Photos: Primary Stages Honors Thom Sesma And Mickey Rolfe At 2025 Fall Gala

Primary Stages hosted its 2025 Fall Gala on Monday, October 20, at Sony Hall, honoring Thom Sesma with the Einhorn Mentorship Award and Mickey Rolfe with the Andrew Leynse Commitment to New Plays Award. See photos of the event.

The event was directed by Michael Heitzman (Frozen – regional premiere) with music direction by Will Van Dyke (Swept Away).

The Einhorn Mentorship Award is presented annually to a member of the Primary Stages community who has served as an inspiration and mentor to others. Past recipients have included Carl Andress, Charles Busch, Judy Gold, Adam Gwon, Kate Hamill, Marla Persky, Kimberly Senior, Jeanine Tesori, and Sharon Washington.

Stage veteran Thom Sesma, who most recently appeared in Broadway’s Dead Outlaw and earned the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Award for Featured Performer in a Musical, was recognized for his long-standing contributions to the Primary Stages community. Sesma made his company debut in 2018 as Leo Tolstoy in The Gospel According to Thomas Jefferson, Charles Dickens, and Leo Tolstoy: Discord and joined the Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) faculty in 2019. During the COVID-19 lockdown, he created a specialized online curriculum to help ESPA actors continue developing their craft.

The Andrew Leynse Commitment to New Plays Award, established in memory of the late Primary Stages Artistic Director, honors individuals who champion new work and emerging playwrights. This year’s honoree, Mickey Rolfe, is the founding patron of the company’s Liff Lab, a development program providing playwrights with a 29-hour workshop of unproduced new works. Rolfe spent four decades representing Broadway’s top designers, whose collective work earned 22 Tony Awards.

The gala featured performances by Andrew Durand (Dead Outlaw, Shucked), Judy Gold (Yes, I Can Say That!), Julia Knitel (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical), Zachary Noah Piser (See What I Wanna See), A.J. Shively (A Man of No Importance), David Van Tieghem (Carnegie Hall, The Late Show with David Letterman), and more.

The 2025 Gala Benefit Committee included Mary Borba, Jamie deRoy, Lynne Halliday, Marla Persky, Carol Roaman, and Mary Susnjara.

Proceeds from the gala supported Primary Stages’ free educational programs, which reach more than 1,000 New York City public school students and teachers each year.