Theater for the New City's elegant & sassy "Love 'n Courage" gala February 17 will benefit its Emerging Playwrights program.
Gathering with performances at The Players will honor Estelle Parsons

WHERE AND WHEN:
Tuesday, February 17, 2026
The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South
Cocktails 6:00 PM, seated dinner 6:45 PM. Performances 8:00 to 10:00 PM.
Tickets are $250 (individuals) and $2,000 for a table of ten.
Buy tix: www.theaterforthenewcity.net, (212) 254-1109.
RSVP by Feb. 5.

NEW YORK, December 26 -- Theater for the New City will celebrate fearless artistry and bold new voices at its 23rd annual Love ’n Courage gala on February 17 at The Players, 16 Gramercy Park South. Proceeds will benefit TNC’s nationally respected Emerging Playwrights Program, one of the most prolific incubators of new American theater. The evening will honor Estelle Parsons, the award-winning actress, stage director, social activist, artistic director, and leader in diversity whose career reflects precisely the spirit of strength and hope that Love ’N Courage seeks to celebrate.

Theater for the New City (TNC) is a four-theater complex at 155 First Avenue. Its awards include the Pulitzer Prize, 43 Village Voice OBIE Awards, nine Audelco Awards, two Bessie Awards, five ASCAP Awards, ten Rockefeller Playwrights Fellowships, The Mayor's Stop the Violence Award, the Manhattan Borough President’s Award for Public Service and Artistic Excellence in Theater, and a NY City Council Proclamation awarded to TNC’s Street Theater for its contributions to improving the quality of life in the City and its  “rich tradition of bringing theater to people in underserved neighborhoods.”

The Emerging Playwrights program is integral to the theater's mission, which includes being a center for new and innovative theater arts, discovering relevant new writing and nurturing new playwrights. TNC does not believe that readings are enough to help an artist to grow into the American playwriting mainstream. So the theater gives emerging artists full productions, with a minimum run of three weeks, with full lighting, sets, costumes and overall professional production values. The theater staff does marketing and ticket prices are kept low to ensure good attendance. Even with a schedule heavy with such productions, TNC is setting attendance records so far this season.

TNC is known as a prolific incubator of new writing. Each year there is the work of 10 to 20 emerging playwrights presented in a season of 30 to 40 premieres. No other theater approaches the volume of worldwide premieres that TNC has presented in the 54 years since its founding.

Playwrights are selected for the quality of their work and their historical and social vision. Executive Director Crystal Field declares, "That is our ballast. Everything else is just decoration." Many colleges have playwriting programs, but the process at TNC is different from what happens in university theaters because at TNC, the playwright is involved in all aspects of the production and has final say on everything including budget, casting, designers and choice of director. Once the play is selected, the producer cannot fire the writer and there is no censorship of any kind. It's a nurturing relationship in which the author is also invited to create a new work for each of the following two seasons, often providing a gateway for their entrance into commercial theater.

Emerging playwright productions have use of the theater's set and costume shops and its vast inventory of set pieces. Each theater space is fully equipped and since Covid began, TNC has added streaming capabilities.

This year, "Love 'n Courage" will be hosted by songwriter/playwright/performer Phoebe Legere and playwright/director Matt Morillo.

During the cocktail hour, beginning at 6:00 PM, entertainment will include performances by The Head Peddlers (Elizabeth Ruf and Karl Bateman) and Human Kinetics (Yana Schnitzler and company). At 6:20 PM, students of TNC's after school cultural arts program, ages 8-12, will perform songs they created at TNC.

A seated dinner will begin at 6:45 PM. Entertainment will begin at 8:00 PM on The Players' stage, featuring a mixture of acts. These include songs performed by Charles Busch, Phoebe Legere, Mimi Block & Rome Neal, and a singalong with Yip Harburg Rainbow Troupe. Cheryl Gadsden, JC Augustin and Michael David Gordon will perform songs from TNC's 2025 Street Theater musical, "The Socialization of a Social Worker," accompanied by composer Peter Dizozza. There will be a scene from "The Popes of Farragut Street" by Melanie Goodreaux and short performances by Ashley Liang Dance Company, Robert Gonzales, Jr., and The India Center.

The gathering will be addressed by City Councilmember Carlina Rivera.

ABOUT HONOREE ESTELLE PARSONS
Estelle Parsons has been an actress, director, theater administrator, social activist and leader in diversity going way back. In 1979, she directed a production of "Antony and Cleopatra" at Interart Theatre in which she incorporated some Spanish into the show. This prompted Joseph Papp to invite her to direct at the New York Shakespeare Festival; she was the first woman to do so. Since the 1980s, she has been an artistic leader of the Actors Studio, which has been her artistic home for more than half a century and where she was Artistic Director from 1998 to 2003. She currently serves as its Co-Associate Artistic Director, staging productions and shaping works within its renowned theater workshop that focus on impactful social justice themes.

Ms. Parsons is also well-known for her films including "Bonnie and Clyde" (for which she won Best Supporting Actress) and "Rachel, Rachel" (Oscar Nominated), and TV shows including "Grace and Frankie," "Roseanne" and its spinoff, "The Connors." She is a 2004 inductee into the Theater Hall of Fame and a long-time supporter of TNC.

The Love 'n Courage Benefit Committee includes F. Murray Abraham, David Amram, Lincoln Anderson, Alexander Bartenieff, Joe John Battista, Charles Busch, Myrna Duarte, Carol Dudgeon, Renee S. Edelman, Crystal Field, Matthew Fitzgerald, Andrea Fulton, Assembly Member Deborah Glick, Robert Gonzales, Jr., Robert Greer, Philip Hackett, Alan Hanna, Deena & Ernie Harburg, Celia Kornfeld, Anne Lucas, Eduardo Machado, Nancy and Allan Manocherian, Mark Marcante, Audrey Heffernan Meyer, Louis Mofsie, Lissa Moira, Matt Morillo, Stephan Morrow, Emily Pezzella, Janet Piontek (Chair), Richard Ploetz, Tim Robbins, Liana Rosario, Michael Scott-Price, Jonathan Slaff, David F. Slone, Esq., Mary Tierney, Jenne Vath, Janet Piontek (Chair), Joel Vig, Jonathan Weber, Patricia & Dr. Jay Weiner, and Lewis Widoff.

Cocktails are at 6:00 PM with a seated dinner at 6:45 PM. Performances begin at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $250 (individuals) and $2000 for a table of ten, available online at www.theaterforthenewcity.net. For info call (212) 254-1109. RSVP by February 5. Dress is festive.

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