Playwrights Horizons Announces 2nd Round Of Major Items For Online Auction

Acclaimed Off-Broadway theater company Playwrights Horizons (Tim Sanford, Artistic Director; Leslie Marcus, Managing Director) has announced details for a second round of major items for their special online Auction in connection with its annual Spring Gala Benefit "In Quarter Time". Bidding for the auction, which already features an exceptionally eclectic array of items, is currently underway at www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com. Online bidding will continue until 10PM on Thursday, April 29th, a few days prior to the Gala event itself on Monday evening, May 3rd.

Newly-added to the already vast array of items are:

CELEBRITY EVENTS
Including dinner with Kristin Chenoweth along with ticket to Promises, Promises; meet & greet with Edward Albee along with tickets to the Opening Night of his upcoming new play Me, Myself & I; meet Christopher Walken and Zoe Kazan after a performance of A Behanding in Spokane; having your outgoing voicemail recorded by Marisa Tomei; Theater date with Michael Greif and Anthony Rapp; Theater date with John Guare and Lynn Nottage; post-show drinks with Tony Shalhoub and Theresa Rebeck after seeing Lend Me a Tenor; and attending a BAMfamily Book Brunch with LaChanze and Brian Pinkney.

ONE-OF-A-KIND EXPERIENCES
Including having a private tour of the real Grey Gardens estate by owner Sally Quinn (who purchased it from ‘Little' Edie Beale in 1979); walk-on role in Chicago with rehearsal, tickets and cast photo; New York Times Newsroom tour and Page One meeting; private screening of The Kids Are All Right for 16; High Tea at the Pierre Hotel with bestselling author Gretchen Rubin (The Happiness Project); 9 trapeze and trampoline classes; cupcake decorating lessons for 2; guided tour of Governor's Island; and a walk-on role in the original web sitcom sensation Jack in a Box.

MEMORABILIA
Including Assassins memorabilia signed by Stephen Sondheim; Sunday in the Park with George items signed by Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine; one-of-a-kind backstage photo from the TV series Dirty, Sexy, Money or the recent play This by cast member and photographer Glenn Fitzgerald; a Marisa Tomei-signed DVD package; In Treatment script signed by Alison Pill and Sarah Treem; poster of The Heidi Chronicles signed by Joan Allen; and ballet shoes signed by New York City Ballet's Teresa Reichen

TICKETS
For a live taping of "The Ellen Show"; many Broadway shows including tickets and backstage tours for Sondheim on Sondheim (featuring a visit and dinner with James Lapine), West Side Story (also featuring a Playbill signed by author Arthur Laurents), Memphis (featuring a visit with stars Chad Kimball and Cass Morgan), Enron (featuring a visit with cast member Stephen Kunken); tickets to God of Carnage, Billy Elliot, Hair, Fela!, Million Dollar Quartet, The Phantom of the Opera, The 39 Steps and Blue Man Group; plus tickets to a New York Giants Game (including a pre-game on-field tour), the Apollo, Laugh Lounge and the New York Philharmonic, as well as memberships for New York Botanical Garden, MoMA, Independent Film Channel, Film Forum, Pure Yoga, Equinox and Club H.

TRAVEL
Including a First-Class African safari for 4 at the Ongava Game Reserve in Namibia; a 3-night stay for 2 at a 19th Century Irish manor bed & breakfast in Ireland; a Literary Weekend for 2 in Fire Island Pines at The Madison; a New York City weekend including 2 nights at The Pierre with passes to the Guggenheim and Top of the Rock, Valera car service, plus dinner and a show at Joe's Pub.

Many more items, including Dining opportunities and Luxury goods, are listed online.

All interested bidders must go to www.playwrightshorizons.cmarket.com to register to bid.

In addition, this year a special Raffle will take place the evening of the Gala. Featuring three Grand Prizes, tickets are $100 and will be strictly limited to a total of 300 entries. Buy five and get one free. Raffle tickets are also available for purchase online at www.playwrightshorizons.org.

The three Raffle prizes are:

FIRST PRIZE - A week in storied Palm Springs, CA in a mid-century three bedroom, three bath private home, stylishly furnished. Home has mountain views, a garden, heated pool and spa. Winner will also receive two round-trip coach airline tickets.

SECOND PRIZE - Tickets to the May 22nd evening game in the New York Yankees vs. New York Mets Subway Series at CitiField. Seats are in the prized Delta Gold Club level.
THIRD PRIZE - Two Silver Pass subscriptions to Playwrights Horizons' 2010/2011 theater season. Next season's productions include Edward Albee's Me, Myself & I starring Elizabeth Ashley and Brian Murray; A Small Fire by Adam Bock; Go Back to Where You Are written by and starring David Greenspan; Kin by Bathsheba Doran; and After the Revolution by Amy Herzog. Winner will also receive dinner for two at four neighborhood restaurants including Rachel's; Ecetera, Ecetera; Landmark Tavern; and Heartland Brewery.

