SD City Council Names 9/28 'La Jolla Playhouse Tony Award Day'

La Jolla Playhouse is pleased to announce that San Diego City Council will issue a proclamation designating Tuesday, September 28, 2010 to be La Jolla Playhouse 2010 Tony Award Day, in celebration of the 2010 Tony Award win for the hit Broadway musical Memphis, directed by Playhouse Artistic Director Christopher Ashley. Memphis highlighted The Playhouse's 2008/9 season before transferring to New York. The proclamation will be presented to Ashley by District 1 City Councilmember Sherri S. Lightner on September 28 at 10:00 am at City Council chambers (202 C Street, 12th Floor, San Diego).

Memphis was recognized with four 2010 Tony Awards at the live, internationally televised awards ceremony on June 13, 2010, including Best Musical, Score, (David Bryan), Book (Joe DiPietro) and Orchestrations (Daryl Waters & David Bryan).  The show also received an additional three Tony nominations, including a Best Director nomination for Ashley.

Memphis also received four Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Musical, Outstanding Music, Outstanding Actress in a Musical (Montego Glover) and Outstanding Orchestrations, as well as four Outer Critics Circle Awards: Outstanding New Broadway Musical, Outstanding New Score, Outstanding Choreographer (Sergio Trujillo) and Outstanding Actress in a Musical."The Playhouse has been a jewel for La Jolla and San Diego by producing world-class shows on par with those on Broadway.  The success of Memphis demonstrates the well-earned fame that The Playhouse and its creative team deserve," said Councilmember Lightner.
 
"We were overjoyed to see Memphis recognized with these prestigious Tony Awards, and we are just as thrilled to receive this honor from San Diego City Council," said Michael S. Rosenberg, Managing Director of La Jolla Playhouse. "This is a great testament to the caliber of work that is originating at La Jolla Playhouse and to our supportive and enthusiastic San Diego audiences, who embrace new work and who were the first to experience this outstanding production."
The nationally-acclaimed, Tony Award-winning La Jolla Playhouse is known for its tradition of creating the most exciting and adventurous new work in regional theatre. The Playhouse was founded in 1947 by Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire and Mel Ferrer, and is considered one of the most well-respected not-for-profit theatres in the country. Numerous Playhouse productions have moved to Broadway, including Big River, The Who's Tommy, Thoroughly Modern Millie, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, A Walk in the Woods, Dracula, Billy Crystal's 700 Sundays, the Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife, Jersey Boys, The Farnsworth Invention, 33 Variations and Memphis. Located on the UC San Diego campus, La Jolla Playhouse is made up of three primary performance spaces: the Mandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum Theatre, and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs Center for La Jolla Playhouse, a state-of-the-Art Theatre complex which features the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre. La Jolla Playhouse is led by Artistic Director Christopher Ashley and Managing Director Michael S. Rosenberg.

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