have been instrumental in the growth of the Coterie Theatre. Individual ticket prices are $150. Sponsorship options also are available. For tickets or more information, please visit www.coterietheatre.org or call 816-474-6785, ext. 236.