Aspen, Colorado - Broadway actress Kate Shindle,
who also held the title of Miss America 1998, performed
at Theatre Aspen’s Spring Benefit Saturday, February 20th at the Hotel Jerome. Shindle, who most recently appeared in the Broadway productions of Legally Blonde, Cabaret and Jekyll and Hyde, has also appeared in film and television (“The Stepford Wives,” “Capote”) but is also known for her activism and fundraising for HIV/AIDS, including chairing a session at the World Health Organization in Geneva, Switzerland.
Theatre Aspen’s spring gala is the not-for-profit’s most important fundraising event, raising money for an extensive year-round education program and an award-winning summer repertory theatre. This year’s theme was “Wanted: Dead or Alive. Seduction, Silver and Sin at the Madame J. Saloon,” and featured a live band, games, dancing and dinner.
Theatre Aspen was awarded the “Outstanding Regional Theatre” Henry Award in Denver in 2009. Productions will again take place in the Alex Kaufman Theatre in Rio Grande Park and will be underwritten by sponsors including American National Bank and Morris & Fyrwald/Sotheby’s. Opening the season is a very special musical concert, featuring songs from shows that could never be produced in the theatre – megahits like Jersey Boys, Wicked, Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera and glorious musicals from the past like Showboat and 42nd Street. The remainder of the summer repertory will be announced soon.
Theatre Aspen’s Artistic Director Paige Price said: “The gala is more important than ever this year, and we are still feeling pangs of the recession. I hope that by throwing a fun party with first-rate talent, our supporters will have themselves a Wild West of a time and help us keep professional theatre and theatre education alive in the valley.”
Sponsors for this year’s gala included Aspen Sojourner,
the Hotel Jerome and Stolichnaya Vodka.