Kevin Kline Awards To Take Place 3/31 In St. Louis

Lara Teter, Tony Nominated actor and new head of Musical Theatre at Webster University, will serve as emcee of the 3rd annual Kevin Kline Awards, which is scheduled for Monday, March 31 at the Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts at Webster University (130 Edgar Rd.). The event begins at 7 p.m.

In addition to Teeter, three of the celebrity presenters will include Tony Award winning choreographer Jerry Mitchell, St. Louis City Mayor Francis Slay and Mary Engelbreit, famed artist and entrepreneur.

Engelbreit will be presenting the "Theatre for Young Audiences" award. An advocate for children's literacy and cultural education, Engelbreit worked with Kline on a DVD project based on her illustration of "The Night Before Christmas".

In all, 24 St. Louis theater companies are vying for top honors at the event, which celebrates professional theater in the city. Forty- five plays and musicals produced in St. Louis during 2007 share 118 nominations in 22 different categories.

Tickets may be purchased by calling 314/531-7529. Various levels of ticket prices are available. A special pre-event cocktail reception will be held for premium and elite seating level guests beginning at 6 p.m. All ticket-holders are invited to attend the post-event red- carpet gala from 9 p.m. to midnight.

The Professional Theater Awards Council (PTAC), which administers awards, was formed in 2004 to heighten awareness of theater in St. Louis. During 2007, 100 different plays and musicals were evaluated by a floating pool of 45 judges. Each show was reviewed by seven judges, and each judge was required to submit a ballot within 24 hours of attending a production, thus insuring each production was weighed on its own merits rather than in comparison to others.

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