Playwrights Horizons Announces Auction For Spring Gala Benefit

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced details for this year's special online Auction in connection with its annual Spring Gala Benefit. Bidding for the auction, which will feature an exceptionally eclectic array of items and unique opportunities, has now begun at www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com. Online bidding will continue until 10PM on Thursday, April 29th, a few days prior to the Gala event itself on Monday evening, May 3rd.

The auction features a vast array of item categories, including:

CELEBRITY EVENTS

Including a deluxe backstage visit to the set of 30 Rock including a photo with the cast, signed script, DVD set and attending an episode taping with director Don Scardino; dining with Steven Sondheim and Craig Lucas; dining with Grey Gardens star Christine Ebersole and composer Scott Frankel; horseback riding with Jonathan Groff; dinner with director Michael Mayer before attending a performance of American Idiot including a backstage visit; drinks with "ER" star Gloria Reuben; attending an Opening Night at Playwrights Horizons with Kelli O'Hara and Greg Naughton; playing golf with Lewis Black at the Westchester Country Club; seeing a show and having drinks with playwrights Theresa Rebeck and Marsha Norman; and having a song written for you by the Tony-winning composer/lyricist of Avenue Q, Robert Lopez.

ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCES

Including a seven-night stay in Argentina at the spectacular home Casa al Reves; ticket package for the 2011 Sundance Film Festival; sitting in the Orchestra pit of The Winter Garden Theatre during a live performance of Mamma Mia!, Sotheby's behind-the-scenes tour and lunch; Olympic Training Center tour and lunch; private tour of The Met with an Art Historian; Central Park tour for 10; having your story mixed and ready for public radio; and the chance to be either Playwrights Horizons' Artistic Director for a day or a Theater Casting Director for a day.
MEMORABILIA

Including a photo from the new hit series "V" signed by its star and Playwrights Horizons alumna Morena Baccarin, posters signed by the casts of Dead Man's Cell Phone including Mary-Louise Parker, This including Julianne Nicholson and Circle Mirror Transformation.
TICKETS

For a live taping of "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart," a live taping of "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," many Broadway shows including tickets and backstage tours for Next to Normal (featuring a visit with star Alice Ripley), American Idiot (featuring a pre-show dinner with Michael Mayer and post-show visit with cast members Michael Esper and Mary Faber), Wicked (featuring a visit with co-star Alex Brightman), South Pacific (featuring a visit with star Laura Osnes), Mamma Mia! (featuring a visit with star Patrick Boll), Rock of Ages, The Lion King and Mary Poppins, plus tickets for The New York Yankees, The New York Rangers (center ice), Gotham Comedy Club and Comix Comedy Club.

Many more items, including Dining and Fitness opportunities, are listed online. Please note: a second round of major items, to be announced, will be added online during the final week of bidding.

All interested bidders must go to www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com to register to bid. Items will be added to the auction on a daily basis over the next two weeks.
In addition, this year a special Raffle will take place the evening of the Gala. Featuring three Grand Prizes, tickets are $100 and will be strictly limited to a total of 300 entries. Buy five and get one free. Raffle tickets are also available for purchase online at www.playwrightshorizons.org.

The three Raffle prizes are:
FIRST PRIZE - A week in storied Palm Springs, CA in a mid-century three bedroom, three bath private home, stylishly furnished. Home has mountain views, a garden, heated pool and spa. Winner will also receive two round-trip coach airline tickets.

SECOND PRIZE - Tickets to the May 22nd evening game in the New York Yankees vs. New York Mets Subway Series at CitiField. Seats are in the prized Delta Gold Club level.

THIRD PRIZE - Two Silver Pass subscriptions to Playwrights Horizons' 2010/2011 theater season. Next season's productions include Edward Albee's Me, Myself & I starring Elizabeth Ashley and Brian Murray; A Small Fire by Adam Bock; Go Back to Where You Are written by and starring David Greenspan; Kin by Bathsheba Doran; and After the Revolution by Amy Herzog. Winner will also receive dinner for two at four neighborhood restaurants including Rachel's; Ecetera, Ecetera; Landmark Tavern; and Heartland Brewery.
Winners will be determined at a random drawing taking place on May 3, 2010. Each participant is only eligible for a single prize. Tickets purchased online will be mailed to the participant.

Playwrights Horizons' annual Gala evening, this year titled "In Quarter Time", will be held Monday evening, May 3rd at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street). The evening will honor

Artistic Director Tim Sanford for his 25 years at Playwrights Horizons. It will also feature a performance by Tony Award winner Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, at Playwrights Horizons in A Prayer for My Enemy).
The evening's Artistic Co-Chairs will include nine notable Playwrights Horizons veterans: Joan Allen (The Heidi Chronicles in ‘88), Christopher Durang (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You in ‘81, Baby with the Bathwater in ‘83, Laughing Wild in ‘87, Betty's Summer Vacation in ‘99, Miss Witherspoon in ‘05), Craig Lucas (Three Postcards in '87, Small Tragedy in '04, Prayer for My Enemy in ‘08), Michael Mayer (Baby Anger in ‘97, The

Credeaux Canvas in ‘01 and Our House in ‘09), Cynthia Nixon (The Heidi Chronicles in ‘89, On The Bum in ‘92), Lynn Nottage (Mud, River, Stone in '97, Fabulation in ‘04), Mary-Louise Parker (Dead Man's Cell Phone in ‘08), Theresa Rebeck (The Butterfly Collection in ‘00, Bad Dates in ‘03 Our House in ‘09) and Marisa Tomei (Demonology in ‘96)

Trustees David Caplan (Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP) and Beth Williams (Chief Operating Officer, Key Brand Entertainment) will serve as Gala Benefit Board Co-Chairs. Joanne Cregg Smith (Senior Vice President, Zurich Alternative Asset Management) will be Gala Benefit Patron Chair, Kate Roche Hope will be Gala Generation PH Chair and Carole Schwartz will serve as Gala Patron Auction Committee Chair. Lead supporters include Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and the Murphy Family Foundation.
Cocktails and a Silent Auction will begin at 6PM, followed by dinner at 7:45 PM and the evening's entertainment.

Ticket prices for the Gala Benefit start at $800 and can be reserved by calling Michelle Kiefel at 212-564-1235 extension 3143.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. In its 39 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, most recently being honored with a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work." Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as the three recent hits Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park, Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation and Melissa James Gibson's This (2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist), plus Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (three 2007 Tony Awards), Craig Lucas's Prayer For My Enemy and Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Adam Rapp's Kindness, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy (2003 Obie Award), Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000 Obie Award), Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.
www.playwrightshorizons.org