TheatreWorks to Host BEFORE THE INK DRIES Fundraiser with David Henry Hwang and Rajiv Joseph

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley will kick off its 20th Anniversary New Works Festival with Before the Ink Dries: A Special TheatreWorks Fundraiser with David Henry Hwang and Rajiv Joseph. 

Featuring a dinner and onstage event, this one-night-only benefit offers an exclusive opportunity to share dinner, drinks, and behind-the-scenes insights with two of America's most fascinating contemporary playwrights: Tony Award winner David Henry Hwang (M. Butterfly, Chinglish, Yellow Face, Soft Power) and Obie Award winner Rajiv Joseph (King James, Archduke, Describe The Night, The Lake Effect, The North Pool, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo). Before the Ink Dries: A Special TheatreWorks Fundraiser with David Henry Hwang and Rajiv Joseph will be hosted Friday, August 11, 2023, at the Lucie Stern Theatre, 1305 Middlefield Rd., Palo Alto. Dinner will begin at 6pm, followed by an onstage event starting at 8pm.

Tickets ($325 for dinner and event; $75 for event only) and information about this special fundraiser are available online at theatreworks.org or by calling (650) 463-1960. Proceeds from this event will support TheatreWorks in its continued missions of supporting the development of new theatre and bringing the arts to Bay Area audiences.

At dinner, guests will join Hwang, Joseph, and the artists in TheatreWorks' 20th Anniversary New Works Festival for a delicious meal prepared by top local chefs and an open bar featuring the brand-new signature New Works Festival cocktail. Dinner guests will be the first to hear the announcement of the newest recipient of TheatreWorks' Susan Fairbrook Playwright Fund, a fund established in memory of former TheatreWorks trustee Susan Kay Fairbrook that is dedicated to supporting new plays. Then, attendees will move to the theatre for an onstage conversation with Joseph and Hwang, where these theatre luminaries will reveal their playwriting secrets, tease what's next in their careers, and share behind-the-scenes stories of their iconic work on Broadway and beyond. The evening will close in the courtyard with a cupcake toast to David Henry Hwang in honor of his birthday.

Gathering hundreds of theatre lovers for a sneak peek at the future of theatre, TheatreWorks Silicon Valley's New Works Festival offers the extraordinary opportunity for audiences to experience new plays and musicals in their initial stages of development and see their evolution over multiple performances. Now presenting its 20th Anniversary New Works Festival, the Tony Award recipient theatre company will stage readings of four new works: Min Kahng's Happy Pleasant Valley: A Senior Sex Scandal Murder Mystery Musical, a rollicking musical comedy about scandals and murder in a senior living community; Minita Gandhi's Nerve, an aromatic dark comedy that includes on-stage cooking and shares recipes and bites with the audience; Bess Welden's National Jewish Playwriting Contest winner Madeleines, a drama that explores sibling conflict, family legacies, and treasured recipes; and Low Expectations, a globe-trotting solo show with music by seasoned film and television actor Michael Gaston (Bridge of Spies, W, Inception, “The Man in the High Castle,” “Jack Ryan,” “Madam Secretary,” “The Good Wife”).

In addition, actor/activist Shakina (NBC's “Connecting,” NBC's “Quantum Leap,” Hulu's “Difficult People”) returns to TheatreWorks for the first time since her hit 2014 New Works Festival appearance, to perform a special concert premiering never-before-heard songs from her brand-new musical. The event, which also includes an after-party with drinks and dancing, will take place 7pm Friday, August 18, 2023.

The Festival has launched many new works onto TheatreWorks' main stage and to national productions, including Broadway's Tony Award-winning Best Musical Memphis and the 2018 Obie Award winner for Best New American Play, Rajiv Joseph's Describe The Night. The Festival has given playgoers their first looks at new works by such luminaries as Andrew Lippa, Stephen Schwartz, Wendy Wasserstein, Marsha Norman, Christopher Chen, Rachel Sheinkin, David Hein and Irene Sankoff, Rajiv Joseph, Duncan Sheik, Rogelio Martinez, Kimber Lee, Joe DiPietro, Rehana Lew Mirza, and many more.

