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Theatre Development Fund, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, will honor three of the organization’s “Unsung Heroes” – Ted Chapin, Jeffrey Gural and Robert Zukerman at TDF’s Gala on Monday, June 15 at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).  TDF is honoring these “heroes,” as they have assisted the organization in fulfilling its mission of supporting works of artistic merit and helping to make theatre accessible to all.

Guests will be treated to a special performance starring Jonathan Groff with special guests Jan Maxwell and Laura Osnes, and hosted by Julie Halston, preceded by cocktails and dinner. The musical director is Andy Einhorn. The co-chairs for the event are TDF Trustees Meg Herrman and Ruth Sarfaty.  

The funds raised at the gala will help support TDF’s education and engagement  programs which serve to build audiences for the future and TDF’s access programs which make theatre accessible to people with physical and developmental disabilities. Tickets start at $750. To purchase tickets and for more information visit: www.tdf.org/gala, email events@tdf.org or call Frances Strauss at 212.912.9770 ext. 341.

“Each of these three amazing gentlemen have helped TDF behind the scenes for many years and we are thrilled to celebrate them,” said TDF’s Executive Director, Victoria Bailey. “In addition having been a TDF Trustee, Ted Chapin has served for over 30 years as a member of our Play Selection committee which reviews applications from plays and musicals for TDF subsidy support. Jeffrey Gural is a long-time supporter of the theatre in New York, and as Chairman of the Times Square Alliance, he was instrumental in the revitalization of Duffy Square and the construction of the new TKTS Booth; and Robert Zukerman, in his long tenure at New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), was a key supporter of our access programs for people with hearing loss at theatres throughout New York State, as well as of many other of our programs.”

TED CHAPIN - As President of Rodgers & Hammerstein: An Imagem Company, Ted Chapin has spearheaded over twenty award-winning Broadway and London revivals, as well as several films and TV movie remakes and numerous recordings. Ted served on TDF’s Board of Trustees from 1986 through 2000. Additionally, he is the longest-standing member of TDF’s Play Selection Committee, which awards ticket subsidies to artistically adventurous and worthy productions on Broadway and off-Broadway. When Ted joined the committee in 1985, TDF subsidized 32 productions. Since then, TDF’s Subsidy program has coordinated the sale of over 2.5 million tickets through TDF membership and has awarded $64 million to subsidized productions. Ted is also a former Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Theater Wing and is currently a member of the Tony Administration committee.

JEFFREY GURAL is Chairman of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, a full-service commercial real estate firm managing approximately 150 buildings in the Metropolitan area. Jeffrey oversees 41 buildings that his family has an ownership interest.  When he was the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Times Square Alliance (TSA), Jeffrey was a leader in creating the partnership between the TSA and TDF for the TKTS/Duffy Square initiative. An advocate of the performing arts on Broadway and Off, Jeffrey is a member of the Broadway Association and is also the Chair of the Board of Directors for the Alliance of the Resident Theatres/New York. Under Jeffrey’s direction, the buildings in his family portfolio provide affordable office space for dozens of theatre companies and performing arts organizations in midtown Manhattan and beyond, including TDF.

ROBERT ZUKERMAN is the former Theatre Program Director at New York State Council on the Arts. In his 28 years at NYSCA and 15 years as Theatre Program Director, Robert helped add at least a dozen new and emerging theatre companies to NYSCA’s funding roster each year. During his tenure at NYSCA he also directed the Dance and Individual Artists Programs, and served as an associate in the Arts in Education Program, helping to create the Empire State Partnerships Project, which, in its time, was the nation’s largest state sponsored collaboration between cultural organizations and public schools. He helped nurture the Theatre Alliance of Buffalo, a 20-member association of professional theatres in Western New York State. In addition to approving essential funding for TDF, Robert also worked alongside TDF staff to administer our TAP Plus Program, which awards grants to performing arts organizations, as well as museums, libraries and broadcast series in New York State to provide open captioning services for people with hearing loss to events that are available to the public.

JONATHAN GROFF is currently starring at the Public Theatre as King George III in Hamilton.  He will star in William Finn’s A New Brain at City Center as part of Encores Off Center series this June. For his performance in Spring Awakening, he received a Theatre World Award and as well as Tony and Drama Desk nominations. Other productions include:  In My Life, The Submission (MCC), The Bacchae (Public), Hair (Public), Spring Awakening (Atlantic), Prayer For My Enemy (for which he won an Obie Award) and The Singing Forest (Public), Deathtrap (West End) and Red (Mark Taper). He has appeared in the films American Sniper, Frozen, The Normal Heart and Taking Woodstock. On television he was the star of HBO’s Looking, had a recurring role as Jesse St. James on FOX-TV’s Glee, and was a cast member of the Starz series, Boss.

