Thank you for purchasing tickets to the 2012 Annual Spring Benefit!

THANK YOU FOR BUYING TICKETS OR MAKING A CONTRIBUTION TO THE CIVILIANS 2012 ANNUAL SPRING BENEFIT!

We are so grateful for your ticket purchase or contribution. You will receive your tax-deductible receipt via mail after the event.

At the benefit this year, we will be honoring our first Civilian of the Year: Robert Hammond, a co-founder of The High Line! We are so thrilled to be honoring Robert for his commitment to healthy urban development and for his tremendous efforts bringing New York City the ingeniously-planned haven for nature that is The High Line.

As is tradition, the benefit will feature a performance by Civilians Associate Artists and special guest performers (who we'll be announcing soon). This year, we are also going to be creating an original investigative theater piece to salute Robert and his incredible work. Our question this year is:

Where would you put a park in New York City and why?

Leave your responses in the comments below, and we will incorporate them into the piece!

Plus, you can download The Civilians 2012 Annual Spring Benefit App, which we made using invitation app creator Yapp! Download for iPhone HERE and view on Android HERE using code CVLNS! You'll find benefit updates, our schedule, photos from last year's benefit, and more!

Thanks again for your support. See you on the 23rd!

BENEFIT X Success!

Things went great on May 2 at (le) poisson rouge! We met all of our goals, which puts us in a wonderful position for launching our eleventh season, and we're so grateful for all of your support. The performance was lovely with our special guests, Ana Gasteyer and Marc Kudisch. We also had some really special guests: past interviewees saying hello! Here are some awesome videos that we played at the event!


From Nancy-Jo, the real Christian T-Girl from THIS BEAUTIFUL CITY


From Carol, the real Chaneler/Entity from (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH

Thanks so much to everyone who helped make this event such a fabulous evening!

BENEFIT X UPDATES!

BENEFIT X is going to be amazing! First of all, we've got our fabulous Associate Artists performing, and they'll be joined by Saturday Night Live's
Ana Gasteyer and Tony-nominee Marc Kudisch! Plus, we've got some old friends joining us that you won't want to miss - some of our past interviewees will be saying hello, so this is an awesome opportunity to see some of the real people who inspired the Civilians characters that you know and love!

And our silent auction is really gearing up! It's a featuring auction on our auction host's homepage (HERE). We've got some amazing packages (a fashion package with a guided shopping trip, fashion advice from an expert, and a $250 gift card to Saks; a rock climbing package; a relaxation package with a massage, facial, and 3 month membership to Yogaworks), delicious food and drink options (some amazing wine selections from our board and Honorary Committee, a bottle of Dom Perignon champagne Vintage 1998 with gorgeous Baccarat flutes), plus lots of travel (Cape Cod, Vegas), lots of shows (signed unpublished script from Lynn Nottage, Tony Kushner package, Playwrights and MTC, Atlantic and Soho Rep, Vineyard, AND MORE!), PLUS an original song written by our dear Michael Friedman, and a private reading by the illustrious and lovely Kathleen Chalfant.

CHECK IT OUT HERE! And forward to your friends! This is a great way to support the company if you can't make it to the event, and get some amazing stuff!

And if you haven't bought tickets yet, please GO HERE!

Thanks so much! See you on Monday!

BENEFIT X Silent Auction is Live!

We're less than two weeks away from BENEFIT X!

Our silent auction just went live and it is looking fantastic! Check it out here:
http://www.biddingforgood.com/thecivilians

We've got VIP Yankees tickets, some awesome art offerings, an iPad, lots of theater tickets (wanna skip the line at Shakespeare in the Park?), some great trips, and lots of other fun stuff, so be sure to take a look!

Benefit Photos 2010!

I know it seems like just yesterday we were at the fabulous Kiss & Fly Club in the meat packing district celebrating the 2009-2010 season and The Great Immensity with Benefit 2010: It's Not Easy Being Green. Take a look at the photos we just posted from the evening to relive the magic, and to start building the anticipation for the benefit this year: BENEFIT X, celebrating our tenth anniversary season at (le) poisson rouge on May 2. Tickets go on sale and invites will be sent out next week, so let's get pumped!

