BAM and announce Hedda Gabler Benefit on Feb 28th—event celebrates opening of acclaimed production of Ibsen play, featuring U.S. stage debuts of and

Evening begins with cocktails and dinner on stage at BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, followed by performance of Hedda Gabler at the BAM Harvey Theater; dessert reception with cast and special guests concludes the evening on Opera House stage

BAM 2006 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg

The Hedda Gabler Benefit is sponsored by GUCCI and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP; additional support is provided by Time Warner Inc. and The Hollywood Reporter

Amy W. Schulman & David Nachman and GUCCI to serve as Benefit Chairs; Bloombert, Citigroup, Diane & Adam E. Max, Time Warner Inc., Tourism New South Wales, and Tony Uphoff are Vice Chairs; Cate Blanchett is Friends of BAM Chair; John Turturro & Katherine Borowitz are BAM Cinema Club Chairs

Citigroup is the major sponsor for Hedda Gabler at BAM

Brooklyn/Feb 7, 2006—BAM and Sydney Theatre Company announce a February 28 Benefit evening celebrating the opening of Hedda Gabler—the acclaimed Sydney Theatre Company production directed by Robyn Nevin and starring Cate Blanchett and Hugo Weaving in their U.S. stage debuts. The Benefit is sponsored by GUCCI and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP. Benefit Chairs are BAM Trustee Amy W. Schulman & David Nachman, and GUCCI.

The evening begins with cocktails and dinner at 6pm on the stage of BAM’s resplendent Howard Gilman Opera House. A performance of Hedda Gabler follows at 8pm in BAM’s Harvey Theater. The Benefit concludes with a dessert reception with the cast and special guests—including Martin Scorsese, Sigourney Weaver, Alan Cumming, Liev Schreiber, Naomi Watts, John Cameron Mitchell, John Turturro, Matthew Modine, Laurie Anderson, Queer Eye’s Kyan Douglas and Carson Kressley, and others—on the Opera House stage. Support for the Hedda Gabler Benefit has been provided by Bloomberg, Citigroup, Diane and Adam E. Max, DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP, GUCCI, The Hollywood Reporter, Time Warner Inc., and Tourism New South Wales. Benefit tickets are available by calling BAM Patron Services at 718.636.4182. Proceeds benefit BAM and Sydney Theatre Company.

The cocktail reception, dinner, and dessert reception will be catered by Great Performances, one of New York’s premier event caterers, which also provides eclectic food and beverages at BAMcafé. Event décor will be designed by GUCCI with floral treatments by Kurt Rausch.

BAM Trustee Amy W. Schulman with her husband David Nachman (both partners at law firm DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP) and GUCCI serve as Benefit Chairs. Bloomberg, Citigroup, Diane & Adam E. Max, Time Warner Inc., Tourism New South Wales, and Tony Uphoff are the Vice Chairs. Cate Blanchett serves as Friends of BAM Chair. Event Hosts are BAM Board Chairman Alan H. Fishman, BAM President Karen Brooks Hopkins, BAM Executive Producer Joseph V. Melillo, Sydney Theatre Company Chairman James Strong, Sydney Theatre Company Artistic Director Robyn Nevin, and Sydney Theater Company General Manager Rob Brookman.

Benefit Committee members include Laurie Anderson, Matthew Barney, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Angela Bassett, Peter Bogdonovich, Steve Buscemi & Jo Andres, Alan Cumming, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Bill Irwin & Martha Roth, Phyllis & Harvey Lichtenstein, John Cameron Mitchell, Matthew & Cari Modine, Mary-Louise Parker, Liev Schreiber, Martin & Helen Scorsese, Lois Smith, Marisa Tomei, Lili Tomlin, John Turturro & Katherine Borowitz, and Sigourney Weaver.

Event information Tuesday, Feb 28, 2005—festive attire requested ·6pm Pre-performance cocktails and dinner on stage at BAM’s Howard Gilman Opera House, Peter Jay Sharp Building, 30 Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn, NY ·8pm Performance of Hedda Gabler at BAM Harvey Theater, 651 Fulton Street, Brooklyn, NY ·10:30pm Dessert Reception with cast and special guests on stage at Howard Gilman Opera House.

The $100 Associate level tickets, which include access to Gallery seats for the Performance and Dessert Reception only, are SOLD OUT. Single tickets for the entire Benefit evening, which includes the pre- performance Dinner, Performance, and Dessert Reception with Cate Blanchett and the cast of Hedda Gabler are $1,000, or $2,500 for priority seating. Tables of ten are $10,000 or $25,000 and include access to the entire Benefit evening. Complimentary coach service is available for Benefit guests: from Manhattan (departs 5pm from 120 Park Ave. at 42nd St.) to BAM, and from BAM to various stops in Manhattan following the Dessert Reception. Call BAM Patron Services at 718.636.4182 for tickets or transportation arrangements.

Sydney Theatre Company (STC), established in 1978, is Australia’s largest and pre-eminent state theater company. Led by Artistic Director and CEO Robyn Nevin, STC operates out of The Wharf (its home venue on Sydney’s harbor), the new Sydney Theatre, and the Drama Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. The STC has provided a theatrical home for Australia’s finest talents including , Mel Gibson, Cate Blanchett, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, and . The company’s productions tour across Australia and internationally. Annually, STC presents twelve mainstage productions, including new works by Australian writers as well as interpretations of the classics. STC also administers play development and education programs. Upcoming 2006 productions include the National Theatre’s production of The History Boys, Doubt, I Am My Own Wife, and Urinetown. Sydney Theatre Company made its New York debut at BAM with John Webster’s The White Devil (2001).

