Annual Gala

 2018 ANNUAL SPRING GALA

Celebrating Shakespeare’s Birthday

May 15, 2018

Capitale

130 Bowery, New York City

6:30pm Cocktail Reception
7:30pm Seated Dinner

Gala Co-Chairs:
John J. Kerr, Jr.
Kathleen C. Walsh

Presenting the fourteenth 
Samuel H. Scripps Award for
Artistic Achievement in Theatre to
Arin Arbus

In 2004, ARIN ARBUS was invited by Jeffrey Horowitz, Artistic Director, Theatre for a New Audience (TFANA), to be an administrative assistant and directing intern. Four years later, Ms. Arbus became Associate Artistic Director. In 2009, for TFANA, Ms. Arbus staged Othello. It was her Off-Broadway debut and first time directing Shakespeare. The New York Times hailed Othello as “among the most sensitively directed, eloquently designed and impeccably acted productions of a Shakespeare tragedy that the city has seen in years.”

Ms. Arbus is now one of the pre-eminent directors of Shakespeare of her generation. She has staged ten productions of Shakespeare’s plays and contemporary classics at TFANA including last season’s The Skin of Our Teeth by Thornton Wilder for which she won the OBIE. She also directed Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia at Houston Grand Opera, and La Traviata at Houston Grand Opera, Canadian Opera Company and Lyric Opera of Chicago. She was a Drama League Directing Fellow, a Princess Grace Awardee and spent several years leading a theatre program at a medium security prison in upstate New York in association with Rehabilitation Through the Arts. This summer, she will direct an adaptation of The Tempest in a Greek refugee camp for The Campfire Project.

And the seventh annual
Life In Art Award to
Henry Christensen III. 

Henry Christensen III (1945-2017)

Henry (“Terry”) Christensen III was a generous leader of Theatre for a New Audience and a legendary figure in the Brooklyn community. Raised in Madison, NJ, he graduated with honors from Yale College and Harvard Law School. In his career at Sullivan & Cromwell and at McDermott Will & Emery, he was recognized as one of the leading trusts and estates lawyers in the United States.

Terry dedicated much of his life to the revitalization of the cultural and civic life of Brooklyn. He was the founding Chairman of the Prospect Park Alliance (and served for 20 years), a Board Member at the Brooklyn Academy of Music for 25 years, and on the Board of Theatre for a New Audience for 10 years. As the Theatre’s Chairman, he oversaw the completion and 2013 opening of Polonsky Shakespeare Center and the first four seasons in the Theatre’s new home.

In addition to his dedication to Brooklyn, Terry also served as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Freedom Institute, and as a Trustee on the Boards of the American Center of Oriental Research in Amman, Young Audiences Arts for Learning, the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, the American Friends of the Prince’s Trust and many others.

Co-sponsors:

Theatre for a New Audience’s elegant and entertaining annual Gala is attended by more than 300 of New York’s leading arts patrons, and has been hosted by eminent theatre artists including Jessica Hecht, Bill Camp, Alfred Molina and Maggie Siff. The Gala includes a cocktail reception, seated dinner, entertainment, and spirited auctions.

For More Information Contact: Jena Yarley, Development Manager, 212-229-2819 x25, or via email at jyarley@tfana.org.

The Samuel H. Scripps  Award

Past Scripps Honorees

The Life in Art Award

Theatre for a New Audience’s Life in Art Award honors the achievements of individuals whose support for theatre has set the standard for leadership and generosity, and whose example has inspired others to ensure that theatre remains a vibrant part of our cultural life.  The award, a signed giclée print by Milton Glaser, is named for the autobiography by the great theatre artist Constantin Stanislavski, My Life in Art.

Past Honorees