Click HERE to see the photos on Flickr!

Below are a few choice images to whet your nostalgia (that sounds gross) and get the excitement rolling!

 

Our lovely Associate Artists performing

 Long-time board member and friends

Bess Wohl and Michael Friedman, playwright and composer/lyricist for Pretty Filthy  

(yes, there is also a photo of them smiling together)

 

 The background is getting crooked, though our Associate Artists are looking great!

 

and here are more of our Artists are at the end of the night!

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA FOR A CIVILIANS SHOW?

If you have reached this page, it means that you just bought tickets to our benefit this year, BENEFIT X! Tickets will be held at the door for you under the name used to purchase the tickets. If you would like further confirmation, please email Rosalind at rosalind@thecivilians.org.

First and foremost, THANK YOU! Can't wait to see you on May 2!

Secondly, we are asking a question (as we do every year), and YOUR ANSWERS will be used to create an original Civilians' performance for the benefit! This year's question is:

WHAT IS YOUR IDEA FOR A CIVILIANS SHOW?

Tell us your answers in a comment at the end of this post!
(Or email them to liaison@thecivilians.org.)

And lastly, if you haven't seen all of The Civilians' shows since 2001 and are wondering what our ticket levels are all about, I'll just let the shows speak for themselves:

GUCCI PUMP - FROM GONE MISSING

TOM

So, do you know Laura? So she was meeting with some big TV people. And she had on this pair of black Gucci pumps and a nice skirt and everything, and after her meeting we were all going out. And somewhere along that night she lost her shoe.  One of her Gucci shoes, because she had changed at PS 122 because she felt overdressed. She thinks that she left the shoe in the bathroom. I think she actually lost the shoe later that night, because I think they went out drinking--

answering machine beep 

LAURA 

Hi, it’s Laura, um I was really hoping that you could have secured the shoe before you

left town but apparently you have not, so I’ve been working with Tom and Tom has gone back to PS 122 numerous times. And I’m leaving numerous messages for the house manager, the artistic director, the director of development to see if they have gotten their act together enough to find the shoe.  Um, I am sending a packet of flyers to you, to Tom, to Big Daddy, and to Elizabeth, and I’m sending maps of where I’d like you guys to post the flyers because I’m really hoping if someone sees some--you know-- one legged person wearing it–who wears a size six--that uh, it will become clear whose shoe that is and where they need to send it to in Los Angeles immediately. Um, I am working on the flyer, and I’ve also started an email address:  ilostmyshoe@earthlink.net.  So, um, I don’t know if you have gone back to PS 122 or not--no one there returns my calls and it’s really depressing-–but I’m really hoping the flyers will stir up some leads!

FRENCH GOOSE - FROM CANARD, CANARD, GOOSE?

CHARLIE

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a very special little treat for you tonight – no, no I’m sorry we can not give you a sad story about little lost frozen popsicle geese – there is no sad story about little sad chilly little imprinted-on-Anna-Paquin geese –No– tonight we give to you ladies and gentlemen the real geese of Long Lake.  They are from French.  France. And do not be tricked, ladies and gentlemen, although these geese star in a “documentary,” they are not amateurs.  No. They are professional performers.  And these geese live now in a comfortable tedious retirement with two French girls who wait ever so patiently for them to die.  So, please help me welcome these very very talented geese to our stage, they are very very happy to be here, as they have nothing else to do.

SCHRODINGER'S CAT - FROM (I AM) NOBODY'S LUNCH

MALE SOLO

I've been thinking how love is like Schrodinger's cat

Locked up tight out of sight in a box and how that

Means it's dead and alive at the same time and so—

When you think of the box it's like seeing a

Photo of a cloud or fog

It’s an outcome that remains uncertain

You can't see a thing in all that fog

You can't see a man behind the curtain.

FEMALE SOLO

What are you so afraid of?

We’re gonna find an answer, it’s just around the corner and I know…

What are you so afraid of?

We’re gonna find an answer, find an answer…

So leave your comments below! Thanks again!