Primary Stages FALL Gala

Our Fall Gala took place on Monday, October 20, 2025 at Sony Hall.

Honoring
Actor and Primary Stages ESPA Faculty Member Thom Sesma
with the Einhorn Mentorship Award
and
Liff Lab Founding Patron Mickey Rolfe
with the Andrew Leynse Commitment to New Plays Award

with Performances by
Andrew Durand, Judy Gold, Julia Knitel, Zachary Noah Piser, A.J. Shively, David Van Tieghem, D’Kaylah Unique Whitley, and Natasha Yvette Williams

and Tributes by
Eunice Bae, Mary Borba, Joshua Kahan Brody, Leah Griff, Alex Lin, Kimberly Senior, and Walt Spangler

The Primary Stages Gala is the largest fundraiser of our season, and its income provides critical support for our free educational programs benefiting over 1,000 teens and teachers annually.

We were thrilled to present the Einhorn Mentorship Award to Thom Sesma. The Einhorn Mentorship Award is awarded each year to someone in the Primary Stages community who has been a true mentor and inspiration to those who work with them. Past recipients include Carl Andress, Charles Busch, Judy Gold, Adam Gwon, Kate Hamill, Marla Persky, Kimberly Senior, Jeanine Tesori, and Sharon Washington. A beloved stage veteran, Thom most recently appeared in Broadway’s Dead Outlaw, for which he won the 2024 Outer Critics Circle Award for Featured Performer in a Musical. Thom joined the Primary Stages Einhorn School of Performing Arts (ESPA) acting faculty in 2019, and during the COVID-19 lockdown developed a special online curriculum for actors to help them continue to work and create despite the social distance. Thom continues to serve as a coach and mentor for young actors to this day.

We were also honored to present the Andrew Leynse Commitment to New Plays Award to Mickey Rolfe. Created in memory of Primary Stages’ late Artistic Director Andrew Leynse, this award is given annually to a member of the Primary Stages community who has been a dedicated champion of new plays and new playwrights. The inaugural award was given in 2023 to theater agent Beth Blickers, and last year was given to The Laurents/Hatcher Foundation. Mickey is the Founding Patron of Primary Stages’ Liff Lab, a new play development program named for his mentor, legendary theater agent Samuel “Biff” Liff, that provides an exceptional early- to mid-career playwright with a 29-hour developmental workshop of an unproduced new work. A long-time advocate for the theater, Mickey dedicated most of his 40-year career to representing Broadway’s top designers, with Rolfe Company clients winning a total of 22 Tony Awards.

GALA BENEFIT COMMITTEE:
Mary Borba, Jamie deRoy, Lynne Halliday, Marla Persky, Carol Roaman, Mary Susnjara

PERFORMERS

Andrew Durand

Tony Award nominee
Dead Outlaw, Shucked
Judy Gold

Daytime Emmy Award winner
Yes, I Can Say That! at Primary Stages; The Judy Show! My Life as a Sitcom
Julia Knitel

Tony Award nominee
Dead Outlaw, Beautiful: The Carole King Musical
Zachary Noah Piser

Drama Desk Award nominee
Redwood, See What I Wanna See
A.J. Shively

Tony Award nominee
Paradise Square, A Man of No Importance
David Van Tieghem

Obie Award winner
Carnegie Hall, “Late Show with David Letterman”
D'Kaylah Unique Whitley

Dear Evan Hansen, SUFFS
Natasha Yvette Williams

Tony Award nominee
Wicked, Some Like It Hot