Signature Celebrates Douglas Turner Ward With A Gala 3/30

Signature Theatre Company (James Houghton, Founding Artistic Director; Erika Mallin, Executive Director) will celebrate Douglas Turner Ward, founder of the Negro Ensemble Company, with their 2009 Annual Gala on Monday, March 30th at Espace (635 West 42nd Street). Cocktails will begin at 6:30pm with dinner at 7:30 PM and performance/tribute to follow. The evening will be hosted by Phylicia Rashad and Ruben Santiago-Hudson. Individual ticket prices range from $600-$1,200 with table prices ranging from $6,000-$25,000.

Signature is thrilled to be honoring Douglas Turner Ward, founding Artistic Director of the historic Negro Ensemble Company and original director of the three plays in Signature's current NEC season - Leslie Lee's The First Breeze of Summer, Samm-Art Williams's Home and Charles Fuller's Zooman and the Sign. The NEC, founded over 40 years ago by Mr. Ward, Robert Hooks, and Gerald S. Krone, has truly shaped America's theatrical heritage and provided a home for many African-American artists including Angela Bassett, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Phylicia Rashad, and Denzel Washington. As a playwright, Mr. Ward is best known for his award-winning one-act plays Happy Ending and Day of Absence. Also an accomplished actor, Mr. Ward has received two Drama Desk Awards and a Tony nomination for his performances. He is an inductee in the Theatre Hall of Fame.

Past honorees have included Edward Albee and the late August Wilson and Horton Foote. The galas are often attended by many of Signature's community of actors, writers and artists, including Matthew Broderick, Robert Duvall, Sally Field, Ethan Hawke, Philip Seymour Hoffman, James Earl Jones, John Lithgow, Edward Norton, Phylicia Rashad, Lois Smith, Peter Sarsgaard, and more.

Each year, Signature's Playwrights Award is given to an individual or organization that has made a significant impact on the institution. Past honorees include The Shubert Foundation, Time Warner Inc. and Signature Trustee Margot Adams. This year, Signature will honor American Express for their incredible championship of Signature's 2008/09 Negro Ensemble Company season. Through their extremely generous support, Signature was able to present these classic works from the NEC repertoire, enabling a new generation to understand the legacy and impact of this historic company.

For tickets and other event information, contact Katherine Jaeger-Thomas, Development Director, 212-967-1913 ext. 18; kjaeger@signaturetheatre.org.

Zooman and the Sign, by Pulitzer Prize-winner Charles Fuller and directed by Stephen McKinley Henderson, is currently playing at The Peter Norton Space through April 26, 2009. Through The Signature Ticket Initiative, which seeks to make great theatre accessible to the broadest possible audience, all regularly-priced single tickets ($65) are underwritten and are available for $20 every performance for the entire season, during a show's initial run. The Signature Ticket Initiative continues through Signature's 20th Anniversary Season (2010-2011).

The Signature Ticket Initiative is made possible by the lead sponsorship of Time Warner Inc. Generous support for The Signature Ticket Initiative is provided by Margot Adams, in memory of Mason Adams.

Support for the Negro Ensemble Company Season is provided by American Express.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit signaturetheatre.org or call (212) 244-PLAY (7529).

Signature Theatre COMPANY, founded in 1991 by James Houghton, exists to honor and celebrate the playwright. Signature makes an extended commitment to a playwright's body of work, and during this journey, the writer is engaged in every aspect of the creative process. For the past 18 years, the Company has devoted an entire season to the work of a single playwright, including re-examinations of past writings as well as New York and world premieres. By championing in-depth explorations of a living playwright's body of work, the Company delivers an intimate and immersive journey into the playwright's singular vision.

Signature has presented entire seasons of the work of Edward Albee, Lee Blessing, Horton Foote, Maria Irene Fornes, John Guare, Bill Irwin, Adrienne Kennedy, Romulus Linney, Charles Mee, Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, Paula Vogel, August Wilson, and Lanford Wilson. Signature remains deeply committed to these season-long residencies, and during the company's tenth and fifteenth anniversaries, Signature introduced the Legacy Program. The Legacy Program invites past Playwrights-in-Residence back to Signature through two series: the Signature Series, which presents "signature," or more well-known works; and the Premiere Series, which presents New York and world premieres. Signature's current season is celebrating the historic Negro Ensemble Company, while the 2009-2010 Horton Foote Legacy Season will feature the world premiere of The Orphans' Home Cycle and the twentieth anniversary season (2010-2011) will feature the work of Tony Kushner.

Signature, its productions and its resident writers have been recognized with a Pulitzer Prize, 11 Lucille Lortel Awards, 14 OBIE Awards, five Drama Desk Awards, two Outer Critics Circle Awards and 19 AUDELCO Awards among many other distinctions. The National Theatre Conference recognized the company as the 2003 Outstanding National Theatre of the Year.

www.SignatureTheatre.org