THE DENVER CENTER FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS

Denver

News: Norm Lewis, currently appearing in Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” on Netflix and Hulu’s “Mrs. America,” joins Neyla Pekarek, formerly with The Lumineers, and longtime DCPA Theatre Company actor Harvy Blanks as headline entertainers for the DCPA’s signature fundraiser, Saturday Night Alive.

Lewis made Broadway history by becoming the first Black actor to be cast in the title role in “The Phantom of the Opera.” He was nominated for a Tony for his starring role in “The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess” and recently completed a starring role as King Triton in the pre-Broadway debut of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid.”

Pekarek joined The Lumineers as a vocalist and cellist in 2010, spending eight years touring and recording with the Denver-based folk-rock group before going out on her own to record an album that the DCPA developed into a musical called “Rattlesnake Kate.”

Blanks, recipient of a Drama Desk Award for the Off-Broadway hit “Tabletop,” has performed in all 10 of playwright August Wilson’s Century Cycle, plays that include “Fences,” “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” and “The Piano Lesson.”

The June 12 dinner, auction and show is a hybrid event, with 450 in-person attendees who will be divided into groups of 225 each for seating in the Seawell Ballroom and the newly renovated Marvin and Judi Wolf Theatre.

Tickets for those attending in person start at $1,000 each. The evening’s proceedings also will be broadcast free of charge to a virtual audience. To register for either, visit denvercenter.org/sna or call 303-446-4821.

Since its start in 1981, Saturday Night Alive has raised $21 million to support the DCPA’s theater and education programs.

The leadership team for SNA 40 is made up of DCPA trustee Brisa Carleton and her husband, Mark; Nicole Ament of Brownstein Hyatt Farber & Schreck; Mile High United Way President/CEO Christine Benero; and Brad Busse, president of Busse Ventures. United Airlines and the Westin Denver Downtown are the Premiere Sponsors.

About the organization: The Denver Center for the Performing Arts is one of the nation’s largest nonprofit theater organizations. Through Broadway touring shows, DCPA Theatre Company productions, the DCPA Cabaret and the Off-Center’s “unexpected theatrical experiences” that put the audience at the center of the story, “we’re inspired every day to create, share, teach, excite and perform for our community.”

Website: dcpa.org

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