Awarding-Winning Actors Headline at the Library Foundation Gala
On Saturday, September 29, at 6:30 pm, the Port Washington Library will host the Port Washington Library Foundation’s Ninth Inspiration Gala. This year the gala is celebrating the 120th Anniversary of the library with the theme “Stars and Stripes and our Library Forever.” The highlight of the evening will be readings by acclaimed actors of Broadway, television, and movies–Joanna Gleason and James Naughton–produced by NPR’s Selected Shorts.
Joanna Gleason won Tony, Drama Desk, and Outer Critics Circle Awards for her performance in Into the Woods. She received a Theatre World Award, two more Drama Desk Awards, and two Tony nominations for her other Broadway work including Nick and Nora, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, I Love My Wife, Social Security, and Joe Egg. Off Broadway recent credits include Something You Did at Primary Stages, Happiness at Lincoln Center Theater, and The Normal Heart at the Public Theatre. Her film work includes Hannah and her Sisters, Crimes and Misdemeanors, Heartburn, Mr. Holland’s Opus, Boogie Nights, Sex in the City, and The Wedding Planner. Her television credits include recurring roles on E.R., The West Wing, The Practice, Tracey Ullman, Friends, Bette, and The Good Wife.
James Naughton won Tony Awards as Best Actor in a Musical for City of Angels and Chicago. On Broadway he directed the Tony-nominated production of Arthur Miller’s The Price and Thornton Wilder’s Our Town, starring Paul Newman. He also directed the television production of Our Town for Showtime and Masterpiece Theatre. He has appeared in numerous films and television shows including The Devil Wears Prada, Damages, Gossip Girl, Ally McBeal, Planet of the Apes, and Raising Miranda.
Port Washington Library Foundation Launches 1892 Society
To commemorate the library’s 120th anniversary this year, the Port Washington Library Foundation has formed the 1892 Society, an honorary category for Foundation donors making annual gifts of $1,000 or more.
Ambassador Arnold Saltzman, a long-time Port resident and library supporter, has generously offered a challenge grant to the Foundation in this inaugural year of the 1892 Society. He will match the amount by which any donor’s gift of $1,000 or more this year exceeds the donor’s prior year’s gift. Needless to say, the formation of the 1892 Society and the Saltzman challenge grant have the potential of substantially raising the bar for annual Foundation support from its most loyal and significant donors.
The 1892 Society offers Library Foundation donors the unique opportunity for personal engagement in the life and work of the library. With annual gifts of $1,000 and above, this group will help the Foundation provide critical funds to support the needs of the Port Washington Public Library not covered by taxes and to maintain its viability for future generations.
Members of the 1892 society will receive the following membership benefits:
E-invitations to all Library Council events and library programs; private consultation with a librarian to aid in building a home library; special invitations to Foundation-sponsored events such as the Vogel Distinguished Photographer-in-Residence and the Jackie Spielman Children’s Storytelling Event; invitation for a behind-the-scenes tour of the library; recognition of support in the library newsletter, the Foundation annual report, the library’s entryway door wall, and the virtual giving donor wall on the Foundation website.
Established in 1989, the Port Washington Library Foundation has given more than $1,500,000 in private funds to enhance the library’s programs, building, and grounds. For more information about the Foundation and the 1892 Society or to make a donation, please call 883-4400 Ext. 180 or visit the website at pwpl.org/foundation.
The Martin Vogel Photography Gallery was officially named and opened on Thursday, November 3rd, 2011 in a reception and ceremony that included an exhibit of Martin Vogel’s photographs, and tributes from photographer George Kalinsky and others. The gallery space, in the Media Services Department, was enhanced and augmented in honor of the occasion.