REMIX | MIX IT UP WITH EPIC A BENEFIT SUPPORTING AWARD-WINNING ARTS EDUCATION HONORING
KATHLEEN CHALFANT
THANK YOU FOR JOINING US TONIGHT IN HONORING KATHLEEN CHALFANT & CELEBRATING EPIC’S SHAKESPEARE REMIX PROGRAM Since its founding, Epic has been dedicated to serving underprivileged youth in some of the poorest Congressional districts in our nation. At Epic, we believe that plays are ideally suited for helping students explore the connection between civic issues and their personal lives. We have reached over 25,000 students at our partner schools over the past 12 years, and have played a critical role in helping graduation rates rise by an average of 30%. Our ground-breaking arts education program, Shakespeare Remix, received the 2009 National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award from Michelle Obama and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Shakespeare Remix grew out of the work Epic was already doing in schools. We developed Remix as a way to deepen our connection to emerging student leaders and self-starters who have an interest in more intensive after-school projects. The program connects youth from underrepresented communities to Shakespeare. In a Shakespeare Remix program, working with Epic Mentor-Artists, students discover the meaning of Shakespeare’s text, rigorously debate the critical social and political questions of the play, and weave their own writing into the fabric of the script. Ultimately, students rehearse and perform alongside their mentors in a full production of a newly conceived Shakespeare play at a professional venue. Despite this recognition, Shakespeare Remix remains an underfunded program at Epic, which is why it’s so important that we raise money here tonight. We hope by the end of the evening you will see why this program is vital to Epic and the students it serves.
Epic Theatre Ensemble’s mission is to create bold work with and for diverse communities that promotes vital discourse and social change.
KATHLEEN CHALFANT first inspired Epic’s
Founders as Vivian Bearing in Wit, for which she won Drama Desk, OBIE, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle Awards, and in Angels in America, which earned her Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Her remarkable stage career includes work on Broadway; Off-Broadway at almost all of New York’s major theatres, including Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, New York Theatre Workshop, the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theatre, the Vineyard Theatre, Culture Project, and Classic Stage Company; and regionally at McCarter Theatre Center, Guthrie Theater, Arena Stage, and Yale Rep, among many others. Notable television and film credits include Duplicity, The People Speak by Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove, Bob Roberts, Kinsey, The Laramie Project, Muhammad Ali’s Greatest Fight, and recurring roles on The Guardian, The Americans and House of Cards. For Epic, she’s starred Off-Broadway in Howard Barker’s A Hard Heart, assisted new play development projects including My Andy by Patricia Wettig, and performed alongside the students of Chelsea Career and Technical Educational HS as Hecate in their “Shakespeare Remix” production of Macbeth.
BENEFIT COMMITTEE Sophie Elliott, Co-Chair Jean Wen, Co-Chair Paul Korzinski Degan Leopold Julie Rose Suzanne Schaaff Steve Wanta Sarah Winkler 2014 GALA ARTIST COMMITTEE Ellen McLaughlin, Leader Anthony Arnove Alan Eisenberg Laura Linney Cynthia Nixon Caymichael Patten Sarah Ruhl Harris Yulin EPIC THEATRE ENSEMBLE STAFF Ron Russell, Executive Director ARTISTIC
Melissa Friedman, Artistic Director James Wallert, Associate Artistic Director Will Pomerantz, Associate Director of Artistic Development MANAGEMENT
Robert Chelimsky, Managing Director Katie Goff, Communications & Administration Associate GALA COORDINATION
SHAKESPEARE REMIX is Epic’s comprehensive after-school arts education program for public high school students, which won the 2009 National Arts & Humanities Youth Program Award from Michelle Obama. In Remix, at-risk students work with Artist-Mentors to find the meaning of Shakespeare’s text, rigorously debate the critical social and political questions of the play, and weave their own writing into the fabric of the script. Ultimately, students rehearse and perform alongside their mentors, Epic’s professional theatre artists, in a full production of a newly conceived Shakespeare play at a professional venue. BOARD OF DIRECTORS Andrea Bonime-Blanc, Chair Mark Kollar, Vice-Chair Degan Mercado Leopold, Treasurer Zak Berkman* Robert Chelimsky+ Sophie Elliott Melissa Friedman* William J. Martin Archana Pyati Julie Rose Ron Russell* Suzanne Schaaff James Wallert* Jean Wen Sarah Winkler Vicki Zubovic
Karin Muscarella, Sojak Events REMIX STAFF & VOLUNTEERS
Alaa Abouelenein Nashwa El-Sayed Becki Gerrard Jacinda Gonzalez Margaret Ivey Jessica Lanzetta Krystal Wilson
EMERITUS BOARD Emily Lansbury David Strathairn *Epic Co-Founder | +Ex-Officio
www.epictheatreensemble.org
GALA PROGRAM
REMIX | MIX IT UP
WITH EPIC
Honoring Award-winning Actress
KATHLEEN CHALFANT Downstairs | 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. COCKTAILS & HORS D’ OEURVRES INTRODUCTION Cynthia Nixon Upstairs | Starting at 7:30 p.m. WELCOME FOOD & DRINK PERFORMANCES Epic Students & Nilaja Sun & Tonya Pinkins TRIBUTE Kathleen Chalfant KIND WORDS From Kind People SWEET TREATS CLOSING REMARKS & RAFFLE WINNERS Gala Co-Chairs Sophie Elliott & Jean Wen 6:00 - 9:15 p.m. RAFFLE OPEN Please visit our online auction at Charitybuzz.com/EpicTheatre Closes March 13, 2014
EPIC WOULD LIKE TO THANK THE FOLLOWING
GALA SUPPORTERS
AUCTION DONORS
Friends of Epic “Remix” Andrea Bonime-Blanc Julie Rose Suzy Schaaff Sarah Winkler Michele Zackheim & Charlie Ramsburg Vicki Zubovic
SPECIAL THANKS
Artistic Directors Circle Henry & Kathleen Chalfant Sophie & Gordon Elliott William J. Martin Prosek Partners King & Spalding LLP
TONIGHT’S WINES GENEROUSLY DONATED BY
Jonathan Alter Andrea Bonime-Blanc Gordon Elliott Josh Fox Mark Kollar Caymichael Patten Sarah Ruhl David Strathairn
2014 Corporate Gala Sponsor Bloomberg Philanthropies
PARTING FAVORS GENEROUSLY PROVIDED BY
EPIC’S PROGRAMS ARE ALSO MADE POSSIBLE IN PART BY BY PUBLIC FUNDS FROM
EPIC NEXT In 2012, with the support of The Pierre and Tana Matisse Foundation, we began our most ambitious youth development program: Epic NEXT; Developing Young Thinkers, Actors & Leaders. Through personalized pairings between artist-mentors and developing young artists, Epic NEXT utilizes a comprehensive, individualized approach to artistic and youth development. The Epic NEXT program pairs Epic’s professional artists with selected students from Epic’s partner schools beginning in a summer lab and extending throughout the school year. Each Epic ensemble artist mentors 2 to 3 students a year in the Theatre-making process as well as in leadership development, civic engagement and college readiness. ABOVE Epic Next Tier II student Adriana Castillo in a meet & greet exercise with Tier I mentor Nikiya Mathis