JAN MAXWELL was most recently seen in City of Conversation at Lincoln Center for which she was just nominated for 2015 Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. On Broadway she starred in Stephen Sondheim’s Follies, where she was nominated for the Tony, Grammy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Helen Hayes and Fred Astaire Awards. Ms. Maxwell was nominated for two Tony Awards in 2010 – The Royal Family and Lend Me a Tenor.  She won the Drama Desk Award for Best Actress for The Royal Family, Coram Boy (Tony and Drama Desk nominations), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (Drama Desk Award, Tony nomination), Sixteen Wounded (Drama Desk nomination), A Doll's House, The Sound of Music, The Dinner Party, Dancing at Lughnasa and City of Angels.

LAURA OSNES is currently starring as Julie Jordan in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel at Chicago’s Lyric Opera.  She was last seen on Broadway as the title role in Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella for which she won a Drama Desk Award and was nominated for the Tony, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama League Awards. Laura also starred as Bonnie Parker in Bonnie and Clyde (Tony nomination), Hope Harcourt in Anything Goes (Drama Desk nomination), Nellie Forbush in South Pacific, and Sandy in Grease. Other recent New York credits include Polly Peachum in The Threepenny Opera (Drama Desk nomination, City Center Encores! productions of The Band Wagon, Randy Newman's Faust, and Pipe Dream; and Maria in The Sound of Music at Carnegie Hall. On television, she has performed in concert with Michael Feinstein, the New York Pops, the Pasadena Pops, the Phoenix Symphony, and earlier this season with the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. In addition to being heard on several cast recordings, Ms. Osnes has two solo albums, Dream A Little Dream: Live at the Cafe Carlyle and If I Tell You: The Songs of Maury Yeston.

JULIE HALSTON is an award winning actress and veteran of countless Broadway shows. Currently she is rehearsing to appear in Paper Mill Playhouse’s production of Ever After.  Earlier this season she was thrilled - and a little insane - to have run over from her show stopping turn in this season’s Broadway revival of You Can’t Take It With You (for which she’s just been nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards)  to jump into the madcap world of On the Town with only a few days of rehearsal! She was also singled out last season for her performance in Charles Busch’s The Tribute Artist, and her performance as Mother in the Kennedy Center production of The Guardsman. She has appeared in many Broadway and Off Broadway productions including Anything Goes, Hairspray, Gypsy, The Twentieth Century (Outer Critics Circle nomination), The Divine Sister (Drama Desk nomination), Love Loss and What I Wore and numerous others. Miss Halston was a founding member of Mr. Busch’s now legendary theatre company, Theatre-in-Limbo and has co-starred with him in over ten productions. In addition to theatre, Miss Halston is known to television audiences as Bitsy Von Muffling from the smash hit Sex and The City, Tina Carmello from The Class and to younger audience members, as Antigone Carruthers from The Electric Company. Although primarily an actress, Miss Halston has won awards for her solo comedy pieces which she has performed all over the US including Seattle, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and New York.

ANDY EINHORN boasts Broadway credits for Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella (OBCR), Evita (OBCR), Brief Encounter, The Light in the Piazza, and Sondheim on Sondheim (OBCR, Grammy nomination) He most recently served as the music director and conductor for the Broadway production of Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway (OBCR). His tour work includes Sweeney Todd, The Light in the Piazza, Mamma Mia!, and The Lion King. Mr. Einhorn has worked at Goodspeed Opera House, Signature Theatre, Oregon Shakespeare Festival and Paper Mill Playhouse. He was principal vocal coach and pianist for Houston Grand Opera’s An Evening with Audra McDonald, a double-bill of Poulenc’s La voix humaine and LaChiusa’s Send. Mr. Einhorn has served as music director and pianist for Ms. McDonald since fall of 2011. They are currently on tour performing across the country including concerts at Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, and Teatro Real in Madrid. He has also music directed for Barbara Cook at Feinstein’s and Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music. Other cast albums include Stage Door Canteen and McDonald’s newest release, Go Back Home. He served as the music director for HBO’s Peabody Award winning documentary Six by Sondheim and music supervisor for Great Performances Peabody Award winning special Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy on PBS.

THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND (TDF), a not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts, was created in the conviction that the live theatrical arts afford a unique expression of the human condition that must be sustained and nurtured. It is dedicated to developing diverse audiences for live theatre and dance, and strengthening the performing arts community in New York City. Since 1968, TDF’s programs have provided over 87 million people with access to performances at affordable prices and have returned over $2.4 billion to thousands of productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths, TDF’s membership, outreach, access (including its Autism Theatre Initiative) and education programs — as well as its Costume Collection — have introduced thousands of people to the theatre and helped make the unique experience of theatre available to everyone, including students and people with disabilities. Recent TDF honors include a 2011 Mayor’s Award for Arts and Culture, a 2012 Tony Honor for Excellence for its Open Doors Arts Education Program, a 2012 New York Innovative Theatre Award for its support of the off-Off Broadway community and a 2013 Lucille Lortel honor for “Outstanding Body of Work” in support of the Off Broadway community.  For more information about everything TDF does, please visit www.tdf.org.