Harry Lennix to Receive Samuel H. Scripps Award from Julie Taymor at 2022 TFANA Spring Gala

Theatre for a New Audience has announced details of its Spring Gala Celebrating Shakespeare's Birthday, held in-person at Capitale (130 Bowery, New York City) and emceed by Isabel Arraiza. The Gala raises significant support for TFANA's acclaimed productions, as well as for its in-depth education programs serving public school students in every borough of New York City. The Monday, May 16 event begins at 6:30pm with a reception and silent auction, followed by a seated dinner at 7:30 pm with live music by the Jazz Museum in Harlem All-Stars.

Theatre for a New Audience's elegant and entertaining Gala is attended by many of New York's leading arts patrons and has been hosted by eminent theatre artists such as Jessica Hecht, Alfred Molina, Kristine Nielsen, and Maggie Siff. This year, in addition to emcee Isabel Arraiza (Portia in TFANA's recent production of The Merchant of Venice), the Gala includes the attendance of some extraordinary theater-makers and friends of TFANA including Julie Taymor, Elliot Goldenthal, Arin Arbus, Awoye Timpo, John Douglas Thompson and many others from the cast of TFANA's recent production of The Merchant of Venice. For more information about the Gala, visit TFANA.org.

Each year, TFANA honors a great artist with the Samuel H. Scripps Award for Extraordinary Artistic Achievement, named after the visionary philanthropist who made a leadership gift to enable Theatre for a New Audience to expand its body of work in Shakespeare and classical drama and increase its season from two to three annual productions. At the 2022 Gala, TFANA will celebrate acclaimed actor Harry Lennix with the award, presented by Tony Award-winning director Julie Taymor. Lennix, who hosted last year's virtual gala, has a long, rich history with TFANA: in 1994, he played Aaron in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus directed by Taymor-and reprised the role in the 1999 film Titus, again directed by Taymor with Jessica Lange and Anthony Hopkins. In 2001, he played Iachimo in TFANA's Cymbeline, directed by Bartlett Sher, which premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He currently serves on the Artistic Council of the Board of Theatre for a New Audience.

TFANA's Life in Art Award will this year be given to Sally Brody, a celebrated painter and an Emerita Board Member who served on the Theatre's Board for 26 years. The award-which honors the achievements of individuals whose support for the arts has set the standard for leadership and generosity, will be presented to Brody by Jeffrey Horowitz. The award, a signed giclée print by Paul Davis, is named for the autobiography by the great theatre artist Constantin Stanislavski, My Life in Art.

The Gala Co-Chairs are Kathleen C. Walsh and Robert E. Buckholz. Gala Vice Chairs include Alan Beller and Stephanie Neville, Ben E. Campbell, Constance Christensen, Seymour H. Lesser, Larry M. and Maria-Luisa Loeb, Audrey Heffernan Meyer and Danny Meyer, Susan Stockel, and Josh and Jackie Weisberg.

The Gala Lead Sponsor is Deloitte. Hearst is the Premium Sponsor and Bloomberg Philanthropies, Kramer Levin and Latham and Watkins, LLP are Partner Sponsors.

HEALTH AND SAFETY PROTOCOLS

Theatre for a New Audience asks that all guests be fully vaccinated. Guests are encouraged to wear a mask when not eating or drinking. The staff at Capitale is fully vaccinated and will be masked.

ABOUT THE HONOREES

Harry Lennix currently stars on NBC's The Blacklist as Harold Cooper, Assistant Director of Counterterrorism for the FBI. Lennix made his Broadway debut in Pulitzer Prize winning playwright August Wilson's Tony nominated Radio Golf. In 1994 at Theatre for a New Audience, he played Aaron in Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus directed by Julie Taymor and he played Aaron again in the 1999 film Titus, again directed by Julie Taymor with Jessica Lange and Anthony Hopkins. In 2001, he played Iachimo in TFANA's Cymbeline directed by Bartlett Sher which premiered at the Royal Shakespeare Company. He is also on the staff of the Goodman Theater Co. (Chicago) and is an internationally recognized Shakespeare practitioner, writing for various theatrical and literary journals dedicated to the Bard. Film roles include The Martian Manhunter in Zack Synder's Justice League, Dresser in The Five Heartbeats, General Swanwick in Man of Steel and Batman vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, Commander Lock in The Matrix and The Matrix: Reloaded and the Oscar-winning Ray. He is regularly seen on Showtime's Billions. He serves on the Artistic Council of the Board of Theatre for a New Audience.

