Theatre Communications Gala Honors Danai Gurira

On Monday, November 14 at New York's Edison Ballroom, the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Gala honors playwright & actress Danai Gurira, producers Stephen C. Byrd & Alia Jones-Harvey, and the Vilcek Foundation & Rick Kinsel.�

The evening will be emceed by "Law & Order: SVU" and "As the World Turns" regular Tamara Tunie, and will feature performances from the upcoming Playwrights Horizons musical "Bella: An American Tall Tale" featuring Ashley D. Kelley (a co-production with Dallas Theatre Center); and a number from Soho Rep's "Duat," featuring Jomama Jones.�
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Newly announced Gala Committee Members include Angela Bassett, James Earl Jones, Lynn Nottage, Dul� Hill, Debbie Allen, Oskar Eustis, Brian Dennehy, Liesl Tommy, La La Anthony, Jessica Hecht, Emily Mann, Kenny Leon, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Daryl Roth, Sarah Benson, Ruben Santiago-Hudson plus Pat Addiss, Milton Allimadi, Koji Aoshika, Marvet Britto, Phillip Chavira, Desdemona Chiang, Merrie L. Davis, Carmen De Lavallade, Donna Dozier Gordon, Susan Fales-Hill, Wendy Federman, Jacki� Florin, Fern Gillespie, Keli Goff, Isoul Harris, Tamara Houston, Willette and Manny Klausner, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Debra Lee, Jessye Norman, Abiola Oke, Jonelle Procope, Diane Rodriguez, Tim Sanford, Gregory Shanck, Count and Amianna Stovall, Mark Subias, Tamara Tunie, Jewel Turner, Reginald Van Lee, Patrick Willingham, Yi Zhao and Blanka Zizka.
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As previously announced, the TCG 2016 gala will honor Tony�-nominated and Obie-winning playwright and acclaimed "The Walking Dead" actress Danai Gurira; as well as Tony�-nominated and Olivier Award-winning theatrical producers Stephen C. Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey; and the Vilcek Foundation, led by Rick Kinsel.
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The Gala also offers an opportunity for the TCG community to celebrate the accomplishments of the past year and raise support for TCG's wide-ranging programs and services. Highlights from the past year include: a National Conference in Washington, DC that brought together over 1,100 theatre practitioners for skills-building and knowledge-sharing and over 200 theatre practitioners to Capitol Hill for meetings with legislators; the awarding of $1.184 million in Audience (R)Evolution Cohort Grants to innovative audience engagement projects; and the publication of significant work by emerging playwrights like Stephen Karam's "The Humans," Tarell Alvin McCraney's "Choir Boy," and Annie Baker's "John."

In the spirit of the Gala honorees' commitment to diversity and international activism, TCG is especially excited to celebrate the launch of the Global Theater Initiative, a partnership with the Laboratory for Global Performance and Politics; and the groundbreaking meeting of the inaugural and second cohorts of the Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Institute at the National Endowment for the Arts.

Past honorees at the TCG annual gala, now in its fifth year, include Tony�, SAG and Golden Globe Award-winning actor Brian Dennehy; Tony� winning director Kenny Leon, Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Lynn Nottage, Ming Cho Lee, Jules Fisher, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Ruth and Stephen Hendel and Judith O. Rubin.

For more than 50 years, Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national organization for theater, has existed to strengthen, nurture, and promote the professional not-for-profit American theater. TCG's constituency has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theaters to nearly 700 member theaters and affiliate organizations and more than 12,000 individuals nationwide.

TCG offers its members networking and knowledge-building opportunities through conferences, events, research and communications; awards grants, approximately $2 million per year, to theater companies and individual artists; advocates on the federal level; and serves as the U.S. Center of the International Theatre Institute, connecting its constituents to the global theater community.

TCG is North America's largest independent publisher of dramatic literature, with 14 Pulitzer Prizes. It also publishes the award-winning American Theatre magazine and ARTSEARCH�, the essential source for a career in the arts. In all of its endeavors, TCG seeks to increase the organizational efficiency of its member theaters, cultivate and celebrate the artistic talent and achievements of the field and promote a larger public understanding of, and appreciation for, the theater.

The evening will begin with cocktails at 6 p.m. followed by dinner and special performances at 7 p.m. Guests have been asked to wear festive attire.

The Theatre Communications Group (TCG) Gala will be held on Monday, November 14 at New York's Edison Ballroom, 240 West 47th Street. For tickets and information, call 212- 609-5931 or visit www.tcg.org/gala