TSOA to Honor Five Alumni and the Musical Spring Awakening at Benefit Gala
By Richard Pierce
The Tisch School of the Arts (TSOA) annual benefit gala on Nov. 12 will honor the achievements of five individuals as well as the alumni cast and creative team of the hit Broadway musical Spring Awakening. The event will begin at 7 p.m. with a 90-minute performance at The Town Hall, followed by a red carpet party at the New York Marriott Marquis.
This year’s individual honorees are philanthropist Joan Tisch, who will be recognized for her significant contributions to educational, civic, and arts organization; actor and TSOA alumnus Billy Crudup’94, recent Tony Award and Outer Critic Circle Award winner for The Coast of Utopia; philanthropist Richard Vague, whose long history of providing production funding for Tisch film students has helped launch the careers of 20 young filmmakers; entrepreneurs and TSOA alumni David Liu ’87 and Carley Roney ’90, ’94, who are co-founders of The Knot, Inc., a publicly traded e-commerce company with nearly 400 employees.
Also being honored are the TSOA alumni cast and creative team of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical Spring Awakening—Michael Mayer ’83, Stephen Spinella ’82, Christine Jones ’92, professor Susan Hilferty, J. David Brimmer ’81, Frank Wood ’87, Mary McCann ’85, Phoebe Strole ’05, Brian Johnson ’07, Skylar Astin ’09, and Krysta Rodriguez ’06.
The celebrity-packed event—including appearances by Jesse L. Martin ’91, Ethan Hawke, and Tisch students—will feature a live performance by the cast of Spring Awakening. Hosts for the evening are TSOA Dean Mary Schmidt Campbell, with honorary chairs Felicity Huffman ’88, William H. Macy, and Kiefer Sutherland. The gala chairs are Chris Columbus ’80, Monica Devereux, Elizabeth Hemmerdinger ’03, Michele Herbert, and Donna Arkoff Roth. The producer is Amanda Lipitz ’02.
Tickets start at $25 for NYU students and staff only and may be purchased at NYU Ticket Central at the Kimmel Center. For more information, contact STAMP Event Management at 212-206-6440 or Tisch@stampeventco.com. Proceeds from the evening will go toward Tisch student scholarships and seed funding for the renovation of the three sites for the Institute of Performing Arts.
