Off-Broadway stalwart New York Theatre Workshop's 2022 gala will honor longtime Artistic Director James C. Nicola, who is set to end his 34-year tenure with the company this summer. The event will be held at Capitale in The Bowery April 11 at 6 PM.
"Jim has been an extraordinarily fierce advocate for artists throughout his entire accomplished career,” says NYTW Board President Kelly Fowler Hunter. "For over 34 years with New York Theatre Workshop, he has taken chances on thousands of daring artists, often at the very beginning of their careers, nurturing them with a simple strategy: give artists the space and time and resources to find their voice and to realize their vision. On the stage, he has brought audiences some of the most memorable theatrical experiences of a lifetime and helped shape the modern theatrical landscape. And just as important, he has forged a true creative workshop at NYTW—a place where artists can hone their craft, develop their work, and just be artists. We are tremendously grateful for the legacy and the theatre he has built. In his final year at the helm of the Workshop, there is simply no one more deserving of a celebration and tribute than Jim Nicola."
Proceeds from NYTW's annual gala are responsible for nearly 10% of the Off-Broadway company's annual budget. Chairs for this year's gala are Rachel Chavkin, Stephen Graham, Janet Harckham, Barbara Warner Howard, and Heather Randall.
Over Nicola's 34-year tenure, the Off-Broadway company has developed and produced works that have gone on to win a Pulitzer Prize and 25 Tony Awards, with a roster of titles that includes Rent, Homebody/Kabul, Dirty Blonde, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Peter and the Starcatcher, Once, Lazarus, Hadestown, What the Constitution Means to Me, and Slave Play, along with works by Caryl Churchill, Doug Wright, Martha Clarke, Will Power, Jessica Blank, Erik jensen, Dael Orlandersmith, Mfoniso Udofia, Rachel Chavkin, Ayad Akhtar, Amy Herzog, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Anne Kaufman, Celine Song, Lucas Hnath, and Elevator Repair Service.
Among Nicola's projects at the helm of NYTW was the creation of the 2050 Artistic Fellowship, a program that has provided support for early-career theatre makers since the 1990s. Alums of the program include Whitney White, Lileana Blain-Cruz, Martyna Majok, Nathan Alan Davis, and Shayok Misha Chowdhury. Nicola's pre-NYTW career includes celebrated stints at Washington D.C.'s Arena Stage, the New York Shakespeare Festival, The Young Vic, The National Theatre, and the Royal Court Theatre.
Nicola's successor has not yet been named.
More information and tickets for NYTW's 2022 gala can be found at NYTW.org.