Sally Brody. In addition to being an Emerita Board Member following 26 years of service to Theatre for a New Audience, Sally Brody has been painting professionally most of her life. Born in Washington, DC, Sally is a long-time Brooklyn Heights and Ancramdale, New York resident. She graduated from Smith College and studied painting and printmaking at the Art Students League, the Brooklyn Museum, and the New York Institute of Technology. Other longtime Board service includes Brooklyn Community Services, as well as Atlantic Gallery, a New York-based non-profit artists gallery cooperative. She has had solo exhibitions at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, the Garrison Art Center and Home Box Office, and has participated in numerous group exhibitions. Sally Brody has designed tapestries for IBM and for commercial and private clients. Her work is in numerous private and corporate collections.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS AND PRESENTERS

Isabel Arraiza (Emcee) played Portia in this season's production of The Merchant of Venice for TFANA. She also stars as Maria Olivares, one of the leads in the Amazon/Plan B series Outer Range. Film credits include The Little Things opposite Rami Malek and Denzel Washington, Driven opposite Jason Sudeikis and Lee Pace and American Dreamer opposite Jim Gaffigan. Theatre credits include Julius Caesar at The Public Theater, Minnetti at the Barbican Centre in London, and Intersections at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. She obtained her MFA from the Juilliard School. From Vega Baja, Puerto Rico.

Julie Taymor (Presenter). TFANA: A Midsummer Night's Dream (inaugural production, Polonsky Shakespeare Center) The Tempest, The Taming of the Shrew, Titus Andronicus, The Green Bird. Broadway: M Butterfly, Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark, The Lion King (Tony Awards for Best Direction of a Musical, Best Costumes), Juan Darien: A Carnival Mass (five Tony nominations), The Green Bird. Off-Broadway: Grounded, The Transposed Heads, Liberty's Taken. Opera: Oedipus Rex starring Jessye Norman (International Classical Music Award), Salomé, The Flying Dutchman, Die Zauberflöte and The Magic Flute (abridged English version), both of which have been performed in repertory at the Metropolitan Opera, Elliot Goldenthal's Grendel. Film: The Glorias (with Julianne Moore and Alicia Vikander), A Midsummer Night's Dream (live performance at Polonsky Shakespeare Center), The Tempest with Helen Mirren, Across the Universe (Golden Globe nomination), Frida with Salma Hayek (two Academy Awards) and Titus starring Anthony Hopkins and Jessica Lange. Taymor is a 1991 recipient of the MacArthur "genius" Fellowship, a 2010 Samuel H. Scripps Award honoree, and was a 2015 inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater.

Doug Wamble (Band Leader, Guitar). A child of Memphis, TN, Doug Wamble has appeared on bandstands and recordings with Wynton Marsalis, Norah Jones, Steven Bernstein, Courtney Love, Madeleine Peyroux, and Cassandra Wilson. His critically-acclaimed albums include Country Libations, Bluestate, Doug Wamble, Fast as Years Slow as Days, Rednecktelectual, For Anew, and The Traveler, a song cycle commissioned by Jazz at Lincoln Center. He has contributed to the Ken Burns documentaries Prohibition, The War and Unforgivable Blackness, and composed for Burns' tragic film, The Central Park Five. Wamble also contributed original score pieces for Burns' Vietnam, Jackie Robinson, The Dust Bowl, The Roosevelts, and Eastlake Meadows. Since 2016, Doug has been on faculty as an ensemble director and guitar instructor at The Juilliard School.

ABOUT THEATRE FOR A NEW AUDIENCE

Founded in 1979 by Jeffrey Horowitz, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA) is home for Shakespeare and other contemporary playwrights. It nurtures artists, culture, and community. Recognizing that each audience is new and different from the last one, TFANA is dedicated to forging an exchange between artist and playgoer that is immediate and direct, and to the ongoing search for a living, human theatre.

With Shakespeare as its supreme guide, TFANA explores the ever-changing forms of world theatre and builds a dialogue spanning centuries between the language and ideas of Shakespeare and diverse authors, past and present. TFANA is committed to building long-term associations with artists from around the world and supporting the development of plays, translations, and productions through residences, workshops and commissions. TFANA performs for an audience of all ages and backgrounds; is devoted to economic access; and promotes a vibrant exchange of ideas through its humanities and education programs.

TFANA's productions have played nationally, internationally and on Broadway. In 2001, it became the first American theatre company invited to bring a production of Shakespeare to the Royal Shakespeare Company.

TFANA created and runs the largest program to introduce Shakespeare and classic drama in New York City's Public Schools. Since its inception in 1984, the program has served 140,000 students.

In 2013, TFANA opened its first permanent home, Polonsky Shakespeare Center (PSC), in the Brooklyn Cultural District. The heart of PSC is its performance space: the 299-seat Samuel H. Scripps Mainstage, a uniquely flexible space with extraordinary acoustics, capable of multiple configurations between stage and audience; as well as the 50-seat Theodore C. Rogers Studio.

In addition to productions, TFANA supports ongoing artistic development through the Merle Debuskey Studio Program, which provides artists with residencies and workshops to create and explore outside the pressures of full production.