Wednesday, October 26, 2022
Westbank Cafe Ι 407 W. 42nd Street, New York City

SITI Company’s Benefits have been an annual celebration of the ensemble’s contribution to the theatrical landscape around the world, and to the lives of the innumerable artists who train with us.  We’re thrilled to host our final benefit and gather with friends and supporters to toast to this brilliant company!

In 1992, an ensemble of pioneering artists with visionary director Anne Bogart at the helm, began a collective, revolutionary artistic journey as SITI Company. These artists have created nearly 50 pieces of theater that showcase the storytelling power of the performer and the theatrical vision of the ensemble; they have excavated worlds from ancient Greece to contemporary America and examined the creative compulsions of other artists—from Virginia Woolf to Robert Rauschenberg; explored disciplines as varied as opera, dance, visual art and music theater; and they have expanded the meaning of collaboration by creating work with dance companies, music ensembles and visual artists.

The evening will begin with a cocktails and dinner at the Westbank Cafe, followed by the opening performance of SITI’s 2 week run of War of the Worlds – The Radio Play in the Laurie Beechman Theater downstairs.  The evening will conclude with a celebratory afterparty with SITI Company and guests.

6:00pm – Cocktail Reception
6:30pm – Dinner
8:00pm – Performance of War of the Worlds – The Radio Play
9:30pm – After-Party Cocktails

Festival Attire.
All guests are required to be fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and show proof upon arrival. Masks will be required for the performance.

Ticket Packages
Tickets for the 30^th Anniversary Benefit will start at $500. VIP packages are available for groups of 4-8 guests at dinner.

All funds raised for the event will directly support SITI’s Legacy Plan, including transition grants to the ensemble members at the end of 2022.

War of the Worlds – The Radio Play
In our finale season, SITI will launch a New York tour of our triptych of radio plays, which showcase the unique ensemble storytelling ethos of the company. SITI Company has a long history with radio plays, inspired by Orson Welles’ Mercury Theatre on the Air and its company of players. We began with the show that became one of the most famous radio broadcasts in history, War of the Worlds. Simply staged for a cabaret space in October of 1999, War of the Worlds – The Radio Play began when company member and sound designer Darron L West, who grew up listening to cassettes of old radio shows, off-handedly suggested that the company do a live staging of War of the Worlds on the anniversary of its broadcast October 30, 1938—with SITI company actors channeling the Mercury Theater players and bringing our audience into the radio studio to hear “the word pictures” of the broadcast, while witnessing the creative act that would change broadcast radio forever.  The radio plays draw deeply on the power of stillness and silence, elements in which the Suzuki-trained company excels—to allow the listener greater access to the text.