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Take Your Seat at Studio 54
In Honor of...
Roundabout has launched an ambitious seat naming initiative at Studio 54 to support our endowment fund. Hopefully you've had a chance to visit our interactive, high-tech website www.studio54seats.org to view the theatre and choose your seat. Naming a seat in honor of someone is a fantastic way to commemorate a special person in your life. Similarly, we have honored some very special people as well.
Roundabout wouldn't be what it is today without the legacy of our long-running revival of Cabaret. It was the success of this production that allowed us to purchase Studio 54 as a permanent home on Broadway. To commemorate each actor who played the Emcee and Sally Bowles during the musical's run, we have named 28 seats throughout the orchestra in their honor. The actor's name will appear on the armrest and a donor's name will go on the back of the seat. Browse through the website www.studio54seats.org and find their seat locations!
Securing the Future
Now in its fifth decade, Roundabout stands at a crossroads: with four theatre spaces both on and off Broadway, and with growing pressures to compete in an economically uncertain environment for the arts, Roundabout must now plan for the future by establishing an endowment to ensure its place on the theatrical scene. The goal of the endowment, the final phase of our $32 million capital campaign Building Partnerships for Artistic Excellence: A Campaign for Roundabout Theatre Company, is to provide a steady, predictable flow of income to support the institution over time, while the principal itself is never spent and, ideally, grows. It is Roundabout's safeguard against future, unforeseeable financial challenges, a shield in a merciless commercial marketplace, and allows the theatre to take advantage of future opportunities for growth and achievement. It is a way to ensure Roundabout will be here, presenting great theatre, for generations to come.
An important component of the endowment is the Todd Haimes Fund for Artistic Initiatives. Established by Board member Steven Goldstone to honor the leadership and vision of Roundabout Artistic Director Todd Haimes, this fund enables Roundabout to stage exceptional productions of plays or musicals whose complexity or scope would be prohibitive within the normal operating budget. It also funds the Associate Artist Program, which provides an artistic home and source of support for top theatre artists like Scott Ellis, Doug Hughes, Joe Mantello, Kathleen Marshall, and more. Through this program, Roundabout continues to serve as a trusted base for artists who might otherwise leave the theatre for financial reasons. All contributions to our seat naming initiative will go directly into this special fund.
Call Jeffory Lawson, Director of Development, at 212.719.9393 to discuss the many ways in which you can take a lead role in our endowment effort.
Roundabout Donors
Harry E. Gould, Jr.
and his wife Barbara Gould
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During the many special events held throughout the season, we have the unique opportunity to get to know our closest friends and supporters and hear about what attracts them to Roundabout year after year. Longtime Board member and friend, Carol Mitchell, hosted a reception in her home where we honored members of our Chairman's Circle who have been a part of this special donor group for five or ten years. What started as a recognition ceremony turned into an intimate celebration, where several guests shared personal stories about their connection to Roundabout.
Harry E. Gould, Jr. and his wife, Barbara, have been loyal Chairman's Circle members for ten years. Harry notes that even as a large company, the nature of Roundabout is to maintain a family atmosphere. His love for theatre was incubated mostly by his late father, a business owner by day who also dabbled in producing. For about a decade, Harry E. Gould, Sr. owned the Belasco and Lyceum Theatres before selling them back to the Shuberts. During that time, Harry, Jr. remembers visiting his father's office on the balcony level of the Lyceum Theatre in the late afternoons and reading the weekly Variety magazine after his father was finished, making him a young expert of the industry.
Although Harry has owned an internationally-known paper distributor, Gould Paper Corporation, for four decades, he has stayed involved in the entertainment business. For several years, he ran a motion picture company for Merrill Lynch, financing such movies as Flashdance and Star Trek III. And as a member of the Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, he is given Oscar-voting status. Harry considers the arts to be in his bloodstream. He maintains an impressive collection of film scores, cds, lps, and 78s, citing music as his biggest hobby.
Harry and Barbara got involved with Roundabout back in our days at the Criterion Center, and Harry says they grew increasingly impressed as we moved into our three current spaces and expanded our repertoire. He expressed that Roundabout's selection of timely revivals, its good casts and directors, and Todd's taste, which he finds in sync with his own, are what won over his support.
When Harry was presented with an honorary pin at our recognition event, he expressed the importance of sharing it with his father, whom he credits for exposing him to the theatre. Harry has memorialized his father in a more permanent way, having purchased a seat in his name at the American Airlines Theatre. And now through Roundabout's new seat naming campaign at Studio 54, Harry decided to honor his mother and youngest daughter by naming two orchestra seats in their memory.
Dr. Jeffrey L. McClendon and his wife, Sharon Richey-McClendon
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Another Chairman's Circle member who took the opportunity to tell a personal story was Dr. Jeffrey McClendon. He and his wife, Sharon Richey-McClendon, also got involved during Roundabout's time at the Criterion Center. They first discovered the company when Jeffrey was stationed at Fort Hamilton in Brooklyn. It was his last assignment in the army after twelve years of service, and he and Sharon decided to remain in New York City. They were looking to meet new people, and Jeffrey said that Roundabout seemed to call to them. In this sense, they consider Roundabout their first real friend in New York City.
Jeffrey recalls his eighth grade honors English class, where he performed Edward Albee's Sandbox to more than 400 students. This was his first experience being a part of a production, and it wasn't until after college and dental school, when he was in Germany, that Jeffrey had the chance to perform again. There, Jeffrey hosted the dinner theatre, doing sets and lighting for shows like The Glass Menagerie and Of Mice and Men. He had another chance to do Albee, playing the role of Peter in The Zoo Story. Jeffrey finds it a funny coincidence that the park bench in this show is near the New York City cross streets 74th and Fifth, and his current office is at 73rd and Fifth.
Jeffrey's parents had already passed on by the time that he and Sharon got involved with Roundabout, so like the Goulds, he wanted to name a seat in their honor at the American Airlines Theatre. This way, Jeff says, his parents go to the theatre every night now! They have also just purchased an Orchestra seat at Studio 54 to support Roundabout's endowment fund.
Both Harry and Jeffrey spoke of Roundabout's strong sense of family, which is a very important part of the company's culture. We know that our work is a collaborative effort with the many people who support us as an institution, and we could not produce the type of shows or maintain the types of education and community programs we have without them. Events like the one we held for our Chairman's Circle members give us the chance to recognize certain individuals who have given their unwavering support over many years, and who truly are a part of the Roundabout family.
We love hearing from our donors and subscribers about what connects them to Roundabout, so if you'd like to share your story, please e-mail karak@roundabouttheatre.org. To learn more about the Chairman's Circle or how to purchase a seat in one of our theatres, please contact Kara Kandel at 212.719.9393, ext. 318.
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