Storybook characters Snow White, Sleeping Beauty, and the Big Bad Wolf hobnobbed with guests during the American Repertory Theater’s "Ever After" Valentine’s Day gala at the Park Plaza Castle on Monday. With a fund-raising goal of $225,000, the event drew 300 guests, which represented a 30 percent increase over last year’s attendance. This year, the holiday affair had a dark fairytale theme.
According to Megan Hinckley, deputy director of development, the most daunting task in pulling off the fund-raiser was meeting attendees’ expectations for newness and creativity. “Over the past 10 years, the [theater] has gained a reputation for creating and hosting cutting-edge, sparkling affairs," she said. The biggest challenge we faced this year was to sustain the excitement and sense of anticipation that keeps the event fresh and full of surprises.”
To help ensure the event lived up to supporters’ expectations, Hinckley and her team worked closely with the vendors and sponsors but also used the theater’s creative staff. Graduate students from the American Repertory Theater Institute played the evening's ten storybook characters, and wore costumes from the theater’s stock.
Composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz, a long-time collaborator with the theater, performed cabaret-style selections from his shows Wicked, Pippin, and Godspell. Phillip Boykin, a cast member from the theater’s 2011 production of Porgy & Bess, sang. At the end of the evening, two actors from the now-running The Donkey Show, in full costume as the characters "Titania’s disco fairies," ushered guests to the red dance floor, where DJ Addam Bombb spun current hits and upbeat tunes from the '80s.
Keeping the event’s theme cohesive throughout the evening was also paramount to Hinckley. Upon guests’ arrival, they were given light-pink cards urging them to “find their way through the forest” to tables with names such as "The Wicked Prince." Created by Ilex Designs the forest-inspired floral arrangements included mosses, ferns, bark, and mushrooms. Be Our Guest provided olive, bronze, and deep-brown raw silk linens to support the woodsy feel. Around the room’s perimeter, Rutland Nurseries set up live cedars, hemlocks, birches, blue spruces, and pear trees, lending the affair an enclosed, intimate vibe.
Max Ultimate Food designed a three-course menu to match the evening’s theme. The first course, titled "Once Upon a Time," consisted of a curried butternut square terrine with wild mushroom compote. The main course, a meat dish, was called "In a Far Off Kingdom." And for the "Happily Ever After" dessert course, guests sipped mini cherry soda floats and snacked on red velvet whoopie pies.
