Photos: Inside MTC's Spring Gala Honoring Jake Gyllenhaal

 Manhattan Theatre Club just hosted its 2025 Spring Gala, which was held on Monday, May 19 at Cipriani 42nd Street.  The evening was hosted by three-time Tony Award recipient Bernadette Peters and honored Academy Award and Tony Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal for his excellent work and commitment to MTC, the theatre, and increasing access for young people. Peters and Gyllenhaal are both former board members of MTC. 

Gyllenhaal made his Broadway debut in MTC’s 2015 production of Nick Payne’s Constellations, and is currently starring on Broadway in Othello. Gyllenhaal’s honor was presented to him by MTC Artistic Director Lynne Meadow. Tony Award winner Annaleigh Ashford also paid tribute to Gyllenhaal, her co-star in the 2017 Broadway revival of Sunday in the Park with George. 

The gala also honored Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) for over 30 years of Board leadership and support. 

The evening included performances from Dead Outlaw, featuring Tony nominees Julia Knitel and Erik Della Penna; Death Becomes Her, featuring Michelle Williams; Just in Time, featuring Tony nominees Gracie Lawrence and Andrew Resnick; Maybe Happy Ending, featuring Dez Duron; Operation Mincemeat, featuring the production’s Tony-nominated writers David Cumming, Natasha Hodgson, Zoë Roberts, Tony nominee Jak Malone, Claire-Marie Hall, Joshua Zecker-Ross, and Dan Berkely; MTC’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, featuring Bernadette Peters, Lea Salonga, Paige Faure, Jasmine Forsberg, Bonnie Langford, Alexa Lopez, Joanna Riding, Maria Wirries, and Brett Rowe; and Sunset Blvd., featuring Tony nominee Tom Francis, Lou Garrett, Sean Murphy, Fred Lassen, and Adam Wolfe. Tony Award winner Jason Michael Webb served as music director for the event. The creative team for the gala featured Joel Shier (lighting), Leon Rothenberg (sound), and stage managers Thomas Dieter and James Fitzsimmons. 

Stars in attendance included May Adrales, Ngozi Anyanwu, Michael Arden, Alana Arenas, Tala Ashe, Raffi Barsoumian, Andrea Bianchi, Neal Bledsoe, Camille A. Brown, Jeb Brown, Darren Criss, Trip Cullman, Glenn Davis, Andrew Durand, Kevin Earley, Ty Fanning, Joshua Harmon, Rob Heaps, Jessica Hecht, LaTanya Richardson Jackson, Brandon Jacobs-Jenkins, Kenny Leon, Lucy MacKinnon, Brian Moreland, Marjan Neshat, Marco Pennette, Jason Pennycooke, Jeremy Secomb, Kyle Selig, Jonathan Spector, Kimber Elayne Sprawl, Ben Stanton, Sanaz Toosi, Kip Williams, Joy Woods and Kara Young. 

MTC will hold its 2026 Spring Gala on Monday, May 18, 2026. 

Photo Credit: Bruce Glikas