Represented on Broadway this season with Days of Wine and Roses, The Notebook, and Hell’s Kitchen, Brooklyn-born multiple Tony-nominated director Michael Greif, whose other Broadway credits over his 40-year career include Rent, Dear Evan Hansen, War Paint, Grey Gardens, Next to Normal, Never Gonna Dance, and If/Then, was honored this afternoon (Tuesday, May 14) at the New Dramatists Annual Spring Luncheon Tribute, held at the Broadway Ballroom on the 6th floor of the New York Marriott Marquis.
“From Downtown to Broadway, and in theaters across the country, Michael Greif has built his outstanding career championing and directing new plays and musicals by legendary writers, including New Dramatists’ alumni Doug Wright, John Guare, Suzan-Lori Parks, Diana Son, Nilo Cruz, Jeffrey Hatcher, Jeffrey M. Jones, Kate Moira Ryan, and Kristoffer Diaz,” noted Emily Morse, Artistic Director of New Dramatists – the nation’s premiere playwright development laboratory, a Tony Honor recipient, and the longest-running continuous community of playwrights in the US, founded in 1949 by Michaela O’Harra in association with Howard Lindsay, Richard Rodgers, Russel Crouse, Oscar Hammerstein II, John Golden, Moss Hart, Maxwell Anderson, John Wharton, Robert E. Sherwood, and Elmer Rice.
The afternoon celebration, hosted by board member Jim Dale, featured a spoken tribute by Brian D’Arcy James of Days of Wine and Roses followed by a video trailer from the show, and live musical performances by Kecia Lewis, Desmond Ellington, Badia Farha, Susan Oliveras, and Aaron Patterson from Hell’s Kitchen, John Cardoza, Jordan Tyson, Ryan Vasquez, Joy Woods, Dorian Harewood, and Maryann Plunkett from The Notebook, and original Broadway cast members Adam Pascal and Daphne Rubin-Vega from Rent.
Along with the performers, the star-studded roster of attendees included Betsy Aidem (Prayer for the French Republic), Shoshana Bean (Hell’s Kitchen), Francis Benhamou (Prayer for the French Republic), Ali Louis Bourzgui (The Who’s Tommy), Will Brill (Stereophonic), Camille A. Brown (Hell’s Kitchen), Andrew R. Butler (Stereophonic), Chuck Cooper (Trouble in Mind), Brandon Victor Dixon (Hell’s Kitchen), Christine Ebersole (War Paint), Rick Elice (Water for Elephants), Eden Espinosa (Lempicka), Eli Gelb (Stereophonic), Brody Grant (The Outsiders), Grant Gustin (Water for Elephants), Amber Iman (Lempicka), Nikki M. James (Suffs), Celia Keenan-Bolger (Mother Play), Carson Kreitzer (Lempicka), Kecia Lewis (Hell’s Kitchen), Casey Likes (Back to the Future), Alison Luff (The Who’s Tommy), Isabelle McCalla (Water for Elephants), Suzan-Lori Parks (Topdog/Underdog), Justin Peck (Illinoise), Sarah Pidgeon (Stereophonic), Leslie Rodriguez Kritzer (Spamalot), Amy Ryan (Doubt), Lea Salonga (Here Lies Love), Corey Stoll (Appropriate), Shaina Taub (Suffs), Quincy Tyler Bernstine (Doubt), Paula Vogel (Mother Play), Schele Williams (The Notebook; The Wiz), and Doug Wright (Good Night, Oscar).
Before and after the three-course lunch, presentations, and performances, the stars had a chance to meet and mingle, to make new friends, and to congratulate each other on their outstanding work and multiple awards nominations for the 2023-24 season. It all contributed to the sense of celebration and community throughout the afternoon.
In addition to honoring Michael Greif, New Dramatists presented the licensing house Concord Theatricals with its inaugural Konecky Award, named for Isobel Konecky, a Tony-nominated producer and former board president whose service to New Dramatists spanned four decades, and her husband Ron, a renowned entertainment attorney. Introduced by Jessica Hecht, The Konecky Award acknowledges those in the theater and entertainment industry “who serve the field with passion, dedication, excellence, and leadership.”
The New Dramatists Annual Spring Luncheon was held on Tuesday, May 14, in the Broadway Ballroom at the New York Marriott Marquis, 1535 Broadway, NYC. Proceeds from the event support New Dramatists’ resident playwrights and their work.