Our new home at 419 Eldert Street was filled to capacity with a sparkling crowd on December 9, 2024 for our Grand Reopening Gala: Scintillant Magick. The event raised more than $100,000 and celebrated the Starr’s brand new performance space, which opened in October with the twice-extended NYT Critic’s Pick A Woman among Women. On the same day as the Gala, the Starr’s reopening made the list of The New York Times’ Best Theater Moments of 2024.

Guests were welcomed with gifts, adornments and fortunes and enjoyed specialty drinks sponsored by the Wandering Barman and Yobo Spirit House. Dinner featured a multi-course celebration of winter’s bounty provided by Chef Sarina Perez. Take-home swag bags featured Kish Apéritif, Butter & Lye soaps, limited edition artwork and spells by Bushwick Starr artists, and more.

“To say we are fortunate doesn’t quite cut it. We built a theater that we OWN. To everyone who continued to work through every challenge along the way- we thank you from our very guts. The end of this year has felt like a homecoming, and we want to thank everyone here for doing just that: helping welcome us home. Thank you for believing in the Starr’s mission and in its place in the ecosystem of NYC performance.”

Honoree
David Ringer - Board Chair Emeritus

Paddle Raise MCs
Bryce Goodloe and James Harrison Monaco

Host Committee
Jeremy O. Harris, Rachel Chavkin, Ryan J. Haddad, Tina Satter, Whitney White, and The Bushwick Starr Board of Directors: Michael Contini (Co-Chair), Gita Deo (Co-Chair), Asenhat Gomez, Robin Griffiths, Christina Gu, David Herskovits, Michael Kendrick, Oliver Kramer, Tom McMillan, Luis Munive, Keanu Reeves, Ali Kennedy Scott, Jennifer Sendrow, Danielle Thomson

EVENT SPONSORS:

JONATHAN GROFF
Last season Jonathan Groff won the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical for his performance as Franklin Shepard in the Tony Award-winning production of Merrily We Roll Along.  Up next, he will return to Broadway, starring in and producing the biomusical centered on the life and music of singer, Bobby Darin, titled Just in Time.  Previews will begin in March 2025.  Other Broadway credits include Hamilton (Tony Nomination, Grammy Award), Spring Awakening (Tony Nomination), and In My Life. Off-Broadway credits include Merrily We Roll Along (Outer Critics Circle Award), Little Shop of Horrors (Outer Critics Circle Award), Hamilton, The Submission, The Bacchae, The Singing Forest, Prayer for My Enemy (Obie Award), Hair, and Spring Awakening. TV and film credits include “Mindhunter,” “Looking,” “Glee,” Hamilton (Emmy Nomination), Frozen and Frozen II, The Matrix Resurrections, and Knock at the Cabin. Photo Credit: Andrew Eccles

KUHOO VERMA
is a NYC based artist who revels in works made for diverse audiences. You can see Kuhoo as the lead of Hulu’s film Plan B, streaming now. She is currently at Signature DC in Sondheim’s Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as Philia, running until January 12th. Film: Plan B (Hulu), Murder Mystery 2 (Netflix), The Big Sick (Amazon), Space Cadet (Amazon). She previously starred in Dave Malloy’s Octet at the Signature Theatre (Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical, Drama Desk Award for Best Ensemble). She enjoys workshopping new musicals and doing operas in Paris. @therealkuhoo on Instagram.

ELLEN WINTER
is a Brooklyn-based composer, music producer, and performer whose songwriting fuses theatrical storytelling with dreamy synths. Most recently, they were composing, bandleading, and performing in On The Rocks Theatre Co's world premiere production of The Beastiary at Ars Nova. In 2017 She co-composed/wrote/directed 36 Questions, the world’s first broadway calibur musical podcast, and this past May dropped her sophomore album, YIKES. They’ve been on the music teams of Salty Brine, The Bengsons, Heather Christian, Dave Malloy, Machel Ross, Miranda Haymon, and Cėsar Alvarez. Ellen is a recipient of the 2024 EST/Sloan Commission and the 2021 Bryan Gallace/Posthumous Prodigy Productions Musicians Fellowship. Residencies include Joe’s Pub Working Group, Berkeley Rep Ground Floor, Mercury Store, Ars Nova Maker’s Lab, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Rhinebeck Writers Retreat and BarnArts.

DIANA OH
is a multi-hyphenate Generative Artist — performer, musician, singer, songwriter, director of their own work, maker of installations, performances, concerts, and parties. An open channel to the art that feels good to their body and is driven most by mutual care, pleasure, and keeping things heart-centered. A feeder of the soul. A non-conforming free spirit.