Backstage
at the Geffen
Backstage
at the Geffen
Backstage at the Geffen
Saturday, May 18, 2024
Backstage at the Geffen features surprise guests you’re sure to love. Inspiring playwrights, hilarious storytellers, and show-stopping headline performers make for an evening you won’t want to miss—all to benefit our incredible artistic and educational initiatives.
Experience the first Backstage at the Geffen show under the leadership of Oscar-winning Artistic Director Tarell Alvin McCraney and Executive Director / CEO Gil Cates, Jr.
Sarah Weinberg
Chief Development Officer
310.208.6500 x140
sarahw@geffenplayhouse.org
Hosted By
TITLE SPONSOR
Jana & Trevor Bezdek
PRESENTING SPONSOR
The Adi and Jerry Greenberg Foundation
PLATINUM SPONSOR
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PLATINUM SUPPORTERSLINDA BERNSTEIN RUBIN & TONY RUBIN |
GOLD SPONSOR
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SILVER SPONSOR
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HOSPITALITY SPONSORS
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2024 Honorees
Colman Domingo
ARTISTIC IMPACT AWARD
Colman Domingo has been nominated for an Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe, SAG, Tony, Critics Choice Award, Independent Spirit, Gotham Award, Lawrence Olivier, Drama Desk, Drama League award. He has won an Emmy, Astra, AAFCA, NAACP Image, and Black Reel Award. In 2023, Domingo starred as Civil Rights leader Bayard Rustin in Netflix and Higher Ground’s film Rustin for which he received an Academy Award nomination, Golden Globes, BAFTA, and SAG nomination. He can also be seen as “Mister” in the Warner Bros production of The Color Purple, which received a SAG Ensemble nomination and a NAACP award.
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Larissa FastHorse
TRAILBLAZERS AWARD
Larissa FastHorse (Sicangu Lakota Nation) is a 2020 MacArthur Fellow, award-winning writer/choreographer, and co-founder of Indigenous Direction, the nation’s leading consulting company for Indigenous arts and audiences. Larissa will be represented across the country in the 2023-2024 season with a revised book of the beloved Jerome Robbins Broadway musical, Peter Pan. She made her Broadway debut in the 2022-2023 season with her satirical comedy, The Thanksgiving Play making her the first known female, Native playwright to be produced on Broadway (second only to the great Lynne Riggs in the 1930s).
HONORARY HOST COMMITTEE
Debbie Allen & Norm Nixon, Greg Berlanti, Calista Flockhart & Harrison Ford, Jazmyn Simon & DulÉ Hill, Cindy & Alan Horn, Gloria CalderÓn Kellett & David Kellett, Fay & Frank Mancuso, Madeline & Bruce Ramer
Thank You To Our Backstage at the Geffen 2024 Donors
Title Sponsor
- Jana & Trevor Bezdek
Presenting Sponsor
- The Adi† and Jerry Greenberg Foundation
Platinum Sponsor
- UCLA Health
Platinum Supporters
- Linda Bernstein Rubin† & Tony Rubin
Gold Sponsor
- Paramount Pictures
Gold Supporters
- Marcy Carsey
- Cindy & Alan Horn
Silver Sponsor
- City National Bank
Silver Supporters
- Berlanti Family Foundation
- Lauren Shuler Donner†
- Patricia Glaser† & Sam Mudie
- Holly Rice† & Vince Gilligan
- Steve Tisch Foundation
Bronze Supporters
- Capital Group
- Ellyce R. Cooper & Barry Cohen / Sidley Austin LLP*
- Louise & Dr. Brad† Edgerton
- Dr. Paul & Patti Eisenberg
- Susan & Mark† Fleischer
- Bonnie E. Eskenazi† / Greenberg Glusker LLP
- Marcy Gross
- Noble & Jacquelynn Hansen
- Richard† & Barbara Sherman
- Miranda† & Brett Tollman
- Marjorie & Joe Walsh
Supporters
- Karen M. Hohman Almeida
- Christina De Armond
- Carol K. Block & Chancellor Gene D. Block†
- Gil Cates, Jr.†
- Hyura E. Choi
- Dan Clivner
- Anne Dougherty & David Dobrikin
- MaryAnn & Irwin Gold
- Mark & Molly Goldberg
- Manuela & James Goren
- Eric† & Samantha Heer
- Sandra Krause & William Fitzgerald
- Brian† & Renee Mann
- Ali Meghdadi
- Susan Oka
- Olympus Theatricals
- Daniel† & Soundis Passman
- Gerald Sauer
- Aurora & Marc† Weinstock
Advocates
- Eva Aaronson—In Memory of Bucky Hazan
- Geneses Abril
- Samuel Baum
- Ariel Bell
- Noah Bean
- Lauren Blumenfeld
- Andrew Carlberg
- Pilar Chayachinda
- Mary Ann Cloyd†
- Benedict Conran
- Colleen Danaher
- Merle Dandridge†
- Julie & Don Davis
- Jennifer L. Deck
- Velani Dibba
- Rogelio Douglas III
- Chiedu Egbuniwe
- Katherine & Eric Eshaghoff
- Susan Nahley Fleishman†
- Mila Flower & David Reeder
- Victoria Fox & Mark Jacobson
- Jeff Gardner
- Ginny & Jeff Gendelman
- Ann & Jim Gianopulos
- Cheryl Francis Harrington
- Flynn Hayward
- Lynn James Heacox
- Kristin Hoover
- Lindsay Jenkins
- Peter & Dorothy Katona
- Ethan Kirschbaum
- Carla Malden† & Norman Beil
- Asia Martin
- Tiffany Mayberry
- John McCrite & Juan Lopez
- E.P. McKnight
- Michele Miner
- Elyse M. Mirto
- Yee Eun Nam
- Julie Ouellette
- Lise Ransdell & Eric Augusztiny
- Richard Rico
- Nina Sallinen
- Chris T. Schmidt
- Sharon Sharth & Mark Bryan
- Michael Shayan
- Michael Shepperd
- Sandra & Irwin Sitkoff
- Sarah Sturdivant
- Akrosia & Bradley Snedeker
- Josh Stamberg
- Stewart Strandberg
- The Tatasciore Family
- Deborah Tavlin
- Inger D. Tudor
- Tara Turk-Haynes
- Paul Wagar
- Jamila Webb
Hospitality Sponsors
- STK | The One Group
- W Los Angeles – West Beverly Hills
† Geffen Playhouse Board of Directors | * Donors as of May 17, 2024
