TCG to Honor Mother and Daughter Phylicia & Condola Rashad at 2017 Gala

Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announced that its 2017 Gala Evening will honor the award-winning artistry and ground-breaking careers of mother and daughter Phylicia Rashad and Condola Rashad. This year's gala will be held on Monday, November 13, 2017 at New York's Espace (635 West 42nd Street).

The 2017 Gala honors individuals that have made theatre the family business, impacting the U.S. theatre field for multiple generations. This special evening will also commemorate the 20th Anniversary of TCG's National Council for the American Theatre, a group of trustees from around the country who have shaped their communities and influenced the national theatre landscape. The evening will begin with cocktails at 6:00 followed by dinner and special performances at 7:00. Guests have been asked to wear festive attire. All proceeds benefit TCG's wide-ranging programs to strengthen and promote the multi-generational theatre field, while making a better world because of theatre.

"Our theatre field draws great strength from our multi-generational leadership, and from the artistry and craft that are passed down from one generation to the next," said Teresa Eyring, executive director, TCG. "There is no more inspiring example of that intergenerational exchange than the work of Phylicia and Condola Rashad. We are grateful for the opportunity to honor them at our 2017 Gala, and celebrate the work of TCG and the vitality of the field we serve."

Phylicia Rashad was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2016, the same year in which she received the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Play for her performance as Shelah in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Head of Passes. Broadway credits: Violet Weston in August: Osage County, Big Mama in Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Aunt Ester in August Wilson's Gem Of The Ocean (Tony Award nomination), Queen Britannia in Shakespeare's Cymbeline at Lincoln Center, The Witch in Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, and Sweet Anita in Jelly's Last Jam. Ms. Rashad received both the Drama Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her riveting performance as Lena Younger in the Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin In The Sun.

Ms Rashad has attained recognition as a director in regional theater with: August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, and Paul Oakley Stovall's Immediate Family at the Mark Taper Forum; Fences at the Long Wharf Theatre and McCarter Theatre; Gem Of The Ocean at Seattle Repertory Theatre; A Raisin in the Sun at Ebony Repertory Theatre, Kirk Douglas Theater, and the Westport Country Playhouse. Ms. Rashad served as the first Denzel Washington Scholar at Fordham University, and as Master Teacher for the 2015 Lunt Fontanne Fellows at the Ten Chimneys Foundation. She has also conducted Master Classes at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, Vassar, Howard University, and Carnegie Mellon University.

Condola Rashad began her career onstage in Lynn Nottage's 2009 Pulitzer Prize-winning play Ruined, and has since been nominated for Tony Awards for her roles in Stick Fly, The Trip to Bountiful, and A Doll's House, Part Two. Earlier this year, Rashad completed production on the Netflix film Come Sunday, and in spring of 2016, Rashad completed production on Academy Award-nominee Milcho Manchevski's independent film Bikini Moon. Rashad co-starred in Joshua Marston's Complete Unknown opposite Michael Shannon and Rachel Weisz, and in Jodie Foster's Money Monster, opposite George Clooney and Julia Roberts. On television, Rashad is known for her role as the young, motivated Assistant District Attorney Kate Sacker in Showtime's acclaimed series Billions; other credits include Smash, Sex and the City 2, and The Good Wife.

Comprised of leading trustees from Member Theatres from across the country, the National Council for the American Theatre guides TCG's programs on governance and board development and serves as a brain trust for the organization. Successful programs launched by the National Council include TCG's annual Fall Forum on Governance, special sessions for trustees at the annual TCG National Conference and the Trustee Leadership Network, an enhanced form of individual membership open only to trustees of TCG theatres. Published in 2005 by TCG Books, The Art of Governance is TCG's first full-length publication devoted to theatre boards, and was edited by Jaan W. Whitehead and the late Nancy Keen Roche, two founding members of the National Council. Since its release, the publication has become an essential guide for trustees, artistic and Managing Directors, and other professionals in the performing arts.

