Victoria Clark to Perform at Playwrights Horizon Gala; AD Tim Sanford to be Honored, 5/3

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) will hold its annual Spring Gala Benefit on Monday evening, May 3rd at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street).

Titled "In Quarter Time", 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).

For a quarter of a century, Artistic Director Tim Sanford has devoted himself to the discovery, development and advocacy of playwrights and musical theater artists. Starting as an intern in Playwrights' Literary Department, Tim has dedicated his career to championing the American voice. Since taking the artistic reins of the theater in 1996, Tim has produced more than seventy-five new plays and musicals including one Pulitzer Prize winner, fostered the development of hundreds of emerging and established writers, and encouraged dozens of artistic collaborations. Under Tim's leadership, Playwrights Horizons' national reputation has grown, and the theater has become a vibrant home for artists and audience members alike. Tim's inclusive vision, his humanity and his depth of commitment to the field have made him a singular leader. The passage of time has only strengthened his commitment to new work and to the artists who create it.

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. Complete details on the Silent Auction, including preliminary online bidding which will begin April 8 and run through April 29, will be announced in the coming weeks.

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

For more information, visit www.playwrightshorizons.org

BIOGRAPHIES
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 Bruce Norris' current hit Clybourne Park, Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation, Melissa James Gibson's This (2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist), 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.
Tim Sanford is the Artistic Director of Playwrights Horizons, where he has served since 1984, beginning as a literary intern, then serving for nine years as Literary Manager and two years as Associate Artistic Director, before assuming leadership of the theater in January 1996. In his tenure he has produced writers as diverse as Christina Anderson, Billy Aronson, Jon Robin Baitz, Annie Baker, Tanya Barfield, Neal Bell, Adam Bock, Keith Bunin, David Cale, Kirsten Childs, Julia Cho, Kia Corthron, Mike Craver, Brian Crawley, John Dempsey, Tom Donaghy, Richard Dresser, Christopher Durang, Kate Fodor, Scott Frankel, Amy Freed, Michael Friedman, Melissa James Gibson, Jessica Goldberg, Ricky Ian Gordon, David Marshall Grant, David Greenspan, Rinne Groff, Adam Guettel, A.R. Gurney, JorDan Harrison, Peter Hedges, Jack Herrick, Michael Korie, Jonathan Kreisberg, Christopher Kyle, Tina Landau, James Lapine, Kenneth Lonergan, Quincy Long, Craig Lucas, Wendy MacLeod, Marlane Meyer, Richard Nelson, Bruce Norris, Lynn Nottage, Kira Obolensky, Adam Rapp, Theresa Rebeck, José Rivera, Sarah Ruhl, James Ryan, Sarah Schulman, Christopher Shinn, Nicky Silver, EVan Smith, Kelly Stuart, Jeanine Tesori, Kathleen Tolan, Sarah Treem, James Valcq & Fred Alley, Erin Cressida Wilson, Craig Wright, and Doug Wright. Notable productions from his tenure include Floyd Collins (Lucille Lortel Award, Obie), Violet (New York Critics Circle Award & Obie), Lillian (Obie), Betty's Summer Vacation (Obie), James Joyce's The Dead (New York Critics Circle Award, Lucille Lortel Award, Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical), The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (Obie), Lobby Hero, She Stoops To Comedy (Obie), Small Tragedy (Obie), Fabulation (Obie), I Am My Own Wife (Pulitzer Prize, Drama Desk Award, Obie and Tony), Miss Witherspoon (finalist, Pulitzer Prize), and Grey Gardens (Outer Critics Circle Award). Under his leadership, Playwrights Horizons received a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work." He is a past President of The Literary Managers and Dramaturgs of the Americas and a contributor to Dramaturgy in American Theater. He has a B.A. from Occidental College and a Ph.D. in Dramatic Literature from Stanford University.

Victoria Clark appeared at Playwrights Horizons in Craig Lucas's A Prayer for My Enemy. She received Tony, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle awards, as well as a Drama League Honor, for her performance as Margaret Johnson in The Light in the Piazza. Her other Broadway credits include Titanic, How to Succeed..., Urinetown, Cabaret, Guys & Dolls, A Grand Night for Singing and Sunday in the Park with George, plus national tours of Les Misérables and Cats. For City Center's Encores! she's appeared in Juno, Follies and Bye, Bye Birdie. She recently appeared in the Roundabout production of The Marriage of Bette and Boo and additional Off-Broadway credits include The Agony and the Agony (Vineyard) and Tres Ninas (The Zipper). Film and TV credits include The Happening, Cradle Will Rock, vocal work for several Disney animated features, "Law & Order" and the PBS broadcast of Sweeney Todd in Concert with the San Francisco Philharmonic. Concert work includes the Stephen Sondheim tribute Opening Doors at Carnegie Hall and the American Songbook series at Jazz at Lincoln Center. As a director, her work includes Serenade in Blue: The Mack Gordon Song Cavalcade (92nd Street Y). In 2007, she released her debut solo album Fifteen Seconds from Grace on PS Classics.