Arena Stage to Host Special Military Thanksgiving Performance, 11/25

Every year, hundreds of D.C.-area military families must spend the Thanksgiving holiday away from loved ones. In gratitude for their service, Arena Stage is inviting wounded warriors, service men and women, and military families with deployed service members to a complimentary Thanksgiving dinner and performance at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St., S.W.) Friday, November 25. Arena Stage is working through each of the military service branch's Warrior Transition Units to distribute the tickets. It is anticipated that more than 260 guests will experience this special evening.

"The United States military is volunteer service, and we are living in a world where we all need to be thankful for those who volunteer to be in the armed forces, shares Arena Stage Managing Director Edgar Dobie. "Providing this evening for service men and women and their families is the least we can do for the huge sacrifices they make for us."

Dinner will be prepared and served by Ridgewells Catering at 5:00 p.m., and guests will have a choice between seeing Oregon Shakespeare Festival's Equivocation by Bill Cain or Amy Freed's comedy You, Nero following dinner at 8:00 p.m.

The event is supported in part by contributions from the United Services Automobile Association and Ridgewells Catering.

Additional sponsorship opportunities are still available. For information contact Arena Stage Chief Development Officer Danielle St. Germain-Gordon at DGordon@ArenaStage.org or 202-600-4029 .

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater is a national center dedicated to the production, presentation, development and study of American theater. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Managing Director Edgar Dobie, Arena Stage is the largest company in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Arena Stage produces huge plays of all that is passionate, exuberant, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays through the American Voices New Play Institute. Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000. www.arenastage.org