The second annual M. Edgar Rosenblum Awards will be given at a ceremony on November 15, during a benefit for the Irondale Ensemble Project at the Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, in the BAM Cultural District of Fort Greene. Awards will be presented to Crystal Field, Carlton Turner and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz. Ms. Claudine Brown, Director of Education for the Smithsonian Institution, and Playwright/Actor Charles Busch presenters. The PigPen Theater Company (NYC Fringe Festival Winners), will be the Masters of Ceremony.
M. Edgar Rosenblum (1932-2010), enjoyed a remarkable career in arts management that shaped and gave power to regional theatre in the United States. His legacy will be honored with the first M. Edgar Rosenblum Awards to be given at a ceremony on November 15, at the new Irondale Center, 85 South Oxford Street, in the BAM Cultural District of Fort Greene. His long-time artistic partner at Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven CT., Arvin Brown, called him "one of the most influential executive directors in the country". Tickets to the benefit are $150-$200. For information call: 718 488-9233.
The Irondale Ensemble Project, established 28 years ago, is a permanent ensemble known for its innovative theatrical productions as well a ground-breaking education programs with teachers and students in public schools, incarcerated men and women, and adolescents at risk of AIDS/HIV. The founders of Irondale, Jim Niesen, Barbara Mackenzie-Wood and Terry Greiss first met when they were hired as young actors at Long Wharf in 1977. According to Artistic Director, Jim Niesen, "Working at Long Wharf in a tremendously supportive creative environment, gave us the model of how we wanted to keep working throughout our careers. It also brought the three of us together in what clearly became, for all of us, our most important professional and personal relationship". Terry Greiss, Irondale's Executive Director said, "Jim and I have been working as a team for 28 years. Although we didn't set out to model ourselves after Arvin (Brown) and Edgar, it was an important and successful example of partnership that we were exposed to early in our careers". Barbara Mackenzie-Wood, now Head of the Acting /Music Theatre Program at Carnegie Mellon University said, "Edgar was a mentor for us all. When we started Irondale, he was always willing to give us advice or talk to our board. I think he was proud of what we created and we were always quick to acknowledge our roots"
Schedule of Events
6:30pm - Cocktails and a sumptuous buffet of hors d'oeuvres
7:45pm - Award Ceremony and Irondale Ensemble preview performance of Henry V
9:15pm - Dessert
About the Honorees
Crystal Field is an OBIE Award winning actress and co-founder and Artistic Director of Theater for the New City (TNC). Under her leadership TNC has produced over 800 new plays which have garnered a Pulitzer Prize and over 43 OBIE Awards for excellence in every theatrical discipline. TNC has also nurtured the talents of Sam Shepard, Maria Irene Fornes, Romulus Linney, Richard Foreman, Lee Breuer, Miguel Piñero, Charles Busch, Moises Kaufman, Vin Diesel, Adrien Brody, Eduardo Machado, Jean-Claude van Itallie and Tim Robbins. Ms. Field’s staunch belief in the civic necessity of theater has manifested itself in the creation of several major New York City events such as the original Village Halloween Parade, the Annual Native American Pow-Wow and the Lower East Side Festival of the Arts.
Carlton Turner is the Regional Development Director of Alternate ROOTS, a regional non-profit arts organization based in the South. Carlton has been a member of Alternate ROOTS since 2001. Carlton is also co-founder and co-artistic director, along with his brother Maurice Turner, of the group M.U.G.A.B.E.E. (Men Under Guidance Acting Before Early Extinction). M.U.G.A.B.E.E. is a performing arts group that blends of jazz, hip-hop, spoken word poetry and soul music together with non-traditional storytelling. M.U.G.A.B.E.E. has released two albums, Earth Tones (2002) and World Domination (2006); written and produced two plays Steal Away (2001) and Batteries in the Killing Machine (2005). Carlton studied English and History at the University of Mississippi from 1992-1996.
As borough president,Marty Markowitz, in addition to setting an ambitious agenda focused on the core issues of his more than three decades in public service — housing, neighborhood preservation and community development — has enacted programs to boost civic pride, improve health, promote tourism and empower young Brooklynites. As a longtime advocate for seniors, he fought vigorously to keep Brooklyn senior centers open when they were threatened with closures due to budget cuts. Marty’s efforts to save Brooklyn’s financially troubled medical institutions resulted in the preservation of maternity and pediatric units at Long Island College Hospital as well as the critical services provided by school medical clinics. Marty has also called for increased parental and community engagement in schools and has supported policies that improve graduation rates and prepare Brooklyn students to compete and succeed in the global economy. His office was instrumental in creating two new schools in Brooklyn: the High School for Innovation in Advertising and Media and the Brooklyn Academy of Global Finance.