Clarkson, Jackson, Kuhn, Merkerson, Moore, Platt, Roberts, et al. Set for Vineyard Benefit

Michael Berresse, Patricia Clarkson, Penny Fuller, Ann Harada, Julianne Moore, Joe Morton, Annie Parisse, Oliver Platt, and Tony Roberts will be among the special guest participants at the Vineyard Theatre’s 25th Anniversary Gala, to be held on Monday, January 29 at the Rainbow Room (30 Rockefeller Plaza).

The show will be directed by Jason Moore, who received a Tony Award nomination for Avenue Q, and written by Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, the authors of the Vineyard’s hit musical [title of show]. That show’s cast will also perform at the benefit.

Additional performers will include Cheyenne Jackson, who will sing a number from the Kander-Ebb musical Flora, the Red Menace; Judy Kuhn, who starred in the Vineyard’s Obie-winning revue Eli’s Comin’, based on the songs of Laura Nyro; and Emmy Award winner S. Epatha Merkerson, who will perform songs from the Vineyard’s production of Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill in which she originally starred as singer Billie Holliday.

Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel will be the evening’s guest of honor, and the first annual Paula Vogel Playwriting Award will be presented during the evening. In addition, the Vineyard will present its 2007 Kitty Carlisle Hart Musical Theatre Award to Nathan Tysen and Chris Miller, creators of The Burnt Part Boys. There will also be a live and silent auction.

Tickets to the gala are $500-$1,000. For more information or tickets, call 212-353-3366 x238 or visit www.vineyardtheatre.org.