Red Bull Theater Will Honor John Lithgow With Matador Award

 Red Bull Theater has announced that John Lithgow will be honored with the Matador Award for Achievement in Classical Theater and Joanna Cole will receive the George Mayer Award for Extraordinary Service to Classical Theater at The Running of the Red Bulls Gala Benefit on Monday, June 1, 2026. Cocktails and a silent auction will begin at 6:00PM, followed by dinner, awards, and entertainment at 7:00PM. The intimate and elegant evening will be held at The Bowery Hotel (335 Bowery). For more information, to RSVP, or to make a donation, visit: https://www.redbulltheater.com/2026-running-of-the-red-bulls

Hosted by Santino Fontana, the evening will feature special performances by Norbert Leo Butz and Nikki Renée Daniels, along with additional surprises.  Guests will enjoy exquisite dining, a silent auction, and the opportunity to gather with the Red Bull Theater family of artists and supporters. Festive attire is requested. 

“As we celebrate our third decade of reimagining and revitalizing the classics, we're pulling out all the stops for a dazzling evening in honor of one of our country's finest actors, John Lithgow, and our longtime trustee and supporter, Joanna Cole. Come mix and mingle with the Red Bull Theater family of artists and supporters. It will be an unforgettable evening of fun and frolic!” said Mr. Berger.

John Lithgow has long been regarded as one of America's most distinguished performers, with celebrated performances in Shakespeare's Hamlet, Twelfth Night (as Malvolio), and King Lear, along with other major works from the classical canon. Across a stage career spanning more than five decades, he has appeared on Broadway twenty-five times, earning Tony Awards for The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success, and delivering acclaimed performances in M. Butterfly, Requiem for a Heavyweight, and the musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels. He is currently starring on Broadway as Roald Dahl in Giant, following a sold-out run at London's Royal Court Theatre and a West End transfer to the Harold Pinter Theatre in Spring 2025. Lithgow won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for his performance, with Giant also earning the award for Best New Play. In film, Lithgow has made an indelible impression on audiences for decades, earning two Academy Award nominations and appearing in a long list of critically acclaimed films, from The World According to Garp to Terms of Endearment, and most recently Conclave. He recently starred opposite Geoffrey Rush in The Rule of Jenny Pen, and in the title role of JIMPA with Olivia Colman, which debuted at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival. On television, he has delivered some of the medium's most iconic performances, winning six Emmy Awards and two Golden Globes. His television credits include the hit series 3rd Rock from the Sun, Dexter, The Crown, and most recently The Old Man on FX. Across stage and screen, Lithgow has received two Tony Awards, six Emmy Awards, two Golden Globes, four SAG Awards, two Academy Award nominations, and an Olivier Award. Beyond performance, he recently completed his term as co-chair of the Commission on the Arts of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, producing authoritative reports on America's creative workforce and arts in education. The Commission's work also led to Art Happens Here, a PBS documentary highlighting the importance of the arts in the lives of young people.

Joanna Cole is a born and raised die-hard New Yorker whose favorite childhood memories include seeing Lotte Lenya in The Threepenny Opera at the Theater de Lys – now the Lucille Lortel Theater and for many years also Red Bull Theater's home. She attended Bryn Mawr College (in the days when dinosaurs roamed the earth) and did graduate work in English Literature at Columbia University, specializing in seventeenth-century poetry and prose. She has had two wonderful careers. For fifteen years she was a Lecturer in English at Barnard College and then opened her own literary agency working with children's book authors. One of her authors, J. Patrick Lewis, has since become the Children's Poet Laureate of America. Joanna has been a major supporter of Red Bull Theater since 2005, and she was an active member of the company's Board of Trustees from 2020 through 2025.