In the News: Brian Stokes Mitchell Will Receive Key to the City, Elaine May and More Earn Honorary Oscars, More | Playbill

Benefits and Galas In the News: Brian Stokes Mitchell Will Receive Key to the City, Elaine May and More Earn Honorary Oscars, More Mitchell will be celebrated at the upcoming Gracie Mansion Gala, hosted by Sheryl Lee Ralph.
Brian Stokes Mitchell Joseph Marzullo/MediaPunch

Read on for more theatre news you may have missed in today's headlines.

The NEA Creates Grant Programs to Distribute Relief Funds
The National Endowment for the Arts received $135 million in total from the American Rescue Plan Act, and has directed 40 percent to 62 state, jurisdictional, and regional arts organizations. The remaining 60 percent will be distributed in a competitive grant process under two funding opportunities: one for arts and culture organizations and one for local arts agencies to subgrant. The NEA anticipates making approximately 800 awards in the amounts of either $50,000, $100,000 or $150,000 for arts and culture organizations (guidelines here), and 80 awards in larger amounts for local arts agencies (guidelines here). Grants will not be awarded on a "first-come, first-served" basis, but rather a competitive review process.

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Sheryl Lee Ralph Joseph Marzullo/WENN

Brian Stokes Mitchell Will Get Key to the City at Gracie Mansion Gala
Gracie Mansion Conservancy, stewards of the official mayoral residence of the City of New York, will celebrate the return of Broadway with its 2021 virtual gala. Original Dreamgirls star Sheryl Lee Ralph will host Raising the Curtain: Theater is Back!, featuring performances from Bobby Conte Thornton (Company), Keenan Scott II and Steve H. Broadnax III from the upcoming Thoughts of a Colored Man (for which Ralph is a producer), and John Gallagher, Jr. from the new musical Swept Away, as well as appearances from Andrew Lloyd Webber, David Henry Hwang, and Jessica Phillips. Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray will present Tony winner Brian Stokes Mitchell with the Key to the City for his work as chairman of The Actors Fund, which has raised over $22 million to support over 40,000 out-of-work theatre and entertainment professionals during the pandemic. The gala streams June 30 at 6 PM ET. All proceeds will benefit Gracie Mansion Conservancy and The Actors Fund. Tickets are available here.

Honorary Oscar Recipients Announced
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors will present Honorary Oscars to Samuel L. Jackson, Tony winner Elaine May, and Tony nominee Liv Ullmann, and the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Danny Glover. “We are thrilled to present this year’s Governors Awards to four honorees who have had a profound impact on both film and society,” Academy President David Rubin said in a statement. All four recipients have ties to Broadway: May a Tony winner for The Waverly Gallery, Ullmann a two-time Tony nominee for A Doll's House in 1975 and Anna Christie in 1977, Glover appearing in "MASTER HAROLD"…and the boys in 1983 and in the 2003 revival, and Jackson with an early career appearance in The Piano Lesson, and then in 2013's The Mountaintop.

Casting Announced for Restart Stages' You Are Here
Details and casting have been announced for the Restart Stages commission You Are Here at Lincoln Center. The free public sculpture, sound, and live performance installation is conceived by Andrea Miller, artistic director of movement-based production company GALLIM. Portrait performers include representatives of the various artistic institutions on the Lincoln Center campus: Bruce Adolphe (The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center), Kiri Avelar (Ballet Hispánico), Dietrice Bolden (HARLEM WEEK/New Heritage Theatre), Jessica Chen (Asian American Arts Alliance), Anthony Roth Costanzo (The Metropolitan Opera), Ryan Dobrin (The Movement Theatre Company), Egyptt LaBeija (BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance), Jermaine Greaves (Lincoln Center Accessibility),Milosz Grzywacz (Lincoln Center Accessibility), Alphonso Horne (Jazz at Lincoln Center), Lila Lomax (Lincoln Center Security), Cassie Mey (The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts), Muriel Miguel (Spiderwoman Theater), Ryan Opalanietet (The Eagle Project), Elijah Schreiner (Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School), Alexandra Siladi (Film at Lincoln Center), Paul Smithyman (Lincoln Center Theater), Hahn Dae Soo (Korean Cultural Center New York), Taylor Stanley (New York City Ballet), Jen Suragiat (Lincoln Center Theater), KJ Takahashi (The School of American Ballet), Fatou Thiam (Maxine Greene School), Susan Thomasson (Lincoln Center Education), Gabriela Torres (The Juilliard School), and Valarie Wong (NewYork-Presbyterian). The installation runs July 14–30. From July 24–30 at 7 PM ET, the audio portraits will be replaced by live performances, featuring GALLIM dancers Lauryn Hayes, Christopher Kinsey, Nouhoum Koita, Misa Lucyshyn, Gary Reagan, Connor Speetjens, Taylor Stanley, Haley Sung, Georgia Usborne, aand Amadi Washington. The work is co-directed by Miller and Lynsey Peisinger, with choreography by Miller. Visit LincolnCenter.org for more information.

 
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