National Council members include: Eve Alvord, Roger J. Bass, Ralph Bryan, Diana Buckhantz, Bunni Copaken, Sophie Cripe, Brad Edgerton, Reade Fahs, Wendy Gillespie, Kiki Ramos Gindler, Laura Hall, Ruth Hendel, Cynthia Huffman, Bruce E. H. Johnson, Carole Krumland, Gail Lopes, Jennifer Melin Miller, Ruby Melton, Julie M. Morris, Eleanor C. Nolan, Toni Rembe, Deedie Rose, Theodore S. Rosky, Jack Rouse, Judith O. Rubin, Jeremy Shamos, David E. Shiffrin, and Jaan W. Whitehead. Learn more about the National Council here.

The Gala also offers an opportunity for the TCG community to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year and raise support for TCG's wide-ranging programs and services. Highlights from the past year include: a National Conference in Portland, OR that brought together nearly 1,000 theatre practitioners for skills-building and knowledge-sharing; the awarding of $1.184 million in Audience (R)Evolution Cohort Grants to innovative audience-engagement projects; and the publication of award-winning works by both established and emerging playwrights like the Pulitzer Prize-winning Sweat by Lynn Nottage, and Tony Award winners Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson and Oslo by J.T. Rogers. TCG will also celebrate the culmination of the Legacy Leaders of Color video series and the launch of the third cohort of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Institute.

Past honorees at the TCG annual gala-now in its sixth year-include Tony, SAG and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Brian Dennehy; Tony-winning director Kenny Leon, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, Tony-nominated and OBIE-winning playwright and acclaimed The Walking Dead actress Danai Gurira, Tony-nominated and Olivier Award-winning theatrical producers Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey, Ming Cho Lee, Jules Fisher, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, The Vilcek Foundation, Ruth and Stephen Hendel, and Judith O. Rubin.

Gold Sponsor at $25,000-Premier table for 10, naming opportunity in your choice of an upcoming TCG Book to be published in the 2017-2018 Season, opportunity to host a noted TCG artist at your table, one full-page ad in American Theatre magazine, premium acknowledgement with name listing or company provided logo in Gala program.

Silver Sponsor at $10,000-Premium table for 10, opportunity to host a noted TCG artist at your table, one half-page ad in American Theatre magazine, acknowledgement with name listing or company provided logo in Gala program.

Major Donor Ticket at $1,000-Premium seating, listing in Gala program.

Supporter Ticket at $650-Seating, listing in Gala program.

For ticket and sponsorship information to this year's TCG Gala or to purchase an ad in the 2017 Gala Journal, contact gala@tcg.org or (212) 609-5931, or click here.

The TCG Board of Directors includes: Christopher Acebo, Sarah Bellamy, Joseph P. Benincasa, Raymond Bobgan, Kristen Coury, Joshua Dachs, Will Davis,Teresa Eyring, Larissa Fasthorse, Derek Goldman, Jamie Herlich, Susan E. Hilferty, Benita Hofstetter Koman, Rebecca Hopkins, Tim Jennings, Marshall Jones, Max Leventhal, Kathryn M. Lipuma, Johamy Morales, Kevin Moriarty, Eileen J. Morris, Lisa Portes, Meghan Pressman, Heather Randall, Randy Reyes, Francine T. Reynolds, Ellen Richard, Blake Robison, Eric Rosen, Michael S. Rosenberg, Nikkole Salter, Tim Sanford, John Douglas Thompson, Robert P. Warren, and Shana Waterman. The Executive Director of TCG is Teresa Eyring.

For over 55 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for U.S. theatre, has existed to strengthen, nurture, and promote the professional not-for-profit theatre. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide. TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research, and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theatre companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and through the Global Theater Initiative, TCG's partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics, serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute. TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 15 Pulitzer Prizes for Best Play on the TCG booklist. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its Member Theatres, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field, and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theatre. Visit www.tcg.org for more.