Queens Theatre (QT) is celebrating its 25th Anniverary with a Gala on June 2, 2014 at 6:00 pm at Queens Theatre (14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368). The gala will honor Euripides Pelekanos who is the co-founder and CEO of Queens favorite burger spot, Bareburger. Join community leaders, culture icons, and other Queens taste-makers to celebrate QT's contribution to the arts in Queens for a quarter century.
The event will include dinner and exciting live performances including Broadway actors Douglas Lyons (Book of Mormon, Beautiful) and Amber Iman (Soul Doctor) singing original works from hot new musical theatre team Lyons & Pakchar, aerialists Bobby Hedglin-Taylor and Kimmy Aguilar, and guitar prodigy/singer Solomon ('King Solomon') Hicks with vocalist Elissa Goldstein ('An Affirmative Act').
Tickets are $250 and are available on the theatre's website queenstheatre.org.
Honoree Euripides Pelekanos has lived and worked in Astoria his entire life. In 2009, Euripides opened his organic burger restaurant, Bareburger, on 31st Avenue. By the end of 2014, there will be 35 Bareburger locations in two countries. From its start Bareburger has been supportive of local arts and education. Euripides is proud to be able to make donations through his success, and lend his time to teaching the youth and the rest of the community what he has been fortunate enough to learn throughout the process of business ownership. "It's about spreading positivity, happiness, and knowledge wherever you can. Regardless of where Bareburger grows, I?m still just a little kid from Astoria."
In addition to celebrating another year of great performances on their stages, this Gala provides essential support for Queens Theatre's productions, educational programming, new play development and special events.
Purchase $250 tickets at
queenstheatre.org.
Queens Theatre is located at 14 United Nations Avenue South, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NY 11368. For more information, call (718) 760-0064.
DIRECTIONS:
Car: Queens Theatre is accessible by all major highways that traverse Queens and is minutes away from Long Island, Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Westchester. And the best part? Parking is always FREE.
http://queenstheatre.org/getting-theatre for directions
Subway: 7 train to the Mets-Willets Point station. Follow signs to LIRR/Flushing Meadows Corona Park. Free Shuttle Service runs one hour prior to curtain and stops outside Mets-Willets Point station.
ABOUT THE PERFORMERS
SPIDER WEB/KIMMY AGUILAR is a NY native who has trained in dance her entire life. She has taught and performed nationally in wonderful theatres such as
Madison Square Garden, The Kennedy Center in Washington DC, and the San Francisco Opera House. She is a certified Pilates Instructor and has been featured in many studios voted 'The Best of NYC'. She is also the recipient of many local arts grants, receiving funding from The Brooklyn
Arts Council Regrant and The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs for her work on 'the science of movement'. She was an invited speaker at the 2010 National Conference on Arts and Humanities.
ELISSA GOLDSTEIN is having a very exciting year working in film and theatre. Her riveting lead role as Samantha Succi in the controversial film, "An Affirmative Act," in which she co-starred with the late
Charles Durning is now being distributed by NBC Universal and can currently be seen on Netflix along with her other highly acclaimed feature films, "The Great Fight," and "Lady Peacock." Elissa's renowned singing voice can be heard on the original motion picture recording of Breaking Glass Pictures' "Lady Peacock," and also as the voice of the character Rizzo in Disney's National Tour of Grease On Ice.Elissa was recently awarded "Best Actress in a Comedy," at the Downbeach Film Festival in Atlantic City for her role in Mattioli Productions award winning short film, "The Replacement." She has worked as the lead singer on the Las Vegas Strip at the MGM Grand, was a featured soloist singing live on The Today Show, traveled the seas as a lead singer on cruise ships, continues to have a celebrated career in musical theatre Off Broadway/regionally and most recently was seen performing at the exclusive 2014 NYC Couture Fashion Week at the New Yorker Hotel.
SPIDER WEB/BOBBY HEDGLIN-TAYLOR is so happy to be back in Queens Theatre where he was the Circus Aerial Sequence designer for the world premiere Broadway bound musical
CHIX 6! Bobby's work is represented on Broadway in the smash hit revival of PIPPIN! He trained Tony Award winners
Patina Miller and
Andrea Martin for their roles in the A.R.T. pre broadway try out. His work was also featured on Broadway in the musical CHAPLIN where he was the tightrope trainer for Tony Award nominee
Rob McClure and his two understudies. Off Broadway his circus talents were featured in the CSC version of A Midsummer Nights Dream starring
Bebe Neuwirth and
Christina Ricci. Bobby's career combines 25 years of theatrical expertise and 17 years of circus performance, to bring Aerial Dance to a whole new level! He's also the Cirque designer and coach for Holland America Cruise Line and was the special affects designer for the band The Deafening music video "Dress You Up".
www.BobbyHedglinTaylor.com
SOLOMON HICKS is a Nineteen-year-old guitar prodigy/singer- known by fans in Harlem as "King Solomon," "lil B.B." or "East Montgomery". An eclectic musician, Solomon excels at a number of musical styles. He studied Jazz, Classical and Afro-Cuban guitar at Harlem's School of the Arts and the Harbor Conservatory for the Performing Arts, and has attended Jazzmobile and Barry Harris' Bebop workshops. He currently attends the Music and Performing Arts High School in New York City. Several news outlets have written about Solomon's extraordinary talents, including The Washington Post, New York Daily News, The Wall Street Journal, ABC, News 12 and multiple public access programs. Solomon got his start performing at Harlem's historic New Amsterdam Musical Association (NAMA) and on Amateur Night at the Apollo Theater. He has performed at the United Nations, the 2009 U.S. Open, MetLife Stadium and
Madison Square Garden. He has had the honor of performing for Mayor
Michael Bloomberg and has also played for former Governor of New York
David Patterson, Dr.
Billy Taylor and Congressman Charlie Rangel. He has performed live on radio stations WLIB, WVOX Mt. Vernon and WHCR 90.3.
AMBER IMAN Broadway: Soul Doctor, (
Nina Simone). Off-Broadway: A Civil War Christmas (NYTW), and RENT (New World Stages). Regional: Into the Woods (Alliance Theatre), Stick Fly (
Arena Stage/Huntington Theatre), The Colored Museum (
True Colors Theatre Company). BFA: Howard University. 2013 Clive Barnes Award Nominee. "We must lift as we climb."
LYONS & PAKCHAR'S collaboration began when they met touring on The 1st National Tour of The Book of Mormon.
Douglas Lyons an actor onstage and
Ethan Pakchar a guitarist in the pit. What began as a friendship bloomed into writing sessions in hotels, dressing rooms and theatres around the country. In August 2013, after fundraising a campaign, the team recorded their debut album "#Love (Live) at The Cutting Room in NYC". "#Love(Live)" an 11-song album that mixes pop, R&B and theatre to explore "the good, bad and awkward roller coasters in human relationships." L & P celebrated the release of their album at Rockwood Music Hall and most recently delivered a sold-out concert entitled "The Songs of Lyons & Pakchar" at 54 Below. Currently the duo is diligently writing two new musicals and were selected for 2014 The
Johnny Mercer Songwriting Project.
QUEENS THEATRE (QT) is the premier performing arts venue in Queens. QT's mission is to provide quality and diverse live performances that are economically and geographically accessible to the 2.2 million residents of Queens, the most ethnically diverse county in the nation, and the surrounding metropolitan region. To foster greater cultural awareness and appreciation, the Theatre presents and produces programs that reflect this diversity and feature international, national and local artists.
Photo Credit: Kevin Thomas Garcia
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