Catherine Malfitano, Concetta Tomei and the Rev. Jack Warner, S.J., are among the honorees who received the prestigious Theatre School Award for Excellence in the Arts at the 14th Annual DePaul Theatre School Awards Gala on Thursday, May 9. In addition, Kraft Foods North America received the 2002 Corporate Award for Excellence in the Arts. This award recognizes exemplary corporate commitment to supporting the arts.
The Theatre School presented a special Award for Excellence in Service to the Arts to Harold Reskin, posthumously, accepted by his wife Merle Reskin. This award also recognized the 10-year anniversary of the re-naming of the Blackstone Theatre as the Merle Reskin Theatre in 1992.
New York born Catherine Malfitano is renowned for her commanding vocalism, superb musicianship and riveting dramatic abilities. She has appeared at all of the world’s leading opera houses in an enormous variety of roles, spanning operatic history from Monteverdi to Bolcom. Acclaimed for her passionate portrayals of roles such as Madame Butterfly, Salome, Tosca, Emilia Marty, Kundry and Lady Macbeth, she continues to add to her vast repertoire.
Alumna Concetta Tomei attended the Goodman School of Drama (now The Theatre School) and earned her B.F.A. in acting. She served an apprenticeship at Houston’s Alley Theater and later appeared in Chicago and Canada in several regional and repertory classics, including in “A Streetcar Named Desire” as Blanche Dubois. She moved to New York and received critical acclaim for appearances on Broadway in “The Elephant Man”, “Noises Off” and “Goodbye Fidel.” After Broadway, Ms. Tomei relocated to Los Angeles and began a prolific television career, including her favorite role as Maj. Lila Garreau in the acclaimed drama “China Beach.”
The Rev. Jack Warner, S.J., is the artistic director of Teatro La Fragua in El Progreso, Yoro, Honduras. A Jesuit priest, he graduated in 1978 with an M.F.A. in Directing from the Goodman School of Drama (now The Theatre School.). In 1979, in his small parish of Olanchito, Honduras, Warner gathered teenagers from the street corners and pool halls together with youths from church groups and began a theatre troupe. His goal was to influence the daily lives of a broad cross-section of Hondurans. Since then Teatro La Fragua has become a precious resource in a country starved for its own identity. The company performs pieces by writers as diverse as Moliére, Luis Valdez and Rudyard Kipling, has toured around the world and involves approximately 350 young people from a country where almost no theatre existed two decades ago. Warner received DePaul University’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 1990.
The Awards Gala began with a reception at DePaul’s Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive. The on-stage presentation of the Awards for Excellence included an excerpt from the current Chicago Playworks production of “The Selfish Giant and Other Wilde Tales.” Honoree Catherine Malfitano performed. Dinner and dancing to the Music of The City Lights Orchestra, conducted by DePaul alumnus Rich Daniels, followed in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago and Towers, 720 S. Michigan Ave.
Since 1989, the Awards Gala has raised more than $1.5 million for The Theatre School Scholarship Fund. The Scholarship Fund dispenses more than $450,000 in financial aid to students in the school’s conservatory theatre training program each year.
Since the inception of the Awards Gala in 1989, more than 70 honorees have received The Theatre School’s Award for Excellence in the Arts. A complete list of past honorees can be viewed at The Theatre School’s web page about the Gala: http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/programs/gala.htm.
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