The Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance is pleased to announce the President’s Gala, to be held in recognition of the 50th season of the Hilberry Theatre, at 8 p.m. Saturday, September 8, 2012. A private dinner precedes the event at 5:30 p.m. at the Detroit Club. The evening will celebrate the Hilberry’s past 50 seasons and its founder, Leonard Leone, while honoring the present and embracing the future of the nation’s only graduate repertory theatre.

Hosted by Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour and The Understudies, the gala will feature a program of select scenes from past and upcoming Hilberry productions. President Gilmour and Matt Seeger, dean of the College of Fine, Performing and Communication Arts (CFPCA), will give remarks. John Wolf, newly appointed chair of the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance, will be introduced. Following the program will be a dessert afterglow at which attendees may mix and mingle with Hilberry alums, donors/patrons and graduates of past and current seasons.

John Wolf is a welcome addition to the Detroit arts community and the Maggie Allesee Department of Theatre and Dance. Wolf was a professor of lighting design and director of production in the Department of Theatre at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro (UNCG), where his responsibilities included budgeting; production management; supervision of the bachelor of fine arts degree in technical production, design and theatre technology; marketing and recruitment; facilities management; and curriculum. He represented the Department of Theatre in a merger that created UNCG’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance.

Sponsor packages, which include cocktails, a private dinner at the Detroit Club, preferred seating at the gala and dessert afterglow, are still available. Tickets for the program and afterglow begin at $50. Dinner is limited to 120 people and the program is limited to 400 people. For more information, call 313-577-1183. RSVP at specialevents.wayne.edu/presidentsgala.

The Hilberry Theatre is at 4743 Cass Ave. on the corner of Hancock in Detroit. Parking will be provided adjacent to the theatre for President’s Gala attendees.

About the Hilberry Theatre Company
The Hilberry Theatre Company is the nation’s only professional theatre company that is both staffed by graduate students and runs on a rotating repertory schedule. Each academic year, 40 or more graduate students receive assistantships to work for the Hilberry Theatre and study for advanced degrees from Wayne State University. The company performs an annual season of six plays, including high school matinees for nearly 6,000 students. In its 50-year history, four Hilberry productions have been selected to appear at the American College Theatre Festival in Washington, D.C. For performance information and tickets, visit the theatre’s website, www.hilberry.com.

Calendar information:

The Hilberry Theatre, 50th Season President’s Gala

Dinner: 5:30 p.m. Saturday, September 8, 2012

Program: 8 p.m. Saturday, September 8, 2012