24th Pell Awards Gala slated for June 5, 2023
PROVIDENCE, RI: Trinity Repertory Company announces today that award-winning actors Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen will be honored with the 2023 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. They will be recognized for their artistic achievements at Trinity Rep’s 24th annual Pell Awards Gala, which will be held on Monday, June 5, 2023 at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence, RI. Tickets and more information can be found at trinityrep.com/pell.
“Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen’s extraordinary work as artists and as activists exemplifies the artist as a socially responsible citizen,” Artistic Director Curt Columbus said. “They have inspired and captivated millions. Trinity Rep is thrilled to honor Mr. Danson and Ms. Steenburgen’s talent and impact with this year’s Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts.”
ABOUT THE 2023 PELL AWARD WINNERS FOR LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT IN THE ARTS
Ted Danson is a Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning actor known for an array of exceptional performances, most memorably for his portrayal of Boston bartender Sam Malone on NBC’s multi-award-winning and iconic comedy Cheers, which ran for 11 seasons and won three Emmys for Best Comedy Series, as well as the acclaimed NBC comedy The Good Place, for which he was nominated for his 14th Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and received a Critics’ Choice Award for his role as Michael. In addition to his acting and producing credits, Danson is an environmental activist, co-founding the American Oceans Campaign (AOC) in 1987 to alert Americans to the life-threatening hazards created by oil spills, offshore development, toxic wastes, sewage pollution, and other ocean abuses. The AOC merged with Oceana in 2001. Oceana works to show citizens how they can participate in protecting and restoring marine resources, and to show Congress that Americans are concerned with these issues.
Mary Steenburgen is an Academy Award-winning actress who has appeared in countless roles on the big and small screens. A company member of New York’s Atlantic Theater Company, she is known for her Oscar and Golden Globe-winning work in Melvin and Howard in addition to unforgettable roles in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?, Step Brothers, and television shows such as Justified, Orange is the New Black, and HBO’s Togetherness and Curb Your Enthusiasm. Upcoming, Steenburgen will star in Focus Features Book Club 2: The Next Chapter opposite Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen. The film will be released in theaters on Mother’s Day weekend – May 12, 2023. She founded Artists for a New South Africa with fellow actress Alfre Woodard and is an avid supporter of global nonprofit Heifer International and marine conservation organization Oceana.
Danson and Steenburgen join previously announced local honorees: artist and WaterFire creator Barnaby Evans and Rhode Island Latino Arts founder Marta V. Martínez, who will each receive a Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts; former Trinity Rep board chair Suzanne Magaziner, who is receiving the Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts; and Trudy Coxe, executive director of the Preservation Society of Newport County, who will receive the Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts.
The 2023 Pell Awards Gala will be held the evening of Monday, June 5, 2023, at the WaterFire Arts Center in Providence. This will be the first awards gala to be held since 2019. The event is co-chaired by Kibbe and Tom Reilly and Richard and Sharon Jenkins.
The Pell Awards Gala begins at 6:00 pm with a VIP cocktail reception. All guests will enjoy a seated dinner at 7:00 pm, followed by the awards ceremony at 8:00 pm. Attendees can expect to mix and mingle with artists, business, political, and social leaders; enjoy catering by Russell Morin Fine Catering; and experience unforgettable moments as the theater honors individuals committed to bettering the world through art, education, and activism.
Tickets and sponsorships are on sale now at www.trinityrep.com/pell or by phone at (401) 453-9235. Individual gala tickets are $300; VIP tickets are $600. All proceeds from the Pell Awards Gala support Trinity Rep’s artistic, education, and community engagement programs. Event program tribute ads are also available.
ABOUT THE PELL AWARDS
Trinity Rep’s Pell Awards were established in 1997 to honor the legacy of Senator Claiborne Pell (D-RI) and recognize artistic excellence in Rhode Island and the New England region as well as at the national level. Between 1961 and 1997, Senator Pell held influential Senate posts in the fields of human resources, education, arms control, health, human rights, foreign relations, the environment, and the arts and humanities. Throughout his life, Senator Pell worked to support the arts and provide new opportunities for artists. He was the principal sponsor of landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965, and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee. He also took a lead role in eliminating barriers to higher education with his legislation creating the Basic Educational Opportunity Grants, which Congress named “Pell Grants” in 1980.
Past Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts honorees include: The Indigo Girls (Amy Ray and Emily Saliers), Mary McDonnell, Jane Alexander, Kate Burton, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Viola Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Laurie and Oskar Eustis, Adrian Hall, Richard and Sharon Jenkins, Jessica Lange, Arthur Miller, Liza Minnelli, Toni Morrison, Robert Redford, Chita Rivera, Jason Robards, Maurice Sendak, Beverly Sills, and Stephen Sondheim.
