(SUMMIT, NJ) -- Vivid Stage is holding its annual gala fundraiser on Saturday, January 21, 2023. The party will be held at Calvary Church, 31 Woodland Avenue, in Summit from 6:00pm-10:00pm. As part of this special fundraising event, the theatre will honor two friends: Jill Bernstein for her 10 years of board service, and Annette Dwyer, for her support of the Summit arts community.

Vivid Stage, Summit’s professional theatre company, has been in residence at the Oakes Center in Summit for eleven years. As part of the celebration, the ensemble will entertain the guests with songs and scenes on the theme of friendship. The evening will include unlimited drinks and appetizers, a catered buffet dinner, coffee and dessert.

Funds raised at this event will help Vivid Stage maintain its tradition of excellence in arts programming. In addition to our regular season of mainstage productions, cabaret, improv and new play readings, the theatre provides outreach and education programs for students and seniors, as well as internship opportunities for college students and young professionals. Providing a creative home for New Jersey artists is primary among the company’s goals, as is cultivating the relationship between artists and audiences throughout the season.

Tickets for the entire evening are $120 until January 6 and $135 afterwards. Tickets can be purchased in advance at www.vividstage.org.  

Vivid Stage was founded in 1994 as Dreamcatcher Rep, and is a non-profit professional ensemble of actors who build community with the audience by sharing contemporary, life-affirming stories that challenge, energize and entertain. Our work has at its heart a belief in the essential goodness of people and the power of live performance to connect people through our shared humanity. We expose theatregoers to ideas and lives like and unlike their own with the intention of awakening their imaginations and creating empathy for others. We deepen the experience of all our patrons with personal contact through receptions, talkbacks, and interactive programs.

The company’s activities include mainstage productions, improvisational comedy and cabarets, new play readings and a variety of educational and senior outreach programs.

Vivid Stage’s programs are funded by the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, the Union County Department of Cultural and Heritage Affairs, and many other corporations, foundations and individuals.  Vivid Stage is an Equity Producing member of the New Jersey Theatre Alliance.

Vivid Stage, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) corporation, incorporated under the laws of the State of New Jersey.