Benefit Performance Of UP Hosted By Princess Grace Foundation Held 6/26

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA will host a special benefit performance of Steppenwolf Theatre Company's production of Up, written by Princess Grace Awards winner Bridget Carpenter (Playwriting, 1997) and directed by Princess Grace Awards winner Anna D. Shapiro (Directing, 1996). Anna won the 2008 Tony® Award for Best Direction for Steppenwolf's hit Broadway play August: Osage County. Bridget Carpenter is a renowned award-winning playwright and many pieces of her work have been produced at theaters across the country including Arena Stage, Lincoln Center, and Humana Festival at Actors Theater of Louisville.

The performance of Up - described as a quirky, bittersweet tale about escaping the boundaries of everyday life and how we dream ourselves into a future - will be preceded by a dinner and followed by a lively post-performance discussion with the actors.

PGF-USA, in partnership with Steppenwolf Theatre, has identified a past Princess Grace Awards winner, Alex Torra (Directing, 2007) and has given him the opportunity to travel to Chicago and be the Assistant Director on the production, a unique opportunity for any aspiring director.

Date: Friday June 26, 2009

Location: Steppenwolf Theatre
1650 N. Halsted Street, Chicago, IL

Time: 5:30 pm - Reception and Dinner at Vinci (1732 N. Halsted Street)
7:30 pm - Performance with post-performance discussion to follow

Tickets: $125.00 - Dinner + Performance
$ 50.00 - Performance Only
To purchase tickets, contact Yolanda F. Johnson at 212-317-1470

Beneficiary: Princess Grace Foundation - USA

Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon. The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work. Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of 42 artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation. For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a public charity formed after the death of Princess Grace in 1982, awards scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships to assist emerging theater, dance and film artists in America. Notable Princess Grace Award recipients include: Anna D. Shapiro, winner of 2008 Tony® Award for Director of current Broadway hit August: Osage County; Stephen Hillenburg, creator of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants; Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright; Gillian Murphy, principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre; Eric Darnell, director of Madagascar 1 & 2; Greg Mottola, director of Superbad and Eric Simonson, Academy Award winning filmmaker. For more information about PGF-USA, please visit www.pgfusa.org.

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