Walnut Street Celebrates Edwin Forrest Award At Landmark 200th B-day Gala 4/18

The Walnut Street Theatre announces that it will celebrate multiple honorees this year with the 2009 Edwin Forrest Award at its landmark 200th Birthday Gala. The gala will be held at the famed Crystal Tea Room in The Wannamaker Building on Juniper and Market Sts, Philadelphia, on Saturday, April 18th at 6:00pm. This black tie event is held every year to honor members of the business community and the artistic community with the Edwin Forrest Award for their contributions to American Theatre.

This year the Walnut honors Actors Equity Association Executive Director (and Philly native) John P. Connolly, Actors Equity Association President Mark Zimmerman, and a dedicated member of the Walnut's Board of Trustees, Anne Marie Richter. The award was created in 1990 in honor of the leading American Actor of the nineteenth century, Edwin Forrest, a Philadelphia native who made his debut at the Walnut in 1820. This year's gala boasts a night of dazzling entertainment, fine dining and elegant dancing. Entertainment will feature sneak-peek performances by cast members of the Walnut's upcoming production of Mel Brooks' The Producers.

ANN MARIE RICHTER joined the Board of Walnut Street Theatre in 2006 after serving as a Gala committee member for the theatre's 198th Birthday Gala. As a Trustee, she chaired the theatre's most recent Auction, You Can't Stop the Bid!, which raised much needed funds for the theatre's Education and Outreach Programs. The event, under Ann Marie's leadership, was the most financially successful to date. She is a true Renaissance woman, working full time as an entrepreneur, student and mother. At age 24 she founded Friends Cleaning Service in New Jersey, and has served as the Chief Operating Officer of Fusion Magazine. She has dedicated significant time and energy over the past two years to working with the management team at Woodcrest Country Club to strengthen its financial condition.

Ann Marie's life has been characterized by her selflessness and her devotion to friends and family. In addition to her son, DJ, She accepted into her home and raised three wonderful girls, Angela, Christina and Danielle, who had been abandoned by their mothers. Her daughters are now 32, 30 and 26 and are happily settled in their own homes, raising their own families. Over the years, Ann Marie has fostered a total of 23 children that simply needed a place to go for safety and guidance. Ann Marie resides in Cherry Hill, New Jersey with her husband, Irv Richter, Chairman & CEO of Hill International, Inc., (NYSE:HIL), a worldwide construction consulting firm.

Actors Equity Association Executive Director John P. Connolly, who joined Equity in 1973, has appeared in numerous stage, film and television productions during his 35 year career as an actor. Among his nearly 200 stage credits are the Broadway production of Big River, New York Shakespeare production of The Golem, The Iceman Cometh with Al Pacino, and A Midsummer's Night Dream at the Walnut Street Theatre in his native Philadelphia. As a Union leader and activist, Mr. Connolly served as AFTRA President for six years before accepting the position at Equity Connolly has been a key negotiator in practically every film and television contract for actors in the entertainment industry over the last ten years. Connolly also served for five years on the National Board of the Screen Actors Guild and Equity's national negotiating committees. He is also a frequent guest lecturer and has received several honors from the labor and entertainment communities.

Mark Zimmerman is the President of the Actors Equity Association. A member of Equity since 1976, Zimmerman joined the Equity Council in 1989, serving until his election to the First Vice President position in 2000. Mr. Zimmerman has appeared in numerous Broadway and National Touring Productions, including Mamma Mia, On the Twentieth Century, The Rainmaker, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Face Value and Brigadoon. His film and television credits include The Thomas Crown Affair, A Price Above Rubies, For Love or Money and Bonfire of the Vanities, as well as Murphy Brown, Dash and Lilly, 30 Rock, Damages, and Law and Order.

The Walnut Street Theatre's 200th Birthday Gala will truly be a night to remember. All proceeds from this event benefit the Walnut Street Theatre's Education and Outreach programming, which Theatre's Education and Outreach programs, which reach over 100,000 children annually in the Delaware Valley.

The gala is being chaired by Walnut Trustees Mr. Albert A. Giagnacova (Yardley, PA) and Mrs. Camille Andrews (Haddonfield, NJ).

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