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Geffen Playhouse
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GEFFEN
PLAYHOUSE PROUDLY ANNOUNCES $5 MILLION CHALLENGE GRANT FROM THE SKIRBALL
FOUNDATION
***
GRANT BENEFITS
RENOVATION OF EXISTING THEATER AND CONSTRUCTION OF SECOND SPACE TO BE NAMED
THE AUDREY
SKIRBALL-KENIS THEATER
LOS ANGELES, CA – December
5, 2002 – Geffen Playhouse’s Producing Director Gilbert Cates proudly
announces a generous $5 million challenge grant from The Skirball Foundation
for the Geffen’s $15 million capital campaign. The $5 million Skirball Foundation challenge grant is to
benefit the renovation of the complex, including the construction of a new,
second theater which will be named The Audrey Skirball-Kenis Theater in honor
of Los Angeles’ beloved philanthropist, arts patron and Geffen Playhouse
supporter.
The Geffen’s capital campaign, announced on June 3, 2002, will
provide for the renovation of the existing theater, the creation of an
endowment to secure the Geffen’s artistic and financial future, and the
construction of a new building to house a second stage 125-seat theater for new
play development and use as a rehearsal space.
Gil Cates comments, “We are proud that our new theater will bear
the late Audrey Skirball-Kenis’ name.
Audrey Skirball-Kenis and Charles Kenis were instrumental in developing
the Geffen into a respected theatrical arts venue. I express my deepest gratitude to The Skirball Foundation
for stepping forward to support Geffen Playhouse’s first capital campaign and
helping us map the theater’s future. ”
Philanthropist
and arts patron Audrey Skirball-Kenis was most commonly associated with the
Skirball Cultural Center, one of the world’s finest Jewish cultural
institutions, which opened to the public in 1996. Mrs. Skirball-Kenis’ other charitable involvements, through
the Skirball Foundation, included the New York University Institute of
Biomolecular Medicine, the Oxford Center for Postgraduate Hebrew Studies, the
USC School of Medicine, and the Skirball Institute on American Values. Both Audrey and Charles were active
Geffen Playhouse board members.
The Skirball Foundation’s challenge grant is the second capital
campaign gift announced by Geffen Playhouse. In June 2002, David Geffen contributed a $5 million lead
gift that kicked off the Geffen’s campaign. Mr. Geffen’s history with the theater goes back to 1995,
when he first donated $5 million to what was then the Westwood Playhouse, later
renamed Geffen Playhouse in his honor.
In one of the largest philanthropic donations ever made to an
already-constructed theater, the not-for-profit Geffen Playhouse was launched.
As previously announced, the centerpiece of Geffen Playhouse’s
expansion will be a new 125-seat theater, The Audrey Skirball-Kenis
Theater. The theater, to be
designed by renowned architect Ronald Frink, will be adjacent to the Geffen’s
current site on Le Conte Avenue in Westwood Village. Groundbreaking for the new theater and renovation of the
existing building is scheduled to begin May 2004, with construction taking
place over 15 months. The Geffen’s
current theater will be renovated to feature improved and increased seating capacity
of the current auditorium, improved acoustics, an expanded theater lobby,
greater handicap accessibility, upgraded artist dressing rooms and backstage
areas, larger restrooms and a loading dock to aid the Geffen’s production
department in the building and breaking down of sets. The new complex and renovations will be completed for the
Geffen’s 2005-2006 season.
The Skirball Foundation was created by Southern California
philanthropist Jack H. Skirball in 1948.
Upon Mr. Skirball’s death in 1985, his wife Audrey became a member of
the Foundation’s Board of Trustees and continued that philanthropic tradition
as she served in that capacity until her death in 2002.
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