This production of Hedda Gabler, presented at BAM in its U.S. debut, premiered at Sydney Theatre Company’s Wharf 1 Theatre in July 2004, where it enjoyed a sold-out run. Directed by STC’s Artistic Director Robyn Nevin, in an adaptation by Andrew Upton, the play will be presented with its original cast—Cate Blanchett, Annie Byron, Justine Clark, Julie Hamilton, Hugo Weaving, Anthony Weigh, and Aden Young—and coincides with a worldwide centennial celebration of Ibsen’s work.

One of Ibsen’s most compelling and conflicted characters, Hedda Gabler is an aristocratic woman aching to be free of her middle class husband and yet terrified of scandal. As portrayed by Blanchett, an Academy Award- winning actress of extraordinary dramatic range and intelligence, the role of Hedda Gabler is, according to Variety, “…executed with impeccable pitch and tone,” Sydney’s Sunday Telegraph calls Blanchett’s portrayal “…full of nuance and pace, pathos and ill-concealed rage.”

Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is recognized internationally for its innovative programming of dance, music, theater, music-theater, and opera. In addition to presenting leading national and international artists, BAM identifies and supports the work of ground-breaking, contemporary artists in the performing arts with its Next Wave Festival, founded in 1983, one of the world's most important festivals of contemporary performing arts. BAM also serves New York City's diverse population through a wide variety of educational programs. BAM's role in the community has been expanded by the creation of BAMcafé and the BAM Rose Cinemas. BAM, America's oldest performing arts center in continuous operation, has presented performances since 1861. Harvey Lichtenstein stepped down after a 32-year tenure in July 1999, and two long-time BAM executives—Karen Brooks Hopkins and Joseph V. Melillo—were named, respectively, President and Executive Producer.

Credits BAM 2006 Spring Season is sponsored by Bloomberg. Chaired by Amy W. Schulman & David Nachman and GUCCI, the Hedda Gabler Benefit is sponsored by GUCCI and DLA Piper Rudnick Gray Cary LLP. Additional support for the Benefit is provided by Diane & Adam E. Max, The Hollywood Reporter, and Time Warner Inc.

Citigroup is the major sponsor for Hedda Gabler. BAM’s Hedda Gabler Travel Partners are Tourism New South Wales and Qantas Vacations. Qantas Airways is the official airline for Hedda Gabler.

Leadership support for BAM Theater is provided by The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, Inc.; The Shubert Foundation; and The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation. Additional support for BAM Theater is provided by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust; Francena T. Harrison Foundation Trust; Billy Rose Foundation, Inc.; and the Rose M. Badgeley Residuary Charitable Trust. Programming in the BAM Harvey Theater is endowed by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

This project is supported by the Australia Council for the Arts, Australian Government through the Images of Australia Branch, Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and P & O Nedloyd. BAM would like to thank the Australian Consulate General in New York for its partnership.

BAM thanks its many donors and sponsors, including: New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, The New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the New York City Council, Brooklyn Delegation of the U.S. House of Representatives, Brooklyn Borough President Marty Markowitz, New York State Council on the Arts, National Endowment for the Arts, The Peter Jay Sharp Foundation, The Estate of Richard B. Fisher, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation, The Starr Foundation, The Ford Foundation, The Shubert Foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York, Skirball Foundation, The Kovner Foundation, and Robert W. Wilson Foundation. JPMorgan Chase is BAM’s Lead Corporate Partner. New York Marriott at the Brooklyn Bridge is the official hotel for the Spring Season. Yamaha is the official piano of BAM. R/GA is the sponsor of BAM.org.

General Information BAM Howard Gilman Opera House, BAM Rose Cinemas, BAMcafé, and Shakespeare & Co. BAMshop are located in the Peter Jay Sharp Building at 30 Lafayette Avenue (between St Felix Street and Ashland Place) in the Fort Greene neighborhood of Brooklyn. BAM Harvey Theater is located two blocks from the main building at 651 Fulton Street (between Ashland and Rockwell Places). BAM Rose Cinemas is Brooklyn’s only movie house dedicated to first-run independent and foreign film and repertory programming. BAMcafé, operated by Great Performances, also features an eclectic mix of spoken word and live music on Friday and Saturday nights. A $21 three-course dinner at BAMcafé is available Fri-Sat for BAM Rose Cinemas ticket holders (day of screening only). BAMcafé is open Fridays and Saturdays from 5pm-closing. Additionally, BAMcafé is open two hours prior to all Howard Gilman Opera House and Harvey Theater performances. Subway: 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, B to Atlantic Avenue; D, M, N, R to Pacific Street; G to Fulton Street; C to Lafayette Avenue Train: Long Island Railroad to Flatbush Avenue Bus: B25, B26, B41, B45, B52, B63, B67 all stop within three blocks of BAM Car: Commercial parking lots are located adjacent to BAM

For ticket and BAMbus information, call BAM Ticket Services at 718.636.4100, or visit www.BAM.org

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