<<

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE press : SLATE PR - (212) 235-6813 Shawn Purdy / Rachael Trager

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Press Contact: CBCO Public Relations – (650) 327-1200 Carla Befera: [email protected] Lauren Goldfarb: [email protected]

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley To Receive 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award

Tony Awards to Broadcast Live from Radio City Music Hall in City on Sunday, June 9th

New York, NY (April 29, 2019) – The Tony Awards® Administration Committee has announced that based on the recommendation by the American Theatre Critics Association, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will be the recipient of the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award. The honor is accompanied by a grant of $25,000, made possible by City National Bank’s generous support of the Creative Arts Awards.

“We are thrilled to present the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award to TheatreWorks Silicon Valley ,” said Charlotte St. Martin, President of and Heather Hitchens, President of the . “The work they produce celebrates the human spirit, they have helped develop hundreds of vibrant new plays and musicals that are now being performed in theaters across America, and they have pioneered education programs that inspire thousands of students each year, creating future generations of creative artists and enthusiastic audiences.”

“I am deeply honored to accept the Regional Theatre Tony Award for TheatreWorks Silicon Valley,” said the ’s Founding Artistic Director Robert Kelley, who is launching his 50th and final season as artistic director of the company he created as a new Stanford graduate, concluding one of the longest tenures of any professional regional theater. “I can think of no better way to begin TheatreWorks’s 50th Anniversary Season than with this highest honor, a testament to the passion and imaginative spirit of the artists whose work has been presented on TheatreWorks’s stages. There is a joy here, a warmth to the creative process that many have found inspiring. For me, that joy has been worth a lifetime. We dedicate this award to the many thousands of brilliant theatre artists and fiercely committed staff, trustees, and community supporters who have shared our work for half a century.” Said TheatreWorks Silicon Valley Executive Director Phil Santora, ”This is a profound honor. Our thanks go out to our myriad dedicated supporters, funders, and staff, and to the American Theatre Wing, The Broadway League, and the American Theatre Critics Association for this recognition and their enduring commitment to the art of theatre.”

Since its founding in 1970, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley has become one of the nation’s leaders in cultivating and producing new musicals and plays, developing and presenting 69 World Premieres (with the 70th coming up this season) by new and veteran artists, in addition to 167 regional premieres, and hundreds of works developed in the company’s New Works Initiatives. The company’s annual New Works Festival and Writers’ Retreat programs attract authors and composers of national stature (Rajiv Joseph, Stephen Schwartz, Beth Henley, Paul Gordon, , Henry Krieger, Duncan Sheik, Jules Feiffer, Joe DiPietro, and Andrew Lippa, among many others), providing an artistic home in which America’s theatre artists can create new works. The company has developed scores of works which have gone on to regional,

______MEDIA CONTACT: Lauren Goldfarb, CARLA BEFERA & CO. 3600 West Bayshore Road, Suite 201, Palo Alto, CA 94303 Phone 650.327.1200 Fax 650.327.6700 Email: [email protected]

OffBroadway, and Broadway productions. Notably, the Best Musical Tony Award and Olivier award winning “Memphis” was first workshopped and received its world premiere at TheatreWorks.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley is an Equity/LORT theatre, producing eight shows annually, playing to more than 100,000 patrons a year. TheatreWorks is dedicated to creating works that celebrate the human spirit, and reflect the diversity of its community, with a proud history of inclusive casting, and selecting or creating works that shine a light on the experiences of the diverse populations of the Bay Area. TheatreWorks offers myriad outreach programs, reaching some 25,000 students annually with inclass workshops, student matinees, summer camps, the Young Playwrights Project, the acclaimed “Oskar” school tour which addresses issues such as bullying, stress, and inclusion, the Children’s Healing Project at Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital which serves children in longterm care and their siblings, and a newly piloted theatre program for children at Ronald McDonald House. Information can be found at www.TheatreWorks.org .

The American Theatre Wing’s 73 rd Annual Tony Awards , hosted by James Corden , will air on the CBS Network on Sunday, June 9, 2019 (8:0011:00 PM, ET/delayed PT) live from Radio City Music Hall in . The Tony Awards, which honors theatre professionals for distinguished achievement on Broadway, has been broadcast on CBS since 1978. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing.

The Nominations for the 2019 Tony Awards will be announced live, by and Brandon Victor Dixon, on Tuesday, April 30, 2019 from the New York City Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. The event will be streamed on Facebook LIVE (at Facebook.com/TheTonyAwards), and covered by CBS This Morning at 8:30am ET.

Follow the Tony Awards on Twitter and Instagram for realtime updates on the nominees as they are announced (@TheTonyAwards). The entire announcement will also be available on TonyAwards.com after the event.

Press releases and highres images are available at www.TonyAwards.com/presskit .

# # #

About the Tony Awards The American Theatre Wing’s Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. At The Broadway League, Thomas Schumacher is Chairman and Charlotte St. Martin is President. At the American Theatre Wing, is Chair and Heather A. Hitchens is President & CEO. Ricky Kirshner and Glenn Weiss of White Cherry Entertainment are the Executive Producers of the 2019 Tony Awards. Mr. Weiss will also serve as Director of the 2019 Tony Awards.

Sponsors for Tony Awards include: Carnegie Mellon University – the firstever, exclusive higher education partner; City National – official bank of the Tony Awards and presenting sponsor of the Creative Arts Awards; Sofitel New York – the official hotel of the Tony Awards; Rainbow Room official partner of the Tony Nominee Luncheon; United Airlines – the official airline of the Tony Awards for the last 18 years and People/Entertainment Weekly – official magazine partners of the Tony Awards. Tony Awards.

______MEDIA CONTACT: Lauren Goldfarb, CARLA BEFERA & CO. 3600 West Bayshore Road, Suite 201, Palo Alto, CA 94303 Phone 650.327.1200 Fax 650.327.6700 Email: [email protected]