The 2008 Public Theater Gala Honoring David Rockwell

Each year, The Public Theater holds its fundraising gala on the opening night of Shakespeare in the Park. The event is always a high point of the New York social season. The event features a seated dinner for almost 1000 people on the Great Lawn, an opening night performance in the Delacorte Theater, and an after-party with drinks, dancing & music among the ramparts of the Belvedere castle. All of this takes place under the stars on a glorious early Summer night. In 2008 the Public Theater engaged Empire Entertainment to help them produce this most sought-after New York City event.

The 2008 Gala honored one of the Public Theater's long-time collaborators and Board Member - Designer & architect David Rockwell. The event was chaired by The Related Companies Chairman & CEO Stephen M. Ross and Reservoir Capital Group CEO, Daniel H. Stern. The event was generously underwritten by Bank of America and other sponsors. The event began with a smoothly run check-in and registration area that swiftly accommodated check-in of various tiers of attendees including VIPs, general attendees, show-only attendees, after-party attendees and press. Empire worked closely with the Public Theater to design a fail safe system to quickly and efficiently separate and process over 1000 arriving guests and the system worked without a flaw.On the red carpet, celebrities ranging from Steve Martin, Mayor Mike Bloomberg, Mike Nichols, Ethan Hawke, Cynthia Nixon, Alec Baldwin, Kathleen Turner, Diane Sawyer, Nora Ephron and others posed for press photos before proceeding into the event. Hudson Yards Catering designed a colorful and mouthwatering dinner buffet for the guests who were seated at a sea of tables on the lawn.

Empire worked with members of the David Rockwell Team on table design to integrate linen color, plates, stemware and silverware with a table runner that utilized Frederick Law-Olmsted's original map of Central Park and a centerpiece designed by Rockwell Group. The Howard Fishman Quartet provided the light jazz background music for the dinner. Following a short honorees' program at dinner which included remarks by Mayor Michael Bloomberg, guests moved into the Delacorte Theater to take their seats for the opening night performance of Hamlet starring Tony Award-winning Michael Stuhlbarg in the starring role. At the conclusion of the performance and curtain calls, the guests walked up the hill behind the theater to the after-party atop Belvedere Castle, which overlooks both Turtle Pond and the Delacorte. The grounds and ramparts of the castle had been elegantly lit with twinkle lights and DJ Marlon Morris spun a set of music perfect for the starry evening and guests drank and partied late into the night.

Fortunately for everyone, this year's weather was perfect -- warm and sunny with low humidity and not a drop of rain, unlike in 2007 when a last-minute downpour prematurely closed the curtains on Romeo and Juliet. The sold out evening was an incredible success and raised substantial funds for the Public Theater and it's programs. For this magical evening Empire served as overall event producer, coordinating check-in logistics with the Public Theater Development team, catering with Hudson Yards, decor & design with The Rockwell Group, Staging & Production with the Public Theater's own extraordinary production team and all talent and staff. Empire also managed the budget, production schedule, show flow and team assignments to keep everyone's efforts tightly integrated and coordinated with the operations of the Public Theater and the NYC Parks Department.

Empire is an experienced producer of public, private and not-for-profit, outdoor events with extensive work history in New York's Extraordinary Central Park. Empire is humbled to have been chosen by the Public Theater, one of the world's most prestigious and prolific presenters of theater to serve as their producer for this singularly important and exceptional event. To learn more about the Public Theater and their programs and to become a member and supporter, visit http://www.publictheater.org/