Edwad Albee Receives American Artist Award at Arena Stage Benefit, 3/14

Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater will honor legendary playwright Edward Albee with the American Artist Award at the Arena Stage Benefit for Community Engagement Monday, March 14, 2011. An Evening with Edward Albee will include cocktails, a presentation and dinner at the Mead Center (1101 Sixth St., SW).

A highlight of the evening will include tributes from acclaimed actors including Tracy Letts (Arena Stage's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning playwright of August: Osage County), Amy Morton (Arena Stage's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Tony Award nominee for August: Osage County), Tony Award winner Elaine Stritch (2009 Broadway production A Little Night Music, 1996 Broadway production A Delicate Balance) and Golden Globe Award winner Kathleen Turner (2005 Broadway production Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, 2002 Broadway production The Graduate).

The American Artist Award honors an artist who has made a significant contribution to American theater and who represents all that is passionate, exuberant, deep and dangerous in the American spirit. Past awardees include James Earl Jones, Robert "Bob" Alexander, August Wilson and Arena Stage co-founder Zelda Fichandler. In 2011 Arena Stage celebrates Edward Albee, whose roughly 30 plays have garnered him two Tony Awards and three Pulitzer Prizes, as well as iconic status in American theater. Mr. Albee has also received Kennedy Center Honors, the National Medal of Arts and a Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement.

Support from the benefit contributes to more than one-third of the funds necessary to run Arena Stage's Community Engagement programs, which educate and enrich the lives of more than 20,000 students across the region. For more information visit
http://www.arenastage.org/education/education-programs.

Arena Stage Benefit for Community Engagement
An Evening with Edward Albee
Monday, March 14, 2011
Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater (1101 Sixth St., SW, Washington, DC)
6:30 p.m. Cocktails in the Molly Smith Study
7:30 p.m. Presentation in the Arlene and Robert Kogod Cradle, featuring Tracy Letts, Amy Morton, Elaine Stritch and Kathleen Turner
8:30 p.m. Dinner on the Café Level
Cocktail Attire
Complimentary Valet Parking Available
Limited Space Available
Tickets start at $500.
For table purchases, tickets or further information contact Julie Lombard at 202-600-4176 or jlombard@arenastage.org.
For corporate sponsorship opportunities contact Bruce Leathwood at 202-600-4022 or bleathwood@arenastage.org.

For more information on the Edward Albee Festival at Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater please visit www.arenastage.org.

Photo Credit: Walter McBride/WM Photos