GARRISON, NY (October 3) – Celebrating the culmination of the second season in its new location, the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) will host its annual gala on Sunday, October 8 at The Garrison. Honoring long-standing leaders and mentors to the HVSF community, Margot Harley and Marit Kulleseid, the evening will consist of live music performances, cocktails, dinner and a live auction for attendees, and an online auction open to the public.
“With another wonderful season coming to a close, there is much to celebrate at Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival,” said Artistic Director Davis McCallum. “Both Margot Harley and Marit Kulleseid have had a tremendous impact on the theater company – Marit being one of the organization’s original co-founders and Margot a long-time mentor for both myself and many of our performers. We are beyond thankful for their contributions and look forward to recognizing each of these women at the gala.”
Harley, the distinguished co-founder of The Acting Company, a former producer and a Hudson Valley resident, has been a leader within the acting and live performance community for her entire career. Known for producing several Broadway plays, including The Robber Bridegroom and The Curse of an Aching Heart, Harley has also played a pivotal role in launching the careers of several noted HVSF performers, including Tatiana Wechsler, the star of HVSF’s most recent production, Penelope. Kulleseid, the inaugural recipient of the Marit and Lars Kulleseid Award, given for outstanding leadership in service of HVSF’s mission, is the co-founder and founding President of the Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival. Known among the residents of Philipstown as one of its prominent leaders, Kulleseid has held a strong hand in cultivating the creative arts community that is prominent in the region today.
The evening will feature a special musical performance along with cocktails, dinner, and a live auction to benefit the nonprofit theater company. Online auction items are available for bidding now through Sunday, October 8 at 11:59 p.m. All event proceeds will directly support the organization’s onstage productions, arts education programming, and community engagement initiatives.
For more information on the gala or how to pledge your support through this special event, contact, Director of Development, Semra Ercin at sercin@hvshakespeare.org or (845) 809-4339.
About Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival
Founded in 1987, Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival (HVSF) is a critically acclaimed (The New York Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal), professional, non-profit theater company. The Festival has established a reputation for lucid, engaging, and highly inventive productions staged in rotating repertory under an iconic, open-air theater tent overlooking the Hudson River. In recent years, the Festival has also ventured beyond the tent, touring its work to other venues throughout the Hudson Valley as part of its HVSF On the Road series, transferring productions to other theaters, engaging its community through radically participatory art-making, and reaching over 50,000 students and educators annually through its year-round education programs. For more information, visit: hvshakespeare.org or follow HVSF on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube and Twitter.