NEW YORK: Theatre Communications Group (TCG) has announce their 60th anniversary gala, Our Stories, to be held virtually May 18. The gala will honor director and theatre founder Ricardo Khan, as well as the Performing Arts Alliance (PAA). Both the gala and afterparty will be hosted by drag queen Shequida. Dr. Michelle Ramos, the board chair of PAA and vision keeper of Alternate ROOTS, will offer remarks on behalf of PAA.
“There’s no better way to celebrate TCG’s 60th anniversary than by honoring Ricardo Khan’s ongoing legacy and celebrating the advocacy breakthroughs made by the Performing Arts Alliance,” TCG executive director Teresa Eyring said in a statement. “From founding the Tony Award-winning Crossroads Theatre Company, to serving as president of TCG’s board, Ricardo’s visionary leadership has championed a generation of Black artistry and transformed our field.”
The Our Stories Gala will be held on Zoom between the two parts of TCG’s virtual conference, Our Theatre Ecology. The gala will feature special guests and performances who will be announced at a later date.
The Performing Arts Alliance is the national policy advocate, leadership forum, and learning network for America’s nonprofit performing arts organizations, artists, and allies.
Ramos’s work focuses on shifting power to Black and brown people through pushing boundaries, challenging the status quo, and reflecting values of equity and justice in her day-to-day practice. Before leading Alternate ROOTS, Ramos was the managing director for the Vera Institute of Justice New Orleans and a program officer for the Women’s Foundation of California. She serves on the board of Dance/USA in addition to PAA and has continued to teach dance since retiring from her own dance career. Ramos holds a Ph.D. in cultural psychology and is a licensed attorney.
Khan is a director, artistic director, writer, educator, and a Tony Award recipient for the African American theatre company he co-founded, Crossroads Theatre Company. Khan established Crossroads as a major creative force of the American theatre, and was the originating producer of Paul Robeson, starring Avery Brooks, which went from Crossroads to Broadway in 1988, as well as the Tony-nominated musical It Ain’t Nothin’ But the Blues in 1998. After August Wilson’s passing in 2005, Khan returned to Broadway to write, stage, and co-present the New York tribute to Wilson in the theatre that now bears his name. Khan’s directing credits include the Negro Ensemble Company, Manhattan Theatre Club, Lincoln Center Theater, and others, and he was the associate director of the Broadway production Hot Feet! Khan was also the producer and director of the opening night gala ceremonies for the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture in 2016.
Shequida is a Jamaican-born, Juilliard-trained performer who played the first ever recurring drag character on an ABC soap opera as Wendi Mercury on One Life to Live. She wrote and starred in two Off-Broadway shows and has performed in Hong Kong, Berlin, Paris, Amsterdam, and on America’s Got Talent.
The Our Stories Gala supports TCG’s work in leading for a just and thriving theatre ecology. TCG, the national organization for theatre, has grown from a handful of groundbreaking theatres to over 700 member theatres and affiliate organizations and over 7,000 individual members. TCG, the publisher of this magazine, offer networking opportunities through research, communications, and events.
