Joshua William Gelb and More to Perform at BEYOND: HERE's 31st Annual Gala

HERE Arts Center has revealed the performers for BEYOND: HERE’S 31st Annual Gala on Monday, May 12 at 6pm. Performers will include Joshua William Gelb (Obie award-winner, Theater in Quarantine and HERE’s [Untitled Miniature]), Friend of Friend - a genre-defying theater band featuring playwright Andy Boyd, vocal artist syd island, and interactive performance-maker Philip Santos Schaffer, Basil Twist, the internationally celebrated puppetry visionary and curator of HERE’s Dream Music Puppetry program, Broadway veteran Kenneth Ard (Cats, Smokey Joe’s Café, Jelly’s Last Jam), Justin Hicks (Drama Desk nominee) and Kenita Miller (Tony Award nominee) of the Grammy- winning The HawtPlates, plus additional special guests.

The 2025 gala will honor Eisa Davis, Co-creater of WARRIORS (with Lin-Manuel Miranda), Playwright (Bulrusher) and performer (Passing Strange), as the Avant-Guardian honoree and artist, culture worker, Program Officer at Mellon Foundation, Stephanie Ybarra will be the HEREmantitarian honoree.

Single tickets and ticket packages for the gala are available for purchase now. Proceeds from ticket sales and funds raised will be used to continue the interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary commitment that has always been at the forefront of HERE’s vision. 

The gala will take place at HERE (145 6th Ave, New York, NY). Gather for an evening where the historic space becomes a stellar landscape, where experimental performance meets cosmic wonder. Gala entertainment will also include tarot readings, galactic face painting, and more, with a futuristic after party featuring beats by DJ Duneska. Gala designs will be by Taylor Friel and Jacqueline Scaletta.

HERE Arts Center restructured their organization last year making Jesse Cameron Alick, Annalisa Dias, Lanxing Fu and Lauren Miller co-directors of the institution, succeeding founding artistic director Kristin Marting. HERE specializes in producing new, hybrid performances that integrate multiple artistic disciplines, including theatre, dance, music and opera, puppetry, media, visual and installation, spoken word and performance art. Their standout productions include Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues, Taylor Mac’s The Hang and The Lily’s Revenge, Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle all wear bowlers, Young Jean Lee’s Songs of the Dragons Flying to Heaven, Robin Frohardt’s The Pigeoning, and Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique.

HERE’s Gala will be hosted by the Board of Directors which includes Justin Deabler
Michael Champness (Treasurer), Abigail Gampel, Charles Garrett, Tim Maner, Setareh Mirhosseini, Alan Ostroff, Christina Pan, Teresa Woods Pena, Kamala Sankaram (Secretary), Amy Segal, Brenna Thomas, Robert Walport (Vice Chair), Brian Warren, Jennifer Suh Whitfield (Chair), China Young, Tommy Young and Ex-officio Barbara Busackino.