Lantern Theater to Host AN EVENING IN THE KING'S COURT Benefit, 3/1

Lantern Theater Company will celebrate its 19th Anniversary Season and honor Frank X and Helen McMahon with the 2013 Luminary Award at its Annual Benefit on Friday, March 1, 2013, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. An Evening in the King's Court will be held at the beautiful new Hotel Monaco Philadelphia, which is located in the iconic Lafayette Building at 5th & Chestnut Streets in Center City.

The event begins with a wine reception and will include entertainment, dinner and a silent auction. Auction items feature exclusive vacations, fun nights out at the region's finest restaurants and cultural hotspots, sports memorabilia and tickets, priceless collectibles, and other unique items. All proceeds will benefit the Lantern's award winning artistic and education programming, which reaches nearly 17,000 adults and children each year. Ticket prices range from $125 - $1,000 and are now on sale at lanterntheater.org or by calling (215) 829-9002 x102.

Luminary Award Honoree Frank X is a beloved and highly respected member of the Philadelphia theater community, specializing in characters of great complexity, passion and spiritual depth. Frank has appeared in 15 productions at the Lantern - from Ghosts in 1998 to The Island in 2012 - and has been a major contributor to the company's artistic growth. Fellow actors are eager to work alongside him and directors are very grateful for a collaborator who brings his whole mind and heart to every role. Originally trained as a dancer and playwright, Frank received the Barrymore Award for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Play for his performance in Lonely Planet at InterAct Theatre Company and Barrymore nominations for five roles at the Lantern: John in The Island (2012), Sam in "Master Harold"... and the boys (2006), the title role in King Lear (2001), Bob in Beyond Therapy (1999) and Eyngstrand in Ghosts (1998). Other regional credits include Arden Theatre Company, Theatre Exile, Azuka Theatre, Folger Shakespeare Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre and the Humana Festival of New American Plays.

Luminary Award Honoree Helen McMahon, a resident of Lafayette Hill, is one of Philadelphia's most active theater patrons, celebrating not only the Lantern's growth but all of the artistic depth and diversity that has sprung up across the city over the past 20 years. She has played many important Lantern roles over the years, including patron, donor, organizer of parties and lectures, and calligrapher of invitations, and the mother of founding artistic director Charles McMahon. But perhaps the world knows her best as the source of the finest cookies and brownies on Earth, which have been a famously featured item at the Lantern's concessions stand for more than a decade.

An Evening in the King's Court is co-chaired by Lantern Board Member Gregory J. Kleiber and his wife Harriet Ravdin of Narberth, Nina S. Rosenthal of Wynnewood, and Lantern Board Member Rebecca Williams of Haverford.

BENEFIT CO-CHAIRS
Gregory J. Kleiber*
Harriet Ravdin
Nina S. Rosenthal
Rebecca Williams*

BENEFIT COMMITTEE
Eileen Baird
Gene & Joann Bissell
Louis Bluver
Michael Brophy*
Nicholas D. Constan*
Stacy Maria Dutton*
Nancy Hogan Dutton
Janet Embree
Jaimie & David Field
Mark Garvin & Diane Menio
Philip Hawkins & Ronnie Kurchner-Hawkins
Donna Hill & John Wilson
Esther L. Hornik
Betsy Kalish*
Kevin Kleinschmidt*
Dr. Marc & Joan Lapayowker
Fran & Leon L. Levy
Stuart & Heidi Lurie
Charles McMahon*
Charles & Helen McMahon
Stephen Millen & Donna Saul Millen*
David & Eileen Murphy
David Pierson* & Barrie Trimingham
Fred Johnson & Jennifer Pratt Johnson
Ellen Rogoff
Martin & Phyllis Rosenthal
Michael H. Rosenthal*
Aline Roy & Griffin Schrack
Louis Seitchik & Kanani Titchen
Anne Shuff* & Mike Creech
David & Gayle Smith
Richard & Anne Umbrecht
Dr. R.J. Wallner
Margie Weingarten
Adam & Sarah Weinstein
Rhys Williams
Frank X

*Lantern Board Member

The event will take place at Hotel Monaco Philadelphia, 5th & Chestnut Streets, Philadelphia, Penn., on Friday, March 1, 2013, from 6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m. For tickets, visit lanterntheater.org or call (215) 829-9002 x102:

$1,000 Kings & Queens Ticket
$500 Dukes & Duchesses Ticket
$250 Barons & Baronesses Ticket
$125 Lord & Ladies Ticket

Lantern Theater Company will continue its 2012/13 season with William Shakespeare's Henry V, directed by Charles McMahon and starring Ben Dibble in the title role (March 14 - April 14, 2013) and the Philadelphia Premiere of Heroes by Tom Stoppard, adapted from Gérald Sibleyras' Le Vent Des Peupliers, directed by M. Craig Getting and starring Peter DeLaurier, Dan Kern, and Mal Whyte (May 16 - June 9, 2013).