David Henry Hwang (Playwright) is a Tony Award winner (and three-time nominee), a three-time Obie Award winner, a Grammy Award winner (and two-time nominee), and a three-time Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Drama. His stage work includes the plays M. Butterfly (TheatreWorks 1992 & 2006), Chinglish, Yellow Face (TheatreWorks 2009), Golden Child, The Dance and the Railroad, and FOB, as well as the Broadway musicals Aida, Flower Drum Song (2002 revival) and Disney's Tarzan. His screenplays include M. Butterfly, and he is currently penning the live-action feature musical remake of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame as well as an Anna May Wong biopic to star actor Gemma Chan. For television, he was a writer/consulting producer for the Golden Globe-winning television series “The Affair” and is now creating two television series, “Billion Dollar Whale” for Westward/SKG and another for Netflix. Called America's most-produced living opera librettist, he has written thirteen libretti, including five with composer Philip Glass, as well as Dream of the Red Chamber with Bright Sheng, twice presented to acclaim and sold-out houses at San Francisco Opera. He co-wrote the Gold Record-winning “Solo” with the late pop music icon Prince. A professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, Hwang is a Trustee of the American Theatre Wing, where he served as Chair, and sits on the Council of the Dramatist Guild. Recent honors include his 2022 induction onto the Lucille Lortel Playwrights' Sidewalk and his 2021 induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. His musical Soft Power, a collaboration with composer Jeanine Tesori, made its World Premiere at Center Theatre Group/Ahmanson Theatre, was seen at the Curran Theatre in San Francisco, and opened in New York at The Public Theater, where it received a 2020 Grammy nomination for Best Musical Theatre Album and was a Finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.

Rajiv Joseph came to national attention when his celebrated hit Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo became a finalist for the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and received an Outstanding New American Play Award from the National Endowment for the Arts. With direction by Moisés Kaufman, Bengal Tiger was a sensational hit at Center Theatre Group/Kirk Douglas Theatre in Los Angeles in 2009 and moved to Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum in 2010 where The New York Times described it as a “boldly imagined, harrowing and surprisingly funny drama.” The show made its Broadway debut starring Robin Williams in March 2011. Seen in TheatreWorks' 2014 New Works Festival, Joseph's play Describe the Night won the 2018 Obie Award for Best New American Play for its production at Atlantic Theatre Company helmed by Giovanna Sardelli. His play Guards at the Taj was a 2016 Obie Winner for Best New American Play and 2016 Lucille Lortel Winner for Best Play. Other plays include Archduke (which made its Northern California Premiere at TheatreWorks in 2019), The Lake Effect (TheatreWorks 2015), The North Pool (TheatreWorks 2011), Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Monster at the Door, Animals Out of Paper, and Mr. Wolf. Joseph has been awarded artistic grants from the Whiting Foundation, United States Artists, and the Harold & Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust. He received his BA in Creative Writing from Miami University and his MFA in Dramatic Writing from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. His newest play King James about basketball star LeBron James and the human connection made its World Premiere as a co-production with Steppenwolf Theatre Company and Center Theatre Group and recently opened Off-Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club's New York City Center Stage.

TheatreWorks Silicon Valley, led by Executive Director Debbie Chinn in partnership with Interim Artistic Director Giovanna Sardelli, presents a wide variety of contemporary plays and musicals, revitalizes great works of the past, and serves more than 100,000 patrons per year. Founded in 1970 by Robert Kelley, TheatreWorks has grown from an original Silicon Valley start-up to become one of the nation's leading professional non-profit theatre companies. TheatreWorks was honored as the recipient of the 2019 Regional Theatre Tony Award. In addition to acclaimed productions of classics and contemporary plays and musicals, TheatreWorks champions new work, offering artists support and a creative home as they develop new stories for the American theatre. Offstage, TheatreWorks' arts education programs uplift its audiences and strengthen community bonds. Onstage and off, TheatreWorks welcomes the mosaic of people that embody the Bay Area and beyond, celebrating the transformative power of theatre to ignite imagination, inspire conversation, and enliven souls.

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