2023 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Ted Danson
Ted Danson is an Emmy Award and Golden Globe Award-winning actor known for an array of exceptional performances, most memorably for his portrayal of Boston bartender Sam Malone on NBC’s multi-award winning and iconic comedy Cheers, which ran for 11 seasons and won three Emmys as Best Comedy Series. More recently, Danson starred in the acclaimed NBC comedy The Good Place, for which he was nominated for his 14th Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor and received a Critics Choice Award for his role as ‘Michael’. Danson also played himself in the quintessential comedy Curb Your Enthusiasm, which ran from 2000 to 2021.
Previously, Danson starred in Mr. Mayor, an NBC comedy series written and executive-produced by Tina Fey and Robert Carlock. Danson also had a prominent role in the second season of FX’s critically acclaimed series Fargo. Other credits include CBS’ long-running CSI and CSI: Cyber, FX’s Damages (playing tycoon Arthur Frobisher) and CBS’ Becker – the latter two roles for which he was Golden Globe-nominated.
In film, Danson appeared in Hearts Beat Loud, a musical drama that premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2018. He has also appeared in several other high-profile projects, including the 1987 blockbuster hit Three Men and a Baby and its sequel, Three Men and a Little Lady. He had a co-starring role in Steven Spielberg’s World War II masterpiece Saving Private Ryan.
Raised outside Flagstaff, Ariz., Danson attended Stanford University and became interested in drama during his second year in school. He then transferred to Carnegie Mellon University and graduated with his Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in drama. After graduation, he was hired as an understudy in Tom Stoppard’s Off-Broadway production The Real Inspector Hound. Danson relocated to Los Angeles in 1978 to manage the Actor’s Institute for a year and a half while he taught there. Six months after his arrival in L.A., Danson earned a role in The Onion Field and co-starred in the TV movie The Women’s Room.
In addition to acting and producing, Danson is an environmental activist, co-founding the American Oceans Campaign (AOC) in 1987 to alert Americans to the life-threatening hazards created by oil spills, off-shore development, toxic wastes, sewage pollution and other ocean abuses. The AOC merged with Oceana in 2001. Oceana works to show citizens how they can participate in protecting and restoring marine resources, and to show Congress that Americans are concerned with these issues.
Danson resides in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Mary Steenburgen.
Click here to download Mr. Danson’s headshot. Photo courtesy of Ted Danson.
2023 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Mary Steenburgen
Mary Steenburgen is an Academy Award and Golden Globe-winning actress best known for her work in the films Melvin and Howard, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Stepbrothers, and Book Club and television shows Justified, Orange is the New Black, Curb Your Enthusiasm, and The Last Man on Earth.
Upcoming, Steenburgen will star in Focus Features Book Club 2: The Next Chapter opposite Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen. The film will be released in theaters on Mother’s Day weekend – May 12, 2023. Most recently, Steenburgen starred for two seasons as Maggie Clarke in NBC’s musical television sensation Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist and Roku’s original film Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas.
Mary is a songwriter for Universal Music Publishing Group and was recently shortlisted for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for a song she co-wrote, “Glasgow (No Place Like Home)”, featured in the film Wild Rose. “Glasgow” received the Critics’ Choice Award and the Hollywood Critics Association Award for Best Original Song.
AT A GLANCE
Trinity Rep’s 2023 Pell Awards Gala
Date – Monday, June 5, 2023
VIP Reception – 6:00 pm
Dinner – 7:00 pm
Awards Ceremony – 8:00 pm
Honorees –
Ted Danson and Mary Steenburgen, Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Barnaby Evans, Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts
Marta V. Martínez, Rhode Island Pell Award for Excellence in the Arts
Trudy Coxe, Pell Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Arts
Suzanne Magaziner, Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts
Location – WaterFire Arts Center, 475 Valley Street, Providence, Rhode Island
Summary – The Pell Awards Gala celebrates national and local excellence in the arts. Guests will enjoy mixing and mingling with artists, business, political, and social leaders; dinner by Russell Morin Fine Catering; and unforgettable moments as the theater honors individuals who are committed to bettering the world through art. All proceeds benefit artistic, education, and community engagement programming at Trinity Rep.
Tickets – Full event including VIP reception: $600; Ceremony and dinner only: $300 (limited availability)
Sponsorships and event program tribute ads are also available.
Tickets on sale now at trinityrep.com/pell or (401) 453-9235.
