AMPLIFY 2024 digital program

Welcome to amplify 2024

Tonight’s Program

Brought to you by Foresight Events & Robbie Cowan, Musical Director
with support from Green Room 42
and the AMPLIFY 2024 Honorary Gala Committee & Organizing Committee

WELCOME Music

Andrew Ingkavet, Guitar

WELCOME REMARKS

Miles Grose, Special Guest Host
Emily Joy Weiner, Co-Founder & Artistic Director of Houses on the Moon
Susan Goodwillie, Managing Director of Houses on the Moon
Aaliytha Stevens, Director of Strategic Planning & Cultural Affairs

Performance from “real 1”

Performance by Ian Eaton

HONORING LEYTON AWARD RECIPIENT, Sarita Covington

With introductory remarks by Jeremy Kamps

HONORING LEYTON AWARD RECIPIENT, Modesto “Flako” Jimenez

With introductory remarks by Zuleyma Guevara

HONORING Mr. Reggie Van Lee

With introductory remarks by Aaliytha Stevens
And special performances by J’Nai Bridges and Jennifer Holliday

Call to Action with Leola

Closing performance from Hell’s Kitchen

Performance by Jade Milan

Closing Ceremonies

honoree

Reggie Van Lee

Reggie Van Lee is an Executive Partner & Managing Director at the global consulting and advisory firm AlixPartners, in its Performance & Technology Practice, bringing more than three decades of global experience as a senior advisor to corporations and their boards of directors.

Prior to AlixPartners, Reggie served as the Chief Transformation Officer at the Carlyle Group, where he led a series of broad organizational change programs across culture, structure, design, corporate strategy, diversity, and talent. Prior to that, Reggie had a distinguished career, spanning over three decades, at Booz, Allen & Hamilton, retiring as an Executive Vice President, where he worked with clients in the areas of strategic transformation, pre- and post-merger integration, and high-performance organizational design.

Reggie has a leadership role in the Executive Leadership Council, America’s preeminent organization for developing global black leaders. He was also successful in tying diversity to executive compensation at Carlyle and as a Trustee of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, helped embrace diversity by championing and elevating diverse programming across dance, music, and theatre for black and brown performers.

Reggie is a member of the board of directors of the Women’s Venture Capital Fund II, National CARES Mentoring Movement, John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Blair House Foundation, the Coalition for African Americans in the Performing Arts (CAAPA) and Studio Museum in Harlem. He also serves as the Chair of the Washington, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, appointed by Mayor Muriel Bowser and co-founded the Black Theatre Coalition in New York City and the Gospel Music Haus Museum in Houston. He is also a member of the Tony Award Nominating and Voting Board for Broadway plays and musicals. He was a past Chair of Washington Performing Arts and a past Vice Chair of Washington Ballet. He was named one of the top 25 consultants in the world by Consulting Magazine, selected as a Washington Minority Business Leader by the Washington Business Journal, and named Black Engineer of the Year by Black Engineer magazine. He holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from MIT and has served as a member of the MIT Corporation. He also earned an MBA from Harvard University

Sarita Covington

Sarita Covington is a multi-disciplinary artist/ activist from Harlem. She holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and co-founded ACRE (Artists Co-Creating Real Equity), an organizing body of artists and cultural workers committed to undoing racism within arts and culture work. She is a collaborating artist with social impact organization B3W Performance Group. Her work has received support from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, the Open Meadows Foundation, The Puffin Foundation and the Jerome Foundation. She has been an artist in residence through SPARC (Seniors Partnering with Artists Citywide) and BAX (Brooklyn Arts Exchange) and currently serves on the Advisory council for The Field Leadership Fund and supported and coached Race Forward’s Racial Equity in the Arts Innovation Lab.

Sarita has taught and facilitated workshops among a variety of communities including the inmates at the Fishkill Correctional Facility, the Yale Schools of Divinity and Drama through a course entitled, ‘The Quest for Social Justice; Through Music, Theater and Religion’, Artspace’s City Wide Open Studios community dialogue addressing The Dynamics of Temporary, Site-Based Interventions, NYC Public Schools, Philadelphia Charter School students, Danish High School students, Mexican youth in a Tijuana orphanage and the 59th Street Project.

Modesto “Flako” Jimenez is a Dominican-born, Bushwick-raised, multi-hyphenate artist. As a poet, playwright, educator, actor, producer, and director, his work exists in and explores the intersections of identity, language, mediums, cultures, and communities found in his personal life and beyond. Jimenez’s recent work includes Taxilandia, a site-specific performance in a moving taxi that received a Critic’s Pick from Time Out New York and The New York Times and was recently recognized with an Obie Special Citation Award.

Jimenez is the founder of ¡Oye! Group, a nonprofit that serves as an incubator for artists, both native and immigrant to New York City. Jimenez is addressing gun violence as a Public Artist in Residence at NYC Health + Hospitals as part of the NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs’ PAIR program in 2023. Jimenez has been selected as a Princeton Hodder Fellow for 2023-2024. In 2021, Jimenez received a Jerome Foundation Fellowship and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts award in performing arts and theater. Jimenez received a Guggenheim fellowship in 2024.

Currently, Jimenez is working on Mercedes, a multi-disciplinary art experience exploring the relationships between matriarchy and ancestors, familial bonds and inherited trauma, and how our own identity can impact our mental health.

