Ali Stroker, Elizabeth Stanley & More to Join Arts Education Benefit Honoring Raúl Esparza

For one night only, a cast of Broadway performers and award-winning artists under the direction of acclaimed conductor, music director, orchestrator, composer, arranger, and Arts Ignite Founder, Mary-Mitchell Campbell (Some Like It Hot, Mean Girls, Company) will gather for an arts education benefit GLOW! Celebrating our Arts Education Champions on September 20, 2023 at 6:30pm at The National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park S, New York, NY 10003).

The benefit will honor Raúl Esparza, actor and longtime Arts Ignite supporter, along with Tom FitzGerald and Sheryl Calabro, both longtime Board Members and Arts Ignite supporters. We will celebrate the profound impact of the arts and pay tribute to three deserving individuals for their continued support of arts education.

Musically directed by Mary-Mitchell Campbell and directed by Dick Scanlan (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Does Freddy Dance) this anticipated event will feature Broadway's best - from Tony-award winners to Grammy-nominated artists - during an intimate evening of conversation and songs. The benefit concert will boast an incredible lineup of artists including Tony-award winner Ali Stroker (Oklahoma!, Spring Awakening, Only Murders in the Building), Tony-award nominee and Grammy-award winner Elizabeth Stanley (Jagged Little Pill, On the Town, Company), four time Tony-award nominee Raúl Esparza (Company, The Homecoming, Speed-The-Plow, Arcadia, Law & Order: Special Victims Unit), three time Grammy-award nominee Ryan Shaw (This is Ryan Shaw, In Between, Dynotone's Real Love), two-time Tony-award nominee Chistopher Seiber (The Prom, Shrek) and more guests to be announced!

Tickets for this benefit may be purchased online HERE

All proceeds from tickets and donations go directly to supporting Arts Ignite's efforts to cultivate creative capacity, community, and courage in young people through the arts.

Sheryl Calabro

Sheryl Calabro was born and raised in Smithtown, NY. From an early age, she was a passionate dancer. She attended Santa Clara University where she majored in Theater and Dance. After working for a Silicon Valley tech company, her passion for dance took over. She left her tech career behind for 2 contemporary dance companies in California before going to Disney in Orlando, FL where she performed in productions and parades, including The Little Mermaid and The Lion King. Sheryl returned to New York and received her Law Degree from Cardozo Law School and spent her legal career at Weil, Gotshal & Manges in their Intellectual Property Group. Sheryl was introduced to Arts Ignite through her college mentor and became involved as a teaching artist in several programs, including Shanti Bhavan in India and the International Rescue Committee in New York. Sheryl joined the Arts Ignite Board and spent 12 years as a Director also serving as Board Secretary. She recently relocated to Miami, FL with her husband, Tom, and focuses her time supporting various charities, including Vitas Hospice, St. Jude's Children's Hospital, The Master Elf, Englewood Helping Hands, and The LIFE Lutheran Church.

Mary-Mitchell Campbell

Mary-Mitchell Campbell is a conductor, music director, orchestrator, composer, and arranger who crosses genres easily between Broadway, pop, and classical styles of music. She has served as the Music Director for many Broadway shows including The Prom, Mean Girls, My Love Letter to Broadway, For The Girls, Tuck Everlasting, Finding Neverland, Big Fish, The Addams Family, Sweeney Todd, and Some Like it Hot. She received a Drama Desk Award for Best Orchestrations for the Broadway show, Company. She also music directed Stephen Sondheim's last musical Road Show at The Public Theater, and is the newly announced Music Director for New York City Center's Encores!. Not only is she the Founder and President of Arts Ignite, which uses the arts to work with children in under-resourced communities, she is also a Founding Member of MUSE - Musicians United for Social Equity. She is from North Carolina and has taught on the faculties of Juilliard, NYU, and Boston College.

Raúl Esparza

Raúl Esparza is an American stage and television actor, singer and voice artist. He first drew attention with his performance as Riff Raff in the revival of The Rocky Horror Picture Show, which won him the Theatre World Award. The following year, he appeared off-Broadway in tick, tick... BOOM!, which garnered a Drama Desk-award nomination for Outstanding Actor in a Musical. Esparza is the second performer in theatre history to receive Tony nominations in all four acting categories that a performer can be eligible for. His Tony-award nominations include Best Featured Actor in a Musical for Taboo (2004), Best Actor in a Musical for Company (2007), Best Featured Actor in a Play for The Homecoming (2008), and Best Actor in a Play for Speed-the-Plow (2009). The multifaceted Esparza rounds out his accomplishments on stage and screens with his success in the voiceover world. Born in Wilmington, Delaware and raised in Miami, Florida, Raúl received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts.

Tom FitzGerald

Tom FitzGerald was born and raised in Queens, NY and attended Archbishop Molloy High School and Fordham University where he received a BS in Finance and an MBA. Tom spent over 30 years in finance working for several banks and asset managers in New York, including Deutsche Bank, JPMorgan Chase and Macquarie Group. After meeting his wife, Sheryl, in 2010, and being introduced to Arts Ignite, Tom joined the Board and spent 10 years as a Director and 6 years as the Board Chair. Tom recently retired from his banking career and relocated to Miami, FL with Sheryl. He currently works with Drivetrain LLC as a court appointed, post bankruptcy Trustee among other fiduciary roles. He recently served as a Director on the Board of Wave Computing, Inc., Ventec Health Systems, Inc. and Tricida, Inc. He currently serves as a Director on the board of Treehouse Real Estate Investment Trust and STX Entertainment. Tom and Sheryl have 3 children.