Winners will be determined at a random drawing taking place on May 3, 2010. Each participant is only eligible for a single prize. Tickets purchased online will be mailed to the participant.

Playwrights Horizons' annual Gala evening, this year titled "In Quarter Time", will be held Monday evening, May 3rd at Guastavino's (409 East 59th Street). The evening will honor

Artistic Director Tim Sanford for his 25 years at Playwrights Horizons. It will also feature a performance by Tony Award winner Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza, at Playwrights Horizons in A Prayer for My Enemy).

The evening's Artistic Co-Chairs will include nine notable Playwrights Horizons veterans: Joan Allen (The Heidi Chronicles in ‘88), Christopher Durang (Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You in ‘81, Baby with the Bathwater in ‘83, Laughing Wild in ‘87, Betty's Summer Vacation in ‘99, Miss Witherspoon in ‘05), Craig Lucas (Three Postcards in '87, Small Tragedy in '04, Prayer for My Enemy in ‘08), Michael Mayer (Baby Anger in ‘97, The Credeaux Canvas in ‘01 and Our House in ‘09), Cynthia Nixon (The Heidi Chronicles in ‘89, On The Bum in ‘92), Lynn Nottage (Mud, River, Stone in '97, Fabulation in ‘04), Mary-Louise Parker (Dead Man's Cell Phone in ‘08), Theresa Rebeck (The Butterfly Collection in ‘00, Bad Dates in ‘03 Our House in ‘09) and Marisa Tomei (Demonology in ‘96)

Trustees David Caplan (Partner, Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP) and Beth Williams (Chief Operating Officer, Key Brand Entertainment) will serve as Gala Benefit Board Co-Chairs. Joanne Cregg Smith (Senior Vice President, Zurich Alternative Asset Management) will be Gala Benefit Patron Chair, Kate Roche Hope will be Gala Generation PH Chair and Carole Schwartz will serve as Gala Patron Auction Committee Chair. Lead supporters include Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP, and the Murphy Family Foundation.

Cocktails and a Silent Auction will begin at 6PM, followed by dinner at 7:45 PM and the evening's entertainment.

Ticket prices for the Gala Benefit start at $800 and can be reserved by calling Michelle Kiefel at 212-564-1235 extension 3143.

Playwrights Horizons, under the leadership of Artistic Director Tim Sanford and Managing Director Leslie Marcus, is a writer's theater dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American Playwrights, composers and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. In its 39 years, Playwrights Horizons has presented the work of more than 375 writers and has received numerous awards and honors, most recently being honored with a special 2008 Drama Desk Award for "ongoing support to generations of theater artists and undiminished commitment to producing new work." Notable productions include four Pulitzer Prize winners: Doug Wright's I Am My Own Wife (2004 Tony Award, Best Play), Wendy Wasserstein's The Heidi Chronicles (1989 Tony Award, Best Play), Alfred Uhry's Driving Miss Daisy and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Sunday in the Park with George, as well as the three recent hits Bruce Norris' Clybourne Park, Annie Baker's Circle Mirror Transformation and Melissa James Gibson's This (2010 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize finalist), plus Doug Wright, Scott Frankel and Michael Korie's Grey Gardens (three 2007 Tony Awards), Craig Lucas's Prayer For My Enemy and Small Tragedy (2004 Obie Award, Best American Play), Adam Rapp's Kindness, Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman's Assassins, Sarah Ruhl's Dead Man's Cell Phone, Bruce Norris's The Pain and the Itch, Lynn Nottage's Fabulation (2005 Obie Award for Playwriting), Kenneth Lonergan's Lobby Hero, David Greenspan's She Stoops to Comedy (2003 Obie Award), Kirsten Childs's The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin (2000 Obie Award), Richard Nelson and Shaun Davey's James Joyce's The Dead, William Finn's March of the Falsettos and Falsettoland, Christopher Durang's Betty's Summer Vacation and Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Richard Nelson's Goodnight Children Everywhere and Franny's Way, Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty's Once on This Island, Jon Robin Baitz's The Substance of Fire, Scott McPherson's Marvin's Room, A.R. Gurney's Later Life, Adam Guettel and Tina Landau's Floyd Collins and Jeanine Tesori and Brian Crawley's Violet.

For more information, visit www.playwrightshorizons.org.