Photo Flash: New Georges' BIG Benefit at Seamen's House

On Sunday, September 22 New Georges held their BIG Benefit at Seamen's House, a private townhouse in Chelsea. The fundraiser featured a special performance by Eisa Davis and short plays and songs written specifically for the event by Laura Eason, Boo Killebrew, Julie Kramer, Rachel Peters and Charise Castro Smith, featuring Heidi Schreck, Maria-Christina Oliveras, Amy Wilson, Stephanie Wright Thompson, Eric Clem and others. Scroll down for photos from the festivities!

NEW GEORGES, founded in 1992, has premiered 38 new full-length plays and 11 festivals of new work; hundreds of original works have passed through New Georges' workspace, The Room, on their way to venues in New York City and beyond. In addition to producing regular seasons, the company is a play and artist development organization, providing essential resources and opportunities to a community of adventurous artists. Their production of Eisa Davis' Angela's Mixtape was one of The New Yorker's "Best Off-Broadway Shows of 2009;" and Jenny Schwartz's God's Ear was a Time Out New York "Top Ten of 2007" and transferred to the Vineyard Theatre in 2008. Plays premiered at New Georges have been published by Faber & Faber, Samuel French, Dramatists Play Service, Playscripts, Smith & Kraus, Seagull Books and Vintage, and have received Susan Smith Blackburn and Kesselring prizes. In addition, New Georges produced early works by many notable playwrights, including Lisa D'Amour, Tracey Scott Wilson, Diana Son, Cusi Cram, Sheila Callaghan, Heidi Schreck, Leigh Fondakowski, Catherine Filloux, Kate Moira Ryan and Carson Kreitzer.

Honors include an OBIE Award as well as awards from New York Women's Agenda, Princess Grace Foundation/USA, Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation, Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, and FringeNYC. In 2009, The L Magazine named New Georges among its "Best of NYC;" and a study published by TDF, OUTRAGEOUS FORTUNE: The Life and Times of the New American Play, lists New Georges as one of the top 10 theaters nationwide named by playwrights as a leading producer of their plays.

For more about New Georges, visit www.newgeorges.org.

Photo Credit: Veronique Lee