Dr. Bella Itkin, Michael Leavitt, Molly Shannon and Jacqueline Williams will receive the prestigious Theatre School Award for Excellence in the Arts at the 15th Annual DePaul Theatre School Awards Gala on May 8. SBC Communications Inc. will receive the 2003 Corporate Award for Excellence in the Arts, accepted by Carrie J. Hightman, president of SBC Illinois. Alumnus John C. Reilly will attend as Celebrity Chair and Master of Ceremonies for the awards presentation. Additional honorees may be added.

Each year the DePaul Theatre School Awards Gala honors individuals who have made significant contributions to the arts during their careers, and for their many wonderful professional and charitable accomplishments. The Corporate Award recognizes exemplary corporate commitment to supporting the arts and other causes in the community. All proceeds from the evening benefit The Theatre School’s Scholarship Fund, providing financial assistance to students who come from all over the United States and several other countries to train at the Midwest’s oldest theatre training conservatory.

The Awards Gala begins with a 6 p.m. reception at DePaul's Merle Reskin Theatre, 60 E. Balbo Drive, Chicago. The on-stage presentation of the Awards for Excellence in the Arts begins at 6:45 p.m. and will include an excerpt from the current Chicago Playworks production of The Owl and the Pussycat Went to See … . Dinner and dancing to the music of the The City Lights Orchestra conducted by DePaul alumnus Rich Daniels begins at 8 p.m. in the Grand Ballroom of the Hilton Chicago and Towers, 720 S. Michigan Ave., across the street from the theatre.

The evening will include a raffle and a silent auction. The ticket price for the black-tie benefit is $300 per person, with tables for 10 available for $3,000, $5,000 or $10,000. To arrange reservations or for more information, call (312) 553-2000.

“The focal point of this glamorous evening will be the ceremony to honor our guests, whose distinguished work in the arts and the community exemplifies the standard of excellence and service we seek to develop in our students,” said John Culbert, dean of The Theatre School.

Since 1989, the Awards Gala has raised more than $1.6 million for The Theatre School Scholarship Fund. The Scholarship Fund dispenses more than $450,000 in financial aid to students in the school’s conservatory theatre training program each year.

Daniel P. Coffey, president of the architectural firm Daniel P. Coffey Associates; Sondra A. Healy, chairman of Turtle Wax, Inc.; and Monsignor Kenneth Velo, are Gala co-chairs.

Major supporters of the 15th annual Awards Gala include American Airlines, Hilton Chicago, Turtle Wax, Inc. and Wedgwood USA. Lord Piers Wedgwood and Wedgwood USA will again donate the presentation pieces to be awarded. American Airlines, Hilton Chicago and Wedgwood USA have sponsored the Gala since the event was created by former Theatre School Dean John Ransford Watts in 1989.

“The Gala is a wonderful opportunity to showcase and support The Theatre School’s students in the development of their skill and talent,” Healy said. "As a nationally renowned conservatory of young artists, The Theatre School is an important link in our rich theatre heritage. It has earned and truly deserves our attention, care and ongoing support.”

DR. BELLA ITKIN is professor emeritus at The Theatre School, DePaul University. A former chair of the Performance Program who officially retired in 1989 after nearly 50 years of teaching, she has continued to be active as a teacher and director, most recently directing A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur for the school’s Workshop Series. Dr. Itkin is known nationally as an acting coach whose past students include Kevin Anderson, Melinda Dillon, Ann Dowd, Linda Hunt, Harvey Korman, Joe Mantegna, Kevin O'Connor, Elizabeth Perkins, Concetta Tomei, the late Lee Richardson and the late Geraldine Page. She has directed more than 200 productions for The Theatre School, including the Chicago premiere of Tennessee Williams' Eccentricities of a Nightingale. During her 15-year term as Artistic Director of Chicago Playworks, formerly the Goodman Children's Theatre, she directed numerous productions and received the prestigious Sara Spencer Award from the Children's Theatre Association of America in 1980 for long-term contributions to children's theatre in the United States. She has served as a visiting professor at several other universities, was a producer and the Artistic Director of the Lake Zurich Playhouse and has lectured extensively and conducted workshops at several theatre conventions and seminars. Dr. Itkin received her M.F.A. from the Goodman School of Drama, studied with the late Sanford Meisner and earned her doctorate from Western Reserve University. She received the Via Sapientiae Award from DePaul in 1990 and was named to the Chicago Women's Hall of Fame in 1990, among other honors. Her focus in teaching acting and directing is based on the sensorial life of the character, which is discussed specifically in her book, Acting: Preparation, Practice, Performance, originally published by Harper and Collins.

MICHAEL LEAVITT is an award-winning theatrical producer who has earned three Tony Awards. He is currently represented on Broadway with the all-new Broadway musical production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, winner of six 2002 Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Actress. Other productions include the Steppenwolf Theatre production of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest (Tony Award - Best Revival); the Goodman Theatre production of Death of a Salesman (4 Tony Awards, including Best Revival); Jekyll & Hyde, the musical; You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown (Outer Critics Circle Award – Best Musical) Steve Martin’s Picasso at the Lapin Agile (Outer Critics Circle