For this year’s “Arts and Education”-themed gala, the South Orange Performing Arts Center honored three local citizens for their “extraordinary” contributions to the cultural and educational life of the community.
The benefit Gala also celebrated the successful completion of SOPAC’s ninth season and the fact that the center received the Discover Jersey Arts People’s Choice Award for Favorite Small Performing Arts Center in New Jersey this year.
The event took place on Saturday, May 30, with Broadway star Brian Stokes Mitchell performing for South Orange educator and Star-Ledger Coach of the Year Johanna Wright, former Maplewood Mayor and New Jersey environmentalist Fred Profeta, and real estate investor and Newark philanthropist Paul Profeta.
Wright is also a member of the SOPAC Board of Governors, most recently serving as emcee for the Regional Poetry Out Loud competition hosted on SOPAC’s mainstage. The Profeta brothers have both been key contributors to Columbia High School projects, including the addition of the Lynn V. Profeta Alumni Field named after their mother, a well-loved local educator, and the renovation of the Columbia High School auditorium, providing students with a much-needed quality performance space.
The festivities included a cocktail party featuring appearances by Columbia High School music students and a gallery show of Columbia High School visual arts students; a silent auction which included items such as a Les Paul guitar signed by renowned jazz musician John Pizzarelli; and a headline performance by Tony Award-winning performer Brian Stokes Mitchell; plus an exclusive after-party.
“It was a great celebration of arts education, highlighting the talent at Columbia High School, as well as recognizing three individuals whose gifts of time, talent and treasure have benefitted our school system,” said Tony Leitner, Chair of the SOPAC Board of Governors.
“Brian Stokes Mitchell was not too shabby either!” Leitner added.
The gala is SOPAC’s main fundraiser and all proceeds benefit arts and education programming. “We rely on the gala to raise critical funds necessary to serve our community and sustain our work in the arts and education,” says Gala co-chair Diana Hart, of Diana Hart Fine Catering in Maplewood.
Scroll down for photos from the event (Doug Brown, photographer):
CHS String Quartet (Henry Conrad Poor, Samantha Berek, Christina Jones, William Chang) performing at the SOPAC 2015 Gala. Credit Doug Brown.
Fred Profeta and Susan Profeta at the SOPAC 2015 Gala. Credit Doug Brown.
Joe Benincasa, President and CEO of the Actors Fund in NYC, and Paul Bartick, Secretary of the SOPAC Board of Governors. Credit Doug Brown.
John Amos and Johanna Wright at the SOPAC 2015 Gala. Credit Doug Brown.
Tony Leitner Dancing with his wife at the SOPAC 2015 Gala. Credit Doug Brown.
South Orange Trustee Deborah Davis Ford, Trustee Stephen Schnall, Village President Sheena Collum, and SOPAC Executive Director Mark Packer. Credit Doug Brown.
