Arena Stage President & Mrs. Carter Named Honorary Chairs of CAMP DAVID Red Carpet Premiere

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie have announced President Jimmy Carter and Mrs. Rosalynn Carter will serve as Honorary Chairs of The Camp David Red Carpet Premiere, Thursday April 3, 2014. The exclusive evening will surround the official opening night for the world-premiere historical drama Camp David, written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright, directed by Smith and produced in association with Gerald Rafshoon. The event will include a VIP pre-show cocktail reception, three-course seated dinner in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, opening night performance of Camp David and post-show dessert reception with the cast.

About Camp David: Sixty-two miles north of Washington, D.C., nestled in Catoctin Mountain Park, lies the clandestine retreat known as Camp David. For 13 tumultuous days, President Jimmy Carter and his wife Rosalynn host Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in an attempt to create the impossible: Peace in the Middle East. How could such a massive undertaking be accomplished in such a short amount of time? Artistic Director Molly Smith directs the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize-winning author Lawrence Wright's new play based on true events, starring Tony Award winner Ron Rifkin (Alias, Broadway's Cabaret) and Emmy Award winner Richard Thomas (The Waltons) as Begin and Carter, respectively. Camp David runs March 21 - May 4, 2014 in the Kreeger Theater.

All proceeds support all aspects of Arena Stage, including artistic productions and initiatives as well as community engagement programs, which educate students in the classroom, bring cutting-edge workshops to community organizations and train future artists and educators. Arena Stage is committed to sharing the riches of theater with the surrounding community and inviting younger, more diverse audiences to the theater. For more information, visit arenastage.org/education/education-programs.

The Camp David Red Carpet Premiere
Thursday, April 3, 2014
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St. SW)
5:30 p.m. VIP Cocktail Reception
6:30 p.m. Seated Dinner in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle
8:00 p.m. World-premiere opening performance of Camp David, followed by post-show cast reception

Individual tickets and corporate sponsorship opportunities for The Camp David Red Carpet Premiere range from $250 to $50,000. For further information and secure tickets, contact Maria Corso at 202-600-4176 or email rsvp@arenastage.org. For additional details, you may visit arenastage.org/donate/special-events/camp-david-premiere/.

Camp David is generously sponsored by Joan & David Maxwell, The Kovler Foundation/Peter and Judy Kovler and is a recipient of an Edgerton Foundation New American Play Award and support from the National Endowment for the Arts' Art Works program.

The Camp David commission is supported by S. Danny Abraham, BT Group, The Honorable Stuart Eizenstat, Roger and Vicki Sant and The Stonesifer Kinsley Family Fund.

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Producer Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Arena Stage produces huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. arenastage.org