Marian Seldes Honored At Love And Courage Benefit 2/28

The beloved, Tony Award-winning actress Marian Seldes will be honored at the 2011 LOVE 'N' COURAGE Gala - a benefit for the award-winning Theater for the New City's Emerging Playwrights Program - on Monday, February 28 at 6:30 p.m. at the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South in Manhattan), it has been announced by Crystal Field, co-founder and artistic director of Theater for the New City.

Actor Lee Roy Reams will serve as Master of Ceremonies for the Event, which begins with cocktails at 6:30pm, Dinner at 7:00pm, and performances at 8:00pm.

Proceeds benefit the Emerging Playwrights' Program at Theater for the New City, located at 155 First Avenue in the East Village, where it remains one of the few remaining outposts for experimental and political theater in 21st century New York.

Scheduled to perform at LOVE 'N' COURAGE are the actress Tammy Grimes, the Wendy Osserman Dance Company, Rod Rodgers Dance Company, Bina Sharif, Jean-Claude van Itallie, Boleros by the Pablo Mayor Trio, last year's LOVE 'N' COURAGE honrees Eli Wallach and Anne Jackson, and this year's honoree herself, Marian Seldes.

LOVE 'N' COURAGE will honor Marian Seldes for her long and illustrious career as one of the American theatre's most accomplished and beloved actresses. A prominent figure in the theatre community for more than 50 years, Ms. Seldes is the winner of the Tony Award for her performance in the original production of Edward Albee's A DELICATE BALANCE, and also appeared in his play TINY ALICE, and more recently in Mr. Albee's Pulitzer Prize-winning drama THREE TALL WOMEN in New York and on national tour. Her many Broadway credits include EQUUS, DEATHTRAP, IVANOV, DINNER AT EIGHT and DEUCE. She received the 2010 Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement. Her numerous Off-Broadway credits include FATHER'S DAY, for which she won the Drama Desk Award; and PAINTING CHURCHES, for which she received the Outer Critics Circle Award.

Lee Roy Reams has made numerous appearances on Broadway since his debut in SWEET CHARITY in 1966: 42ND STREET, OKLAHOMA!, APPLAUSE, LORELEI, HELLO, DOLLY!, LA CAGE AUX FOLLES, BEAUTY AND THE BEAST, AN EVENING WITH Jerry Herman and THE PRODUCERS.

Celebrating its 39th year, Theater for the New City is a long-running bastion for new theatrical works. While talented emerging playwrights often find themselves competing for funding with more established writers; Theater for the New City's mission is to offer "love and encouragement" to these struggling artists with its Emerging Playwrights Program, established in 1971. Theater for the New City is a Pulitzer Prize winning community cultural center known for its high artistic standards and community service. One of New York's most prolific theatrical organizations, TNC produces 30-40 premieres of new American plays per year, at least 10 of which are by emerging and young playwrights. Many influential theater artists of the last quarter century have found TNC's Resident Theater Program instrumental to their careers, among them Sam Shepard, Moises Kaufman, Richard Foreman, Charles Busch, Maria Irene Fornes, Miguel Piñero and Academy Award Winners Tim Robbins and Adrien Brody.

"Emerging playwrights are writers of great promise who have yet to fulfill their artistic goals, but whose visions are high," explains Crystal Field, whose Emerging Playwrights Program takes in fledgling and untried writers, offering a nurturing environment where new authors can flourish, and often realize their first fully produced work at Theater for the New City. Ms. Field notes that "love and courage are what a playwright needs to thrive in this field, and 'love and encourage' is what Theater for the New City does!"

Through the Emerging Playwrights Program, up-and-coming writers meet and have access to experienced designers, directors and performers. The emerging playwright is surrounded by dedicated professionals in an atmosphere of supportive collaboration. Theater for the New City has an open-door policy towards new work -- considering plays of any style, genre and political thrust -- and reading every script submitted. The company also produces and commissions plays by some of the better-known American Playwrights such as Maria Irene Fornes, Matt Morillo, Sam Shepard, Eduardo Machado, Ronald Tavel, Amlin Gray and Harry Kondoleon.

The Pulitzer Prize-winning Theater for the New City is committed to developing and nurturing creative talent in the New York City area. Other programs sponsored by the Theater include the Resident Theater Program, Arts-in-Education Program, Summer Street Theater Tour, the Village Halloween Costume Ball and most recently Lower East Side Festival. The Emerging Playwrights Program was founded in 1984 as part of the Resident Theater Program, and seeks to create a space where theater artists have room to develop new visions, free of commercial restraint and pressure. Past productions have included works that include song, dance, music, puppetry, poetry, and epic styles of drama. Theater for the New City productions have garnered 43 Obie Awards

Tickets to LOVE 'N' COURAGE are $125. For reservations and additional information, please call 212-254-1109 or visit www.theaterforthenewcity.net

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski