DGF Gala 2019 Will Honor Lynn Ahrens & Stephen Flaherty, and More

The Dramatists Guild Foundation (DGF) will honor Tony Award-winning songwriting duo Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once On This Island), the President of Concord Theatricals, Sean Patrick Flahaven, along with TodayTix Founders Brian Fenty and Merritt Baer at their annual DGF Gala on Monday, November 4 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in NYC. The evening's program will be directed by Kathleen Marshall.

DGF's annual Gala celebrates artists and honors patrons of the American theater community in gratitude of their continued support of emerging writers and creators. This year's performers and participants will be announced at a later date.

The Dramatists Guild Foundation supports the future of American theater by supporting the writers who create it. DGF's programs and initiatives help propel playwrights, composers, lyricists, and book writers to their full potential by providing arts education and resources across the country.

Although long-lasting songwriting teams have become a rarity, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty have proved the exception. In 1988, they burst onto the New York theater scene with the comic musical, Lucky Stiff, and their partnership in words and music has flourished ever since. For their extensive work in theater, film and music, they have received the highest honors, including Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Broadway's classic musical Ragtime; the 2018 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical for Once On This Island; four Grammy nominations; and nominations for two Academy Awards and two Golden Globes for Twentieth Century Fox's feature film Anastasia, which they also adapted for Broadway. Ahrens and Flaherty have been consistent supporters of the Dramatists Guild Foundation, creating the DGF Fellows program, and donating a Steinway piano to the DGF Music Hall, a free space where writers can work, rehearse, and present their work. They have taken part in the DGF's Traveling Masters Program and Legacy Project, and serve on the Council of the Dramatists Guild of America. In 2014, Ahrens and Flaherty received the Oscar Hammerstein Award for Lifetime Achievement and in 2015 they were inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame.

A longtime supporter of DGF and member of The Dramatists Guild for 25 years, Sean Patrick Flahaven is President of Concord Theatricals (CT), the world's most comprehensive theatrical agency. Comprising the catalogues of Rodgers & Hammerstein Theatricals, Tams-Witmark, Samuel French, and The Musical Company, CT represents over 10,000 plays and musicals and over 100 songwriters and recordings. CT also develops, invests, and produces shows for Broadway, West End, and internationally. CT won its first Tony Award as a producer on the 2019 Best Musical, Hadestown. Prior to CT, he was the founding worldwide CEO of The Musical Company, a joint venture between Concord-now the 5th largest music company in the world-and The Really Useful Group, Andrew Lloyd Webber's landmark production company. From 2008-2016, Flahaven was Senior Vice President of Theatre and Catalog Development for Warner/Chappell Music, the global music publishing arm of Warner Music Group, where he represented the greatest songwriters on Broadway as well as the majority of the catalogs in the Great American Songbook. He has had the privilege of working with Broadway legend Stephen Sondheim for 22 years. Flahaven has been a producer on over two dozen albums, 12 of which were nominated for Grammys, including the Grammy-winning, 6x Platinum, chart-topping smash hit, Hamilton. He has produced or managed over 100 shows, concerts, workshops, and readings for landmark companies on and off-Broadway.

For tickets to DGF's 2018 Gala, please visit: https://dgf.org/gala, email: dgf@total-managment.com, or call: 212-878-6646.

For more information about the Dramatists Guild Foundation, please visit: www.dgf.org, and follow on social media: @dgfound.