10/22/2018
DMT Entertainment is thrilled to be working with The Sarah Siddons Society on the annual Gala honoring Betty Buckley on Monday, November 12th. For those of you not familiar with the Sarah Siddons Society - HERE is their good work and why I hope you'l consider buying a ticket to the evening. The program will include a salute to Ms. Buckley's career with musical performances by Karen Mason, E. Faye Butler, Heidi Kettenring and Susie McMonagle as well as our "Ensemble" featuring Donterrio Johnson, Kimberly Lawson, Scott Gryder and Sophie Grimm under the musical direction of Nick Sula.
Here is their story:
Sixty-four years ago a group of dedicated Chicago theatregoers saw the film All About Eve and decided to create a version of the movie’s fictional Sarah Siddons Society in Chicago. This film, which earned fourteen Oscar nominations, was the only one in Oscar history to receive four acting nominations—two for its leading ladies Bette Davis and Anne Baxter, and two for its supporting players Celeste Holm and Thelma Ritter. In the film, Anne Baxter was awarded a statuette of the famous eighteenth-century Shakespearean actress Sarah Siddons. Seeing this tribute, those theatregoers not only created a real Sarah Siddons Society, but in 1952 they presented their first Acting Award—a replica of that same statuette used in All About Eve to Helen Hayes, one of America’s premiere leading ladies.
The list of Sarah Siddons Acting Award recipients reads like a Who’s Who of Great American Actresses. Included in the list of honorees are Beatrice Lillie, Deborah Kerr, Shirley Booth, Geraldine Page, Myrna Loy, Carol Channing, Celeste Holm, Lauren Bacall, Bette Davis, Colleen Dewhurst, Angela Lansbury, Julie Harris, Liza Minnelli, Bernadette Peters, Julie Andrews, Elaine Stritch, Chita Rivera, Patti LuPone, Barbara Cook, Audra McDonald, Bebe Neuwirth, Jessie Mueller, Sutton Foster, Kate Baldwin and Kate Shindle.
Since its inception, the mission of the Society has been to fund scholarships to promising theatre students at top drama departments in the Chicago area, including Columbia College, DePaul University, Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University and Northwestern University.
Recent new endeavors include a partnership with the Black Ensemble Theatre’s Plays with a Purpose, a series of musical productions reaching hundreds of school children, written to teach children positive life lessons for the purpose of fostering development, self-esteem, confidence and self-respect. In past seasons, the Society supported Chicago Humanities Spring Festival—Stages, Sights and Sounds—exposing disadvantaged students to theatregoing experiences.
The Sarah Siddons Society regularly recognizes Chicago’s finest actresses with its Leading Lady Awards including Laurie Metcalf, Lia Mortensen, Paula Scrofano, Kate Fry, Heidi Kettenring, Hollis Resnick, Barbara Robertson, Rondi Reed, Mary Beth Fisher, and E. Faye Butler, to name a few.
Here's the link to buy tickets. Join us, won't you, for a tremendous evening of music honoring the career of Betty Buckley, cocktails and dinner. http://sarahsiddonssociety.org/contact-us/