Mary Rodgers Guettel to Help Break Ground on Marcus Garvey Amphitheater, 6/3

On Thursday, June 3, 2010 at 11AM, Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe will join Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer and Mary Rodgers Guettel, daughter of the composer Richard Rodgers and executive board member of the Rodgers Family Foundation, to break ground on $7 million in improvements to the amphitheater at Marcus Garvey Park, 122nd Street and Mount Morris Park West.

Once complete, the bandshell and amphitheater will become the premier outdoor performance space in upper Manhattan. The new bandshell will feature a wider stage that will be much closer to the audience. A large, multi-purpose area backstage will contain changing rooms and restrooms for the performers. The seating area will have new benches with seatbacks, built of a durable recycled plastic. A fabric canopy will shield a large portion of the audience from the hot summer sun.

The Rodgers Family Foundation has donated $1 million to the renovation of the amphitheater. In 1970, Rodgers, who grew up in the neighborhood, donated $150,000 to create the park's bandshell.

For more information, please visit www.nyc.gov/parks.