Colman Domingo Will Host Vineyard Theatre's Annual Emerging Artists Luncheon

Colman Domingo will host Vineyard Theatre's Annual Emerging Artists Luncheon on Thursday, June 30 from noon-2pm at The Gander (15 West 18th Street) in Manhattan. The event will feature the presentation of the 2016 Susan Stroman Directing Award to Lee Sunday Evans (D DEB DEBBIE DEBORAH, A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN NOVEMBER...).

Ms. Evans is the second recipient of Vineyard Theatre's Susan Stroman Directing Award, named in honor of theatre director Susan Stroman, who most recently directed DOT at The Vineyard, as well as THE PRODUCERS and THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS. Vineyard Theatre created the Susan Stroman Directing Award in 2013 in order to recognize and support gifted early- and mid-career theatre directors. The Award provides recipients with space, time and resources to develop projects and strike new collaborations while in residence at The Vineyard over the course of one or more seasons. The first recipient of the Award was Liesl Tommy (ECLIPSED).

Lee Sunday Evans is a director and choreographer of works for the theater. She

won a 2015 OBIE Award for A BEAUTIFUL DAY IN NOVEMBER ON THE BANKS OF THE GREATEST OF THE GREAT LAKES. Her work has been presented and developed at: Clubbed Thumb, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Sundance Theater Institute, CATCH, 59E59, The New Ohio, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, The Culture Project, Robert Wilson's Watermill Center, Guild Hall, Emerging America Festival/Huntington Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, Dixon Place, LaMama, Coatesville VA Medical Center. As the Resident Director for CollaborationTown, she is currently developing THE RISE AND FALL OF THE TRILOBITE KINGDOM a new musical for young audiences commissioned by New Victory's LabWorks, with original music by Nicholas C. Williams and puppets by Amanda Villalobos. Ms. Evans is a Time Warner Fellow of 2014-2016 Lab at Women's Project Theater, part of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, and a New Georges Affiliated Artist. She has also taught devising theater workshops for the Waterwell Drama Program at PPAS, Vineyard Theatre, and The International Theater & Literacy Program in Tanzania and Rwanda.

Susan Stroman's long and cherished relationship with Vineyard Theatre began with the 1987 revival of FLORA THE RED MENACE, giving Ms. Stroman her first professional choreography credit. She returned to The Vineyard in 2010 with the John Kander, Fred Ebb and David Thompson musical THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS, which went on to a run on Broadway and the West End. Ms. Stroman most recently directed Colman Domingo's DOT on the Vineyard stage, receiving her first professional credit for a straight play. Her other major credits include CONTACT, THE PRODUCERS, BULLETS OVER BROADWAY and THE MERRY WIDOW for the Metropolitan Opera.

The Emerging Artists Luncheon celebrates Vineyard Theatre's commitment to cultivating talent in our own backyard. From local public high school students to next year's Tony contenders, artistic development and education programs provide artists with support and resources to develop new plays and musicals, as well as offering free arts learning opportunities for community youth.

The Vineyard Theatre (located at 108 East 15 Street) has been one of the nation's leading non-profit theatre companies for over 30 years. Dedicated to the creation and production of daring new plays and musicals, The Vineyard has consistently premiered provocative, groundbreaking works, including Nicky Silver's THE LYONS; Marx, Lopez and Whitty's Tony Award-winning musical AVENUE Q; Kander and Ebb's THE SCOTTSBORO BOYS; Bell and Bowen's [title of show]; Paula Vogel's HOW I LEARNED TO DRIVE (1998 Pulitzer Prize); Edward Albee's THREE TALL WOMEN (1994 Pulitzer Prize); Nicky Silver's PTERODACTYLS; Becky Mode's FULLY COMMITTED; Jenny Schwartz's GOD'S EAR; Tarell Alvin McCraney's WIG OUT!; Will Eno's MIDDLETOWN; Branden Jacobs-Jenkins's GLORIA; and many more. Vineyard's productions have been honored with two Pulitzer Prizes, three Tony Awards, and numerous Drama Desk, OBIE, Outer Critics Circle and Lucille Lortel Awards.

The Vineyard is currently in production with INDECENT by Paula Vogel and directed and co-created by Rebecca Taichman. The show runs through June 19.

The Vineyard Theatre's leadership includes Artistic Directors Douglas Aibel and Sarah Stern and Executive Producer Jennifer Garvey-Blackwell.

Tables for the Emerging Artists Luncheon are $2,500 and individual tickets are $250. For more information about the event, please contact Jessie Pitluk at 212-353-3366 x227 or email development@vineyardtheatre.org. For more information about Vineyard Theatre, visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.

Photo by Erik Carter

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