Marking the School of Drama's 75th anniversary, the Yale Dramatic Association's 100th anniversary and the University's 300th birthday, Yale will host a gala, bi-coastal bash on Monday, Nov. 13, featuring some of its most eminent alumni in entertainment -- including Angela Bassett, Dick Cavett, Jodie Foster, Stacy Keach and Meryl Streep.

The event, called "Stage Blue," will celebrate the contributions of Yale and its alumni to theater, film, television and the entertainment industry. Hosted by President Richard C. Levin and Jane Levin, it will be held simultaneously in New York at Chelsea Pier's Pier Sixty and at the New Amsterdam Theater, and in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

The festivities will include the original production of "I Get a Kick Out of Blue," featuring Angela Bassett '80, '83 DRA, Dick Cavett '58, Charles S. Dutton '83 DRA, Jodie Foster '85, David Alan Grier '81 DRA, Malcolm Gets '92 DRA, Harry Hamlin '71, Jane Kaczmarek '82 DRA, Stacy Keach '66 DRA, Bronson Pinchot '81, Meryl Streep '75 DRA, Courtney Vance '86 DRA, Joan Van Ark '64 DRA, Sam Waterston '62, Henry Winkler '70 DRA and other famous alumni. Material for the performance has been provided by such notable theater professionals as A.R. Gurney '58 DRA, Mitch Leigh '51 MUS, '52 MUS, Paul Rudnick '58 MED, John Guare '63 DRA, Maury Yeston '67, '73 M.A., '74 Ph.D., David Henry Hwang '83 DRA, Christopher Durang '74 DRA and others. Tony award-winner Richard Maltby Jr. '59, '62 DRA will direct the production.

Portions of the show will take place in both cities, and the performance will be simulcast back and forth between the celebrations in New York and Los Angeles. It will also be broadcast to Yale's University Theatre, 222 York St., where members of the Yale community can view it free of charge. Proceeds from the gala will benefit the School of Drama, the Yale Dramatic Association and theater facilities at the University.

Countless writers, designers, actors, musicians and producers trace their professional roots to Yale. "Stage Blue" will celebrate their accomplishments while, at the same time, benefiting the next generation of artists.

Yale became one of the first universities in the nation to offer training for the professional theater with the establishment of a Department of Drama in 1925. In 1955, the department became a full-fledged graduate program, the Yale School of Drama. Since then, the school has educated such distinguished graduates as Frances McDormand '82 DRA, Paul Newman '54 DRA and Wendy Wasserstein '76 DRA, in addition to those mentioned above.

A hotbed of theater talent since its establishment in 1900, the Yale University Dramatic Association has been an important part of the New Haven theater scene for a full century. Among the University's alumni who have participated in the "Dramat," as it is known, are Cole Porter '13, James Whitmore '44, Bronson Pinchot and Ed Norton '91.

Norton, along with alumni Oliver Stone and Julie Harris '47 DRA and Yale undergraduate Claire Danes '02, are among the alumni cochairing "Stage Blue," and are expected to attend the celebration.

In New York and at Yale, the performance will begin at 9 p.m. The gala in New York City and Los Angeles includes cocktails and dinner.

Tickets are required for admittance to the University Theatre; these will be available on Monday, Nov. 6, beginning at 10 a.m. at the Yale Rep box office, corner of Chapel and York streets. Tickets for the on-campus satellite showing can also be reserved by calling (203) 432-1234. Further information about the event is also available at www.yale.edu/drama/stageblue.

Eminent Yale graduates will be celebrated during 'Stage Blue'

Yale has been an important training ground for talent in every facet of the entertainment industry.

Many prominent alumni of the University are affiliated with the gala celebration "Stage Blue.". In addition to those mentioned in that story, other notable alumni whose accomplishments are being celebrated at the event are named below, listed by their respective careers.

This listing offers just a sampling of noted alumni in entertainment; many other accomplished graduates in the field are not included.

Actors: Jennifer Beals, Polly Draper, Jill Eikenberry, James Franciscus, Paul Giamatti, Sara Gilbert, Michael Gross, Ken Howard, Mark Linn-Baker, James Naughton, Carrie Nye, Vincent Price, Liev Schreiber, Sigourney Weaver and David Duchovny.

Directors: John Badham, Mark Brokaw, Arvin Brown, David Brustein, Marc Flanigan, Richard Fleischer, Richard Foreman, Ulu Grosbard, George Roy Hill, Elia Kazan, Asaad Kelada, Lloyd Richards, Susan H. Schulman and Stan Wojewodski Jr.

Writers: Erik Ehn, Frank Gilroy, Bert Granet, Albert Innaurato, David C. Ives, Larry Kramer, Archibald MacLeish, James Magruder, Donald Margulies, David Milch, Tad Mosel, Lyn Notteag, Sam Pottle, Peter Stone, Ted Tally, Gary B. Trudeau, Robert Penn Warren and Thornton Wilder.

Producers: James Burrows, Bruce Cohen, Tony Converse, T. Edward Hambleton, Roger Horchow, Gail Katz, Rocco Landesman, Lew Lloyd, Mace Neufeld, Alan Pakula, Todd Solondz, Jon Stone and Douglas Wick.

Designers: Will Armstrong, John Lee Beatty, Sandra Boynton, Pat Collins, John Conklin, William and Jean Eckart, Heidi Ettinger, Jane Greenwood, David Hays, David Jenkins, Donald Jenslager, Peter Larkin, Eugene Lee, Santo Loquasto, Tharon Musser and Jennifer Tipton.

Entertainment industry leaders: Jed Bernstein, League of American Theaters; Jeff Bewkes, HBO; Herbert Brodkin, Alcoa Hour; Arvin Brown, Long Wharf; Jaques Cartier, Hartford Stage; Todd Haimes, Roundabout; David Hays, National Theater for the Deaf; Lynne Meadow, Manhattan Theater Club; Ben Moore, Seattle Rep; Carol Ochs, 52nd Street Project; Walter Parkes, Dreamworks SKG; Michael Price, Goodspeed Opera House; Nikos Psacharopoulos, Williamstown Theater; Brandon Stoddard, ABC-TV; and George White, Eugene O'Neill Theater.

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