Donations to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS’ COVID-19 Emergency Assistance Fund had topped the $2 million mark when a second group of Broadway producers have stepped up to match all new donations up to $1 million at broadwaycares.org/help2020.
The group of producers coming together for this second $1 million challenge are represented on Broadway by hits such as Hadestown, West Side Story, Company, The Phantom of the Opera, The Lehman Trilogy, Tina: The Tina Turner Musical, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Six, Moulin Rouge! The Musical, To Kill a Mockingbird, Come From Away, Ain't Too Proud - The Life and Times of the Temptations, Beetlejuice, Mrs. Doubtfire, Mean Girls, The Minutes, Jagged Little Pill, The Book of Mormon and Dear Evan Hansen.
Inspired by the first $1 million match challenge, the theatrical production company No Guarantees (Christine Schwarzman & Darren Johnston) kicked off this second round by reaching out to their collaborators to form a new group for a producers’ match. The producers offering the second match are The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation; Deborah Barrera/FireMused Productions; Adam Blanshay & André Desmarais; Jamie deRoy; Barry Diller, David Geffen & Scott Rudin; Amanda Dubois;Wendy Federman; Barbara H. Freitag; Sonia Friedman; Getter Entertainment; Mara Isaacs; Junkyard Dog Productions; Kevin McCollum; No Guarantees; Fiona Rudin; Jayne Baron Sherman; Allison Thomas; Joop van den Ende and Ken & Liz Whitney. Kevin McCollum also serves on the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Trustees.
Every new donation made to the emergency fund will continue to be matched dollar for dollar, up to $1 million. You can make your tax-deductible donation at broadwaycares.org/help2020.
Donors to Broadway Cares’ COVID-19 fund already have helped The Actors Fund provide more emergency assistance in three weeks than it typically does in a year. Among the thousands getting help are a diabetic musician who lost all his gigs needing insurance assistance; actors with two young children and a third on the way needing food and rent support; and a director who needed temporary housing to self-quarantine after learning she’d been exposed to someone with COVID-19.
The first $1 million challenge was set by producers Spencer Ross, Rebecca Gold Milikowsky, Elizabeth Armstrong,Bill Damaschke, Diana DiMenna, Jeanne Donovan Fisher, S. Asher Gelman,John Gore & Lauren Reid/The John Gore Organization, LouiseGund, Judi Krupp, Larry & Beth Lenke, Carmen Pavlovic & Gerry Ryan,Marc Platt,Daryl Roth, Jordan Roth, Scott Rudin,Jeffrey Seller,Jana Shea, Iris Smith,David Stone and Barbara Whitman. Lauren Reid, Jordan Roth and David Stone also serve on the Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS Board of Trustees.
Photo: Getty