SECOND STAGE THEATER To Host Fall Benefit Honoring Harvey Fierstein

Featuring Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Annaleigh Ashford, Keala Settle, Wayne Brady, Rosie O’Donnell, Christopher Sieber, Michael Urie & the Torch Song cast and Marissa Jaret Winokur & the original Hairspray Dynamites

On Monday, November 12 at Terminal 5

Second Stage Theater, now celebrating its 40th Anniversary, will host their Fall Benefit on Monday, November 12 at Terminal 5 (610 West 56th Street), honoring Tony Award winner and Second Stage Theater alum Harvey Fierstein. The evening will feature performances and appearances by Cyndi Lauper, Billy Porter, Rosie O’Donnell, Annaleigh Ashford, Keala Settle, Wayne Brady, Christopher Sieber, Michael Urie and Marissa Jaret Winokur and the original Hairspray Dynamites.

The one-night-only benefit event will celebrate Torch Song returning to the Hayes Theater 36 years after its original Broadway run and will include the entire cast from Second Stage Theater’s production of Fierstein’s Torch Song: Michael Urie, Mercedes Ruehl, Ward Horton, Jack DiFalco, Roxanna Hope Radja and Michael Hsu Rosen. Torch Song, which played Second Stage’s Tony Kiser Theater last fall, begins previews at the Hayes Theater on Tuesday, October 9.

The benefit will be directed by Tony Award winner Jerry Mitchell and written by Tony Award nominee Chad Beguelin. The event is Co-Chaired by Robert Greenblatt, Richie Jackson, and Jordan Roth with Honorary Chairs Cyndi Lauper and Joe Mantello.

The benefit begins at 6:30pm with cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, followed by dinner at 7:30pm and an 8:30pm performance. Tickets for cocktails, dinner and the performance are priced from $1,500 - $5,000 and tables are available for $10,000 - $25,000. All funds raised support and sustain Second Stage Theater’s artistic programs.

For more information or to purchase tickets, please visit www.2ST.com.

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ABOUT SECOND STAGE THEATER

Under the artistic direction of Carole Rothman, SECOND STAGE THEATER operates three New York City venues, exclusively dedicated to producing living American playwrights. Second Stage’s first season on Broadway at The Hayes Theater included Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Trip Cullman (Tony nominee for Best Revival of Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role, Michael Cera and Brian Tyree Henry) and Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee and directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Among Second Stage’s 180 productions are the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I’m Not by Paul Weitz; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture and Whorl Inside a Loop by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy and Notes From the Field by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier’s Play by Charles Fuller; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; and Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee.

The company’s more than 130 citations include six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, eight Outer Critics Circle Awards, three Clarence Derwent Awards, 13 Drama Desk Awards, nine Theatre World Awards, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theater opened The Tony Kiser Theater, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theater, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched “Second Stage Theater Uptown” to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the 99-seat McGinn/Cazale Theater. The Theater supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs. In 2018, Second Stage began producing at its 581 seat Broadway home, The Hayes Theater. Originally named “The Little Theater” and built in 1912, the city landmark has been remodeled by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group.

In addition to Days of Rage, the 2018-2019 40th anniversary season includes the world premiere musical, Superhero, with a book by Tony Award winner John Logan, music and lyrics by Tony and Pulitzer Prize winner Tom Kitt and direction by Tony Award nominee Jason Moore. This new musical will feature Tony Award nominees Kate Baldwin, Bryce Pinkham, and Kyle McArthur. Summer 2019 will feature Christopher Shinn’s Pulitzer Prize finalist, Dying City, in a new production from acclaimed director Lila Neugebauer. Second Stage’s production of Harvey Fierstein’s Torch Song, directed by Moisés Kaufman and starring Michael Urie and Mercedes Ruehl, will play at Second Stage’s Broadway home, The Hayes Theater.

Second Stage Theater is investing in its future by commissioning over 20 living American playwrights.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com

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