| RED BULL THEATER will honor John Douglas Thompson and The Noël Coward Foundation, hosted by Charlayne Woodard with Phylicia Rashad, Matthew Broderick | |
| Posted by: Official_Press_Release 02:21 pm EST 01/14/25 | |
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| RED BULL THEATER Will Honor John Douglas Thompson with the Matador Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Classical Theater To be Presented by Phylicia Rashad and The Noël Coward Foundation with the George Mayer Award for Extraordinary Service to Classical Theater To be Presented by Matthew Broderick RUNNING OF THE RED BULLS GALA BENEFIT Monday May 5th at The Bowery Hotel Hosted by Charlayne Woodard Red Bull Theater (Jesse Berger, Founder and Artistic Director; Martin Giannini, Executive Director) today announced today announced that John Douglas Thompson will be presented with the Matador Award for Extraordinary Achievement in Classical Theater, to be presented by Phylicia Rashad and The Noël Coward Foundation will receive the George Mayer Award for Extraordinary Service to Classical Theater, presented by Matthew Broderick at the Running of the Red Bulls Gala Benefit on Monday May 5th (6pm). The event will be hosted by Charlayne Woodard. This intimate soirée will be held on the expansive terrace of the chic Bowery Hotel (335 Bowery at East 3rd Street) and will feature an evening of live entertainment, fine dining, and great company. Marc Vietor will direct the evening's entertainment. More details will be announced shortly. Mr. Berger says "With an incredible pair of deserving honorees, plus prestigious presenters, charming hosts, and effervescent entertainment, this year's gala will be Red Bull's most fun ever, helping us launch our third decade sharing great classic stories Off-Broadway in grand style. John Douglas Thompson's body of work is the epitome of our Matador Award for Achievement in Classical Acting. He has played all the major roles in Shakespeare, and other classic roles from Beckett to Marlowe and more. His dedication to this work is unparalleled. He's been a part of the Red Bull family since first appearing in our production of Women Beware Women, and I'm very pleased we are finally able to honor him with this well-deserved award this year. "The Noël Coward Foundation's good works are numerous, not least of which for Red Bull Theater is their ongoing support of our free student matinees and our annual Short New Play Festival. In addition, Alan Brodie and his team support many artists and groups with a strong educational element and emphasis on supporting people entering or in the early stages of a career in the Arts, including projects that extend access and support for those groups who have not traditionally engaged with the performing arts. They've been a part of the Red Bull family since Alan Pally first saw our reading of Byron's Sardanapalus in 2008, and I'm very pleased we are able to honor them this year with the Matador Award for Distinguished Service. "If you've been to the Running of the Red Bulls before, then you know this one is not to be missed. If you've never been, or just don't like galas, I invite you to take a chance with us this year – Our events are truly unique, bespoke, and delightful. You won't be disappointed. Join other classic theater lovers, help celebrate these great artists and organizations, and help make our next decade of revitalizing the classics possible!" John Douglas Thompson was honored with the 2024 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in Performance and has been hailed by The New York Times "as one of the most compelling classical stage actors of his generation." He most recently appeared in the title role of Othello at the RSC and as Shylock in The Merchant of Venice at The Royal Lyceum Theatre Edinburgh. John has appeared on Broadway in King Lear with Glenda Jackson; Julius Caesar opposite Denzel Washington; Cyrano de Bergerac with Kevin Kline; the revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein's Carousel; A Time to Kill based on the novel by John Grisham; and August Wilson's Jitney, for which he received Tony, Drama Desk and Drama League nominations. Red Bull Theater audiences have enjoyed his appearances in Titus Andronicus, Antony and Cleopatra, The Spanish Tragedy, and Women Beware Women. Other Off-Broadway credits include Satchmo at the Waldorf (Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and the NAACP Theatre awards); The Iceman Cometh with Brian Dennehy and Nathan Lane at BAM (Drama Desk Award); Troilus & Cressida and King Lear opposite Sam Waterston at The Public Theater; Lost in the Stars for City Center