- 2023-10-08
GALA52! An evening with Marcus Shelby
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 11, 2019
MARIN THEATRE COMPANY ANNOUNCES
2019 ANNUAL FUNDRAISING BENEFIT
GALA52! An evening with Marcus Shelby
Fashionable Fare and Philanthropy at
MTC’s 52nd Season Benefit
An evening with SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Marcus Shelby
Saturday, March 30, 2019
MILL VALLEY, CA—Marin Theatre Company (MTC) is excited to announce its annual Season benefit—Gala52! An Evening with Marcus Shelby—on Saturday, March 30, 2019. This year, MTC will be celebrating new plays, partnerships with local artists and theatre education programs. Artistic Director Jasson Minadakis will be the keynote speaker for the evening, sharing his inspiring vision for what it means to produce and support theatre in the Bay Area today.
Emerging and celebrated American playwrights have found a home on MTC’s stage in recent years, including Pulitzer Prize-finalist Sarah Delappe (The Wolves), MacArthur Genius Award-winner Dominique Morisseau (Skeleton Crew), Tony Award-winner J.T. Rogers (Oslo), and dynamic playwriting duo Margot Melcon and Lauren Gunderson with world premieres of their smash-hit, Jane Austen continuations (Miss Bennet: Christmas at Pemberley, The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley). MTC has also fostered new artistic partnerships through co-productions with local companies, including Ubuntu Theater Project (East Bay), TheatreWorks (Silicon Valley) and Lorraine Hansberry Theatre (San Francisco).
In April, MTC kicks off an exciting new partnership with SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Marcus Shelby, who will compose a full original score to accompany MTC’s West Coast premiere of Nambi E. Kelley’s Jazz (running April 25 - May 19), adapted from the novel by Toni Morrison.
Marcus Shelby, alongside his jazz orchestra, will be the featured, honored guest and live performer at MTC’s Gala52! As a bandleader, bassist, composer, arranger, and educator, Shelby is a major figure synonymous with Bay Area jazz and the spirit of collaboration. His work focuses on the history, present, and future of the African-American experience, with major suites for jazz orchestra devoted to abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman, Civil Rights icon Martin Luther King Jr., and the Port Chicago disaster and mutiny of 1944. He was recently named an SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director, a program which selects a group of forward-thinking musicians every two years.
The gala will take place at the Mill Valley Community Center, featuring a delectable catered sit-down dinner courtesy of Stacy Scott Fine Catering and wine courtesy of Brooks Note Winery and Upper Five Vineyard and spirits courtesy of Hotaling & Co. Exclusively procured for MTC, live and silent auction items will be up for bid throughout the evening—including gift certificates at the best Marin County eateries, one of a kind experiences and exclusive travel packages, and a special night out at SFJAZZ with Marcus Shelby and acclaimed writer and activist, Angela Davis. Gala52! will also feature a carefully curated wine auction featuring unique bottles and rare vintages.
This annual event sells out every year, attracting more than 225 prominent community members, corporate professionals, and philanthropic leaders from throughout the Bay Area, and raises critical funds to benefit MTC’s new play and education programs. A full list of MTC’s Gala52! committee members, comprised of MTC Board members, Advisory Board members and supporters, can be found below.
More About MTC’s New Play Program
Marin Theatre Company is committed to exploring and developing new work for the American theatre, supporting playwrights with their creative process from conception to production and engaging audiences with new plays that tell stories important to our time. Through multiple programs, MTC seeks out writers and champions projects for continued life on the MTC stage and beyond. Through our commissioning program, new play prizes, new play series of staged readings, playwright residencies and a commitment to world premiere and second productions, MTC champions the future of American theatre for more than 30,000 patrons annually.
More about MTC’s Education Programs
Marin Theatre Company’s education programs reach nearly 4,500 students each year through in-school teaching residencies, student matinee performances, classes and workshops for youth, adults and families, and summer camps. Through the Artist in Residence program MTC provides both MLK Jr. Academy in Marin City and Davidson Middle School in San Rafael with theatre education uniquely coordinated with curriculum and the needs of the schools. At MLK Jr. Academy, MTC’s Artist in Residence program is the only arts education provided to students.
CALENDAR LISTING
Annual Gala | Fundraiser
WHAT
MTC Gala52! An evening with SFJAZZ Resident Artistic Director Marcus Shelby
Marin Theatre Company’s Annual Season Benefit
WHEN
Saturday, March 30, 2019 at 5:30 pm
WHERE
Mill Valley Community Center
180 Camino Alto, Mill Valley, CA 94941
TICKETS
$295 per person $595 per couple
$2,300 per table (8) Sponsorship tables also available for 8 – 10 guests. Contact the Development Department at development@marintheatre.org, (415) 322-6035, or visit our website to purchase by Fri., March 15, 2019.
GALA52! COMMITTEE
Host Committee Chairs:
Bob and Paula Reynolds
Wine Auction Chairs:
Buffington Miller
Fred Taylor
Committee Members:
Cheryl Brandon
Diana Gay-Catania
Susan Holdstein
Vera Meislin
Connie Oclassen
Kathryn Olson
Stacy Scott
Kathleen Taylor
ABOUT MTC
Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area’s premier mid-sized theatre and the leading professional theatre in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season focused on new American plays. We are committed to the development and production of new plays, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes productions of world premieres, two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards and readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging and established playwrights. Our numerous education programs serve nearly 4,500 students from over 40 Bay Area schools each year. MTC strives to create intimate, powerful and emotional experiences that engage audiences to discuss new ideas and adopt a broader point of view. We believe in taking risks and inspiring people to participate in live theatre, regardless of personal means. MTC celebrates the intellectual curiosity of our community, and we believe that theatre is an important tool to help build empathy. MTC was founded in 1966 and is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization.
PRESS CONTACT
Kate Robinson, Director of Ticketing and Communications Associate
(415) 322-6029 | kater@marintheatre.org
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