Special Guests & performers

Miles Grose

Miles Grose is an experienced writer/actor/producer/director who is the co-host of the Team CoCo-produced podcast, “May I Elaborate: Sound Wisdom With JB Smoove.” He is the author of the children’s book “The Tyrell Show” (Scholastic Publishing) and recently directed a celebrity-driven interview series for the MSG Network called “One Course.” Miles has worked as a Teaching Artist for over 25 years, and has a long standing relationship with Houses On The Moon and deep love for the work that they do.

Will Nolan | LEOLA

WILL NOLAN (Leola) is a two-time BroadwayWorld Cabaret Award winner for his hit residency at the Green Room 42, LEOLA’S LADY LAND LOUNGE. In addition, he has toured the country as Leola with his award-winning shows GAY HISTORY FOR STRAIGHT PEOPLE and THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO KELLY CLARSKON. Will hails from Atlanta and has been in the New York City area since 1994. A performer, writer and director, Will spent several years as the male half of the sketch comedy duo NAKED DOG WALKING, giving birth to Leola. Will has performed as part of the highly successful MORTIFIED series in New York. He’s had pieces published and animated as part of MORTIFIED and filmed a pilot for Comedy Central. Besides sketch comedy, Will has written numerous plays, including WHEN THE MAYONNAISE GOES BAD with Stephen Kaplan. His plays have been produced throughout New York City. He is a husband and father living in Northern New Jersey, and is a proud member of the Dramatist Guild of America. To learn more about Leola and her creator, Will Nolan, visit www.leolasladyland.com for more information, including recent reviews and upcoming shows. You can stalk Leola on all social media at @leolasladyland.

IAN EATON

Ian Eaton credits his enrichment in theater beginning at Harlem School of the Arts, studying voice, violin, and acting as a youngster. He continued studying acting at LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts, and graduated with a BFA in Acting from City College. Television credits include Law and Order, and HBO’s Oz. Has also appeared in independent films, such as Signs He Made at Home portraying outsider artist Royal Robertson, and has had the privilege of performing national tours throughout the east coast. Theatrical roles include Charlie Parker in Flight at the Metropolitan Playhouse, Esteban in Day of the Kings at INTAR, Tara’s Crossing at The Lucille Lortel and Othello at The Clarion Theater. Has also spent 14 summers performing Shakespeare free of charge with Connecticut Free Shakespeare, and pre-pandemic completed an 8 week run of “Master Harold and the Boys” for the Arizona Theater Company to critical acclaim. Ian is a proud member of Only Make Believe, a non-profit organization that creates and performs interactive theater for children in hospitals and care facilities. Writing credits include a one man show called “Steve” – now titled “REAL 1” – which won Best Play at the Strawberry One Act Play festival 2019, and “SuperHero” – produced in the Spring of ‘22.

J’NAI BRIDGES

Two time Grammy® Award-winning American mezzo-soprano J’Nai Bridges, known for her “plush-voiced mezzo-soprano” (The New York Times), and “calmly commanding stage presence” (The New Yorker) has been “marked out at and early stage as a singer headed for top flight” (Financial Times), gracing the world’s top opera and concert stages including the Metropolitan Opera, Hollywood Bowl, BBC Symphony Orchestra, Dutch National Opera, and more. A rising star, Bridges emerged as a key figure in advocating for inclusion and racial justice in classical music during the pandemic. Recognized as one of the Kennedy Center’s NEXT50 cultural leaders, she has received numerous prestigious awards, including the 2018 Sphinx Medal of Excellence and the 2016 Richard Tucker Career Grant

JENNIFER HOLLIDAY

Jennifer Holliday catapulted to Broadway fame with the lead role as the iconic Effie “Melody” White in the 1981 smash hit Dreamgirls, winning a Grammy Award® for the performance of the show-stopping ballad “And I Am Telling You, I’m Not Going” and a Tony Award® for Best Actress in a Musical for the role. Her second album, Say You Love Me, won her a second Grammy for her rendition of Duke Ellington’s classic, “Come Sunday.”

In 2016, Ms. Holliday returned to the stage starring alongside Cynthia Erivo in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple as sultry singer Shug Avery. Additional theater credits include Sing Mahalia Sing: The Mahalia Jackson Story, Downhearted Blues: The Bessie Smith Story, Harlem Suite (as “Aretha Franklin”), Chicago (as “Mama Morton”), Grease (as “Teen Angel”) and Black Nativity (as the “Angel of God”). She is a long-standing, dedicated supporter of the LGBTQ+ community and an advocate for mental health and suicide prevention.

JADE MILAN

JADE MILAN is a veteran of Disney’s The Lion King on Broadway and in Las Vegas. On tour, Jade went on to sing and collaborate with the writing team for K. Michelle and Willow Smith and was a contestant on Fox’s “The Four”. She is an alumnus of the Baltimore School of the Arts. Jade is managed by The Rosenzweig Group NY.

Thank you!

Tonight’s celebration would not be possible without the support from our incredible sponsors!

AlixPartners
Kathryn and Ken Chenault
Jane Dubin
John Gore Organization
HLP Consulting
Loeb & Loeb
Queens College
The Shubert Organization
Ruth Zowader

And our generous donors!

Jen Abrams
Liz Armstrong
Bill DeSimone | Jeff Hunter Foundation
Yolanda Ferrell-Brown
Mike Fiore
Amy Gewirtz
Pamela Grayson

Joanne Hill
Aaron Lustbader
Lane Marsh
Vicki Shaghoian
Diane Tasca
Andrene M Taylor
Edisa Weeks