FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Virginia P. Louloudes, Executive Director
Tel: (212) 244-6667 x 228 / [email protected]
September 13, 2012

Acclaimed Theatre Director Moisés Kaufman to Deliver The Laura Pels Keynote Address at Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York’s 40th Anniversary Industry Celebration, CURTAIN CALL

A.R.T./New York to Announce its $25M Campaign for the A.R.T./New York Theatres

Monday, September 24th, 7:15 PM
at The Pershing Square Signature Center
480 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036
By Invitation Only

[NEW YORK, NY] MOISÉS KAUFMAN, the Artistic Director of Tectonic Theater Project and the author of Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde and The Laramie Project, will deliver the eighth annual Laura Pels Keynote Address at A.R.T./New York’s annual industry celebration, Curtain Call. This year’s event marks A.R.T./New York’s 40th Anniversary, at which it will also announce its $25M campaign for the A.R.T./New York Theatres on the Far West Side of Manhattan.

Now in its eighth year, the A.R.T./New York Laura Pels Keynote Address has attracted attention and generated debate in the arts industry and beyond. The sometimes controversial topics discussed by its speakers have ranged from the low fees paid to playwrights by nonprofit theatres to right-wing protests against funding for the arts and the challenges faced by women playwrights and writers of color. Past Laura Pels Keynote speakers include Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage (Ruined), Theresa Rebeck, J.T. Rogers, Bill Irwin, Jon Robin Baitz, Richard Nelson and Eduardo Machado.

Moisés Kaufman, who is in rehearsals for the Broadway production of The Heiress, recently directed Nightingale at the LaJolla Playhouse and The Common Pursuit at the Roundabout Theatre Company. His other Broadway credits include the Tony-nominated Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, 33 Variations, and the Tony and Pulitzer Prize-winning I Am My Own Wife. According to A.R.T./New York’s Executive Director Ginny Louloudes, “As a gay Latino raised in an Orthodox Jewish home in Venezuela, Moisés represents the 21st Century American playwright. His multicultural roots symbolize the global, interconnected world in which we live today. The fact that he is both an award-winning playwright and director helps reinforce the fact that many of our 21st Century artists are multi-disciplinary and multi-talented.”

Established in 1972, A.R.T./New York is the leading service and advocacy organization supporting New York City’s Off Broadway and Off Off Broadway nonprofit theatre community. Its programs include four major re-granting initiatives, cash flow and real estate loan programs, shared office and rehearsal spaces, field-wide research and advocacy and technical assistance and capacity-building programs. Ninety-two percent of New York City’s 375 nonprofit theatres are A.R.T./New York members and the beneficiaries of its mission to assist member theatres in managing their companies effectively, so that they may realize their rich artistic visions and serve their diverse audiences well.

A.R.T./New York will mark its 40th Anniversary with the public announcement of its $25M Campaign for the A.R.T./New York Theatres to create and subsidize two new flexible theatre spaces for the nonprofit theatre community at 53rd Street and 10th Avenue in New York. To date, $16.5M or 66% of the funds have been raised.

The A.R.T./New York Theatres, designed by world-renowned architect Toshiko Mori, will be subsidized at below-market affordable rates for smaller theatre companies for the entire duration of A.R.T./New York’s 99-year lease on the building. Building and design costs have been generously provided by the City of New York with funding by the Bloomberg administration under the leadership of Mayor Bloomberg and Commissioner of Cultural Affairs Kate D. Levin, as well as the City Council under the leadership of Speaker Christine Quinn, Finance Committee Chair Domenic Recchia, and Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer. Support for the mechanical system and theatre equipment was provided by NY State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal. The Dermot Corporation provided funds that paid for a substantial portion of a shared mechanical system.

Curtain Call also features the presentation of the DeWitt Stern Local Hero Awards, which acknowledge the important contributions small businesses make to the City’s 375 nonprofit theatres. Since 1994, A.R.T./New York has presented nearly 360 Local Hero Awards to restaurants, graphic artists, architects, real estate agents, lawyers, accountants, casting directors, publicists and marketing directors—and even a dentist who provides free dental care to the members of one theatre company! For many, their DeWitt Stern Local Hero Award marks the first time they have received an award or acknowledgement for their philanthropy.

Contact: Virginia P. Louloudes, Executive Director
Tel: (212) 244-6667 x 228 / [email protected]
www.art-newyork.org
September 13, 2012

#    #    #