Encores!; The Merchant of Venice, Macbeth, Othello (Obie Award, Lucille Lortel Award), Tamburlaine (Obie, Drama Desk awards), A Doll's House, and The Father for Theatre for a New Audience; The Forest for Classic Stage Company; The Emperor Jones at Irish Rep (Lucille Lortel, Drama League, and Drama Desk nominations); and Hedda Gabler at New York Theatre Workshop. Television credits include "The Gilded Age," "Bull," "Person of Interest," "For Life," "Mare of Easttown," and "The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks." Film: 21 Bridges, 355, Let Them All Talk, Wolves, The Bourne Legacy, Glass Chin, Midway, and Malcolm X. He is a Fox Fellowship recipient, and has received the Samuel H. Scripps Award and the Robert Brustein Award for sustained excellence in American theater. The Noël Coward Foundation is a grant-giving charitable trust which awards funds to educational and professional development projects across the performing arts. Founded in 2000 by Noël Coward's partner Graham Payn, the Foundation also works to promote Coward's legacy and to continue the keen interest Coward himself took in charitable work during his lifetime. The Foundation is enormously proud to support a diverse range of outstanding organisations working in theatre, music, playwriting, dance, technical training and many other areas. An accomplished actor and stage director, Phylicia Rashad became a household name when she portrayed Claire Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," a character whose enduring appeal has earned her numerous honors and awards. She has appeared in NBC's "This Is Us," in the popular Fox TV series "Empire," in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Peabody Award-winning series "David Makes Man" on the OWN Network, "Diarra From Detroit," "The Good Fight," "Little America," and "The Crossover." While television was a catalyst in the rise of Ms. Rashad's career, she has also been a force on the stage, appearing both on and Off Broadway, often in projects that showcase her musical talent such as Jelly's Last Jam, Into the Woods, Dreamgirls and The Wiz. In 2016, Ms. Rashad was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame and received the 2016 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Leading Actress in a Play for her performance as Shelah in Tarell Alvin McCraney's Head of Passes at the Public Theater. Ms. Rashad performed the role of the Duchess of Gloucester in Richard II, the 2020 Shakespeare on the Radio collaboration between The Public Theater and New York public radio station, WNYC. On Broadway, Ms. Rashad has performed in Dominique Morriseau's Skeleton Crew (Tony and Drama Desk Awards), August: Osage County, Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (a role that she reprised on the London stage), August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean (Tony Award nomination) and in Shakespeare's Cymbeline at Lincoln Center. Ms. Rashad received both the Drama Desk and the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play for her riveting performance as Lena Younger in the 2004 Broadway revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in The Sun. Among Ms. Rashad's film credits are The Beekeeper, Creed, Creed II, Creed III, Just Wright, Tyler Perry's Good Deeds, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf, A Fall From Grace. Other recent film projects include Black Box, Soul, and the Netflix holiday musical, Jingle Jangle. Ms. Rashad made her critically acclaimed directorial debut at the Seattle Repertory Theater with August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. She has also directed Brandon-Jacobs-Jenkins' Purpose, Stephen Adly Guirgis' Our Lady of 121st Street, The Roommate, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Joe Turner's Come and Gone (2014 NAACP Theatre Award for Best Director), Immediate Family, Fences, A Raisin in the Sun, and Four Little Girls. Respected in the academic world, Ms. Rashad recently completed her tenure as Dean of the Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts at Howard University. In February 2023 she was appointed Howard University's inaugural holder of the Toni Morrison Endowed Chair in Arts and Humanities. Ms. Rashad has conducted Master Classes at many colleges, universities, and arts organizations including Howard University, New York University, Carnegie Mellon, The Black Arts Institute of the Stella Adler Studio of Acting, and the prestigious Ten Chimneys Foundation. Ms. Rashad also holds the distinction of being the first recipient of the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University. Rashad's commitment to excellence in the performing arts has been recognized by the numerous colleges and universities that have presented her with Honorary Doctorates. Ms. Rashad has also received countless esteemed awards including the BET Honors Theatrical Arts Award, Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's Spirit of Shakespeare Award, and the Inaugural Legacy Award of the Ruben Santiago Hudson Fine Arts Learning Center. She serves on several important boards including Brainerd Institute Heritage (which is steering the restoration of Kumler Hall at the historic site of Brainerd Institute in Chester, South Carolina) and DADA, the Debbie Allen Dance Academy. Since 2017, Ms. Rashad has been the Brand Ambassador of the National Trust for Historic Preservation African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund. Phylicia Rashad graduated Magna Cum Laude from Howard University and is the mother of two adult children. Two-time Tony award-winning actor and instantly recognizable film presence, Matthew Broderick, was most recently seen starring in Netflix's opioid drama Painkiller opposite Uzo Aduba and Sony's coming-of-age comedy No Hard Feelings opposite Jennifer Lawrence and Laura Benanti. On stage, Broderick was most recently seen in Joe DiPietro's new play, Babbitt at the Shakespeare Theatre Company, which he originally performed during the World Premiere at the La Jolla Playhouse in 2023. Additionally, he starred in the West End revival of Neil Simon's Plaza Suite alongside his wife, Sarah Jessica Parker, a transfer of the 2022 Broadway production. Other theater credits include Brighton Beach Memoirs, for which he won his first Tony Award, A. R. Gurney's comedy Sylvia alongside Annaleigh Ashford; the smash Broadway hit It's Only a Play opposite his frequent co-star Nathan Lane; the award-winning Broadway run of Nice Work If You Can Get It; the Broadway production of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple; and The Foreigner at the Roundabout Theatre. He won his second Tony for his role as J. Pierrepont Finch in the Broadway revival of How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. In 2005, he starred in the feature film version of The Producers, reprising his Tony-nominated performance he gave during the record-breaking production on Broadway. Film and TV credits include: To Dust; Margaret; Rules Don't Apply; Election; The Producers; Netflix's Daybreak; and fan favorite Ferris Bueller's Day Off, among others. Broderick received an Emmy nomination for the TNT production of David Mamet's A Life in the Theater in which he starred opposite Jack Lemmon. Charlayne Woodard is a two-time Obie Award winner and Tony Award nominee. On Broadway, Ms. Woodard was nominated for Tony and Drama Desk Awards for the hit musical, Ain't Misbehavin'. She reprised her role at Her Majesty's Theatre in London's West End; the Los Angeles production, and ten years after the Broadway opening, the Broadway revival with original cast. NBC taped and broadcast the hit musical with the original Broadway cast; and, RCA recorded the original cast. Ms. Woodard also appeared in the Broadway revival of Hair, directed by Tom O'Horgan. Ms. Woodard's Off-Broadway theatre credits include Daddy by Jeremy O. Harris and directed by Danya Taymor at the Signature Theater; Hamlet (Gertrude) directed by Sam Gold at the Public Theater; War by Brandon-Jacobs Jenkins and directed by Liliana Blain-Cruz at Lincoln Center; the revival of The Substance of Fire by Jon Robin Baitz, directed by Trip Cullman at Second Stage; The Witch of Edmonton directed by Jesse Berger at the Red Bull Theatre Company (Obie Award); world premieres of In The Blood by Suzan-Lori Parks, directed by David Esbjornson at the Public Theater (Obie Award); Fabulation by Lynn Nottage, directed by Kate Whorisky at Playwright's Horizons; Stunning by David Adjmi at LCT3; Sorrows and Rejoicings written and directed by Athol Fugard at Second Stage (Audelco Award); and The Caucasian Chalk Circle directed by George C. Wolfe at the Public Theatre. Ms. Woodard's regional credits include: Midsummer Night's Dream, directed by Chris Ashley, as well as Shout Up A Morning, directed by Des McAnuff, both at the La Jolla Playhouse; The Taming of the Shrew (Kate), directed by Rebecca Taishman at Shakespeare Theatre Company; The Good Person of Setzuan, adapted by Tony Kushner and directed by Lisa Peterson at the LaJolla Playhouse; and Purgatorio by Ariel Dorfman and directed by David Esbjornson at Seattle Rep. Film credits include: M. Night Shyamalan's Glass and Unbreakable; John Sayles's Sunshine State; Wim Wender's Million Dollar Hotel; Arthur Miller's The Crucible, directed by Nicolas Hytner; John Schlesinger's Eye For An Eye; and Around The Fire. Her many television credits include: series regular on "Pose" (FX); the starring role in the Showtime movie, "Run For The Dream: The Gail Devers Story"; Oprah Winfrey's "The Wedding;" recurring roles on "Sneaky Pete;" "Prodigal Son;" "Law and Order Special Victims Unit;" "ER;" and "Terminator: The Sarah Connors Chronicles." She is a lifetime member of The Actor's Studio. MATADOR AWARDS FOR EXTRAORDINARY ACHIEVEMENT IN CLASSICAL THEATER Begun in 2009, Matador Awards are given annually to recognize individuals or organizations that have demonstrated extraordinary talent, service, or significant achievements in the Classical Theater. The awards are presented each year at the Running of the Red Bulls, Red Bull Theater's annual gala benefit. Previous honorees have included F. Murray Abraham, Kate Burton, André De Shields, Olympia Dukakis, Richard Easton, Michael Kahn, Alfred Molina, Jack O'Brien, Patrick Page, Lynn Redgrave, Sir Patrick Stewart, Daniel Sullivan, Julie Taymor, and Charlayne Woodard. The Matador Award for Extraordinary Talent for Classical Theater has been awarded to Oscar Isaac, Hamish Linklater, Ismenia Mendes, Martha Plimpton, Lily Rabe, Condola Rashad, Matthew Rauch, Olivia Reis, Juliet Rylance, Liev Schreiber, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Michael Urie. Previous recipients of the George Mayer Award for Extraordinary Service to Classical Theater include Alliance of Resident Theaters/New York, American Theatre Wing, The Angelo Patri Middle School, Arts in the Armed Forces, Axe-Houghton Foundation, Jim Bredeson, Fund for the City of New York, Katherine Hood, The Lucille Lortel Theatre Foundation, George Wm. Mayer Jr., K. Ann McDonald, Off-Broadway Angels, Howard Owens, Heather Randall, The Shakespeare Society, The Michael Tuch Foundation, and Theatre Development Fund. ABOUT RED BULL THEATER Red Bull Theater, hailed as "a dynamic producer of classic plays" by Ben Brantley in The New York Times, brings rarely seen classic plays to dynamic new life for contemporary audiences, uniting a respect for tradition with a modern sensibility. Named for the rowdy Jacobean playhouse that illegally performed plays in England during the years of Puritan rule, Red Bull Theater is New York City's home for dynamic performances of great plays that stand the test of time. With the Jacobean plays of Shakespeare and his contemporaries as its cornerstone, the company also produces new works that are in conversation with the classics. A home for artists, scholars, and students, Red Bull Theater delights and engages the intellect and imagination of audiences, and strives to make its work accessible, diverse, and welcoming to all. We value and practice inclusiveness, equity, and diversity in all of our activities, and are committed to antiracist action. Red Bull Theater believes in the power of great classic stories and plays of heightened language to deepen our understanding of the human condition, in the special ability of live theater to create unique, collective experiences, and in the timeless capacity of classical theater to illuminate the events of our times. Variety agreed, hailing Red Bull's work as: "Proof that classical theater can still be surprising after hundreds of years." Since its debut in 2003 with a production of Shakespeare's Pericles starring Daniel Breaker, Red Bull Theater has served adventurous theatergoers with Off-Broadway productions, Revelation Readings, and the annual Short New Play Festival. The company also offers outreach programs including Shakespeare in Schools bringing professional actors and teaching artists into public school classrooms; Bull Sessions, free post-play discussions with top scholars; and Classical Acting Intensives led by veteran theater professionals. During the pandemic, Red Bull created several new and ongoing programs to serve audiences and artists with our mission: Red Bull Podcasts, Online Readings, Seminars, and more. "The most exciting classical theater in New York" as Time Out NY has called it, has produced 24 Off-Broadway productions and over 200 Revelation Readings of rarely seen classics, serving a community of more than 5,000 artists and providing quality artistic programming to an audience of over 65,000. The company's unique programming has received ongoing critical acclaim and has been recognized with Lortel, Drama Desk, Drama League, Callaway, Off-Broadway Alliance, and OBIE nominations and Awards. For more information about any of Red Bull Theater's programs, visit www.redbulltheater.com. |
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