Dick Scanlan

Dick Scanlan is a writer/director who's worked on Broadway and around the world, including the book and lyrics to the Tony Award-winning musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie. Current projects include a commission from the Metropolitan Opera. He has also written numerous essays and articles, and the novel, Does Freddy Dance. He is the founder of artsINSIDEOUT, an Arts Ignite program that works with the mothers and children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Ryan Shaw

Ryan Shaw is a three-time Grammy-nominated artist for his solo projects, This is Ryan Shaw, In Between and Real Love. He has shared the world stage with such artists as Van Halen, Bonnie Raitt, John Legend, B.B. King and Jill Scott. Ryan starred as Judas in the Lyric Opera of Chicago's Olivier Award-winning London production of Jesus Christ Superstar, as the original Stevie Wonder in Motown: The Musical on Broadway, and on London's West End as the Soul of Michael Jackson in Thriller Live. His concert schedule includes Radio City Music Hall's Dream Concert benefit for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial; Carnegie Hall's Elton John and Bernie Taupin Tribute, A Celebration of The African American Cultural Legacy, and Nat King Cole 100th with the NY Pops; The Kennedy Center's Nat King Cole at 100 with the National Symphony Orchestra, and A Tribute to the Queen of Soul: Aretha Franklin with orchestras throughout North America. Ryan recently premiered his solo orchestral show, 'Ryan Shaw Masters of R&B' at the Ferguson Center for the Arts with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. His recent album, Imagining Marvin, includes Marvin Gaye hits, Ryan's original songs and GRAMMY- winning co-writers and special guests.

Christopher Sieber

Christopher Sieber started performing shows in his parents living room where he was a triumph at age 7 in "The Christopher Comedy Cavalcade of 1976", seen by both his parents and unsuspecting neighbors driving by. Then he went immediately to Broadway where he has been for almost 3 decades... he has starred in: Company, The Prom, Matilda,Pippin, La Cage Au Folle, Shrek (Tony, Drama Desk, Drama League, Outer Critics-noms), Monty Python's Spamalot (Tony-nom and West End Production), Chicago, Thoroughly Modern Millie, Into The Woods, Beauty and The Beast, Triumph Of Love. Television appearances include: "Blue Bloods", "Law and Order: SVU", "The Good Wife", "The Good Fight", "Elementary", "Sex and The City", "Pushing Daisies", "It's All Relative", "Two of a Kind", and lots of daytime TV like "Guiding Light", "All My Children", and "Another World", where his many recurring characters never went anywhere....

Elizabeth Stanley

Elizabeth Stanley is heralded as one of the "Breakout Stars of 2020" by The New York Times. She received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Award nominations and a Grammy Award for her performance in the musical Jagged Little Pill. Elizabeth Stanley has dazzled Broadway audiences as Claire De Loone in the revival of On the Town (Drama Desk Nomination), Dyanne in Million Dollar Quartet, Allison in Cry Baby, and April in the Tony Award-winning revival of Company. She appeared as Gussie in James Lapine's production of Merrily We Roll Along at City Center Encores! (PS Classics cast recording), The Nurse in Hello, Again (Transport Group, Drama League Award), Signature Theatre's production of F**king A and Of Thee I Sing (Master Voices, Carnegie Hall). She starred as Francesca in the First National Tour of Jason Robert Brown's The Bridges of Madison County and as Kira in the First National Tour of Xanadu. She recently appeared opposite Vanessa Williams and Santino Fontana in Sondheim's Anyone Can Whistle in Concert at Carnegie Hall with MasterVoices. On television, Elizabeth can be seen as Penny in the FX series "Kindred", and in Season 2 of "Gossip Girl" (HBO Max). Elizabeth frequently performs in concert throughout the country, recently with the Colorado Symphony, St. Louis Symphony, and The New York Pops. This past summer she starred in a new symphonic production of Ragtime with The Boston Pops conducted by Keith Lockhart.

Ali Stroker

Ali Stroker is a Tony-award winner for her role as 'Ado Annie' in Rodgers and Hammerstein's Oklahoma! She made history as the first actor in a wheelchair to appear on Broadway in Deaf West's acclaimed 2015 revival of Spring Awakening. She's a series regular in the Netflix series, Echoes, and starred in the Lifetime holiday film, Christmas Ever After. Ali recurred in the final season of Netflix's Ozark and is recurring in Hulu's Only Murders in the Building. She co-wrote the 2021 novel, 'The Chance to Fly', and she wrote the 2022 children's book, 'Ali and the Sea Stars'. She played Lady Anne in the Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III. She's performed her one woman show all over the country, some of her favorites being the Kennedy Center, Town Hall, Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall. Her mission to improve the lives of others through the arts is captured in her motto: "Turning Your Limitations Into Your Opportunities."

ABOUT Arts Ignite

Arts Ignite is an international arts education organization with the mission to support young people in developing agency through the arts. Since its founding in 2006 as ASTEP (Artists Striving to End Poverty), Arts Ignite has been teaching young people to think like artists, developing skills that will serve them throughout their lives.

Through workshops, residencies, and community events, Arts Ignite Teaching Artists lead communities of young people through arts-rich learning and experiences in varied genres like theater, dance, painting, improvisation, songwriting, videography, photography, and more. Arts Ignite programs engage students ages 4-21 through partnerships with community organizations, NGOs, and schools, serving youth affected by systemic issues and their effects, continuously adapting to meet the needs of the young people it serves in collaboration with partner organizations.

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