Laila Drew, Allyson Tucker and More Join Theatre Now's ASTONISHING! GALA 2025

Laila Drew (Suffs) and Allyson Tucker (Ragtime, Follies) are among the names added to the list of performers for Theatre Now's "Astonishing! Gala 2025", which will honor Mindi Dickstein (Little Women), Anna K. Jacobs (Teeth) and Lisa Lambert (The Drowsy Chaperone). The event celebrating Women and Nonbinary Musical Theatre Writers will be held Saturday, November 8th at the historic Players, 16 Gramercy Park South, and will be hosted by Taylor Iman Jones with appearances by Jason Howland (Little Women, The Great Gatsby), original Man in Chair Bob Martin (The Drowsy Chaperone, BOOP!, The Prom), and Pulitzer Prize winner Michael R. Jackson (A Strange Loop, Teeth). Members of Theatre Now's Musical Writers Lab will also be featured during the evening.

Performers scheduled to appear include Taylor Iman Jones (Head Over Heels, Six), Isabelle McCalla (Water for Elephants, Shucked, The Prom), Claire Kwon (Maybe Happy Ending), Kyra Kennedy (Teeth), Afra Sophia Tully (Witnesses), Alanna Saunders (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child), Laila Drew (Suffs), and Allyson Tucker (Ragtime, Follies). The performance will be directed by Tasha Gordon-Solmon and Music Directed by Britt Bonney. The evening will begin at 7pm with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and the performance program followed by wine and dessert. There will also be a silent auction including Broadway tickets, memorabilia and a private mentoring session with Anna K. Jacobs. For more information, please email info@tnny.org.

Mindi Dickstein is a Jonathan Larson Award-winning writer, best known as the lyricist for Broadway's Little Women. Her other projects include Benny & Joon, Maiden Voyage, Toy Story: The Musical, and Witnesses, based on the diaries of teens who perished during the Holocaust. She currently serves on the faculty of the NYU Graduate Musical Theater Writing Program.

Anna K. Jacobs is a Jonathan Larson Award-winning composer, lyricist, and book writer. In collaboration with Michael R. Jackson, she wrote the music and co-wrote the book for Teeth. Her other musicals include POP!; Anytown; Harmony, Kansas; and Witnesses, and she is currently collaborating with playwright Anna Ziegler on A House Without Windows, a musical about the life and disappearance of child prodigy author Barbara Newhall Follett.

Lisa Lambert is an actress, comedy writer, and Tony Award-winning composer, best known for co-writing the music and lyrics to The Drowsy Chaperone. Stage and screen songwriting credits include: Slings & Arrows; Cole Escola: Help! I'm Stuck; Skippy's Rangers: The Show They Never Gave; Ouch My Toe; and Big Rosemary (book by Blake Edwards).