Cristina Dc Pastor News

Tony Award winners Bobby Lopez ('The Book of Mormon,' 'Avenue Q') and Jhett Tolentino ('Here Lies Love,' 'A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder'), among others, receive Filipino American community honors.

In its fourth year, presented by AARP, The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards, the grandest celebration that caps the monthlong Filipino American History Month in New York City, has announced today that Filipino-American EGOT holder Bobby Lopez ('Frozen,' 'The Book of Mormon'); fashion designer and philanthropist Josie Natori; Dean of Academic Affairs at Columbia University Sheila Coronel; the people behind Fiesta In America, an annual trade and cultural expo; and the medical mission volunteers of Philippine Medical Association in America (PMAA) will be feted with the highest honors--The Heritage Awards--at TOFA-NY Awards ceremony, which will be held at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall (881 7th Ave, New York, NY) on Saturday, October 25, at 7 p.m.

The first Filipina-American television talk show on Queens Public Television, 'Makilala,' which means 'get to know' in Tagalog, will be hosting its official launch on Friday, November 15, at 6 p.m. at the Philippine Consulate on Fifth Avenue.

Heroism and excellence in the nursing profession won the predominantly Filipino American audience that gave a well-deserved standing ovation to NYU Langone nurse Menchu De Luna Sanchez--superstorm Sandy's hero nurse--when she personally received her The Oustanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) award from Deputy Consul General Zaldy Patron and Southern District of New York Judge Lorna Schofield at the Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall Saturday night.

Philippine Consul General to New York Mario L. De Leon, Jr., United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York Honorable Judge Lorna Schofield, and Former Chairman of the Board for the Hollywood Foreign Press Association Ruben Nepales will keynote the third annual The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY) Awards on Saturday night, October 26, at Weill Recital Hall in Carnegie Hall, the official venue of the TOFA-NY Awards ceremonies for the past three years.

Drama Desk and Obie Award-winning theater organization Ma-Yi Theater Company, which originally produced Filipino and Filipino-American plays prior to shifting gears toward exploring more of the Asian-American experience via theatrical workshops and presentations, and Filipino-American set and costume designer Eduardo Sicangco ("Gentlemen Prefer Blondes") accepted "The Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York" (TOFA-NY) Heritage Award (2012) and the TOFA-NY Arts and Culture Award (2012) respectively at TOFA-NY's awarding rites held at the Weill Hall, Carnegie Hall Saturday, October 27.

Anna Maria Perez de Tagle and George Salazar, Filipino actors and singers who are making their Broadway debuts in the current production of GODSPELL, and the rest of the show's cast were in full force to welcome the Filipino-American press, and Filipino-American TV and film actor Sam Milby, at a cocktail reception at Bambo 52 sushi bar and lounge in New York City, on Thursday, March 15, followed by an evening performance of GODSPELL at Circle in the Square Theatre, and a post-show talk back with KABABAYAN LA's Janelle So.

Right on the heels of her Disney Legend citation that had recognized her iconic vocal recordings for two Disney Princesses Mulan from MULAN and Jasmine from ALADDIN, Lea Salonga, born and raised in the Philippines, is set to receive another accolade: the Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY)Awards' Heritage Award on Saturday, October 29 at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.

Right on the heels of her Disney Legend citation that had recognized her iconic vocal recordings for two Disney Princesses Mulan from MULAN and Jasmine from ALADDIN, Lea Salonga, born and raised in the Philippines, is set to receive another accolade: the Outstanding Filipino Americans in New York (TOFA-NY)Awards' Heritage Award on Saturday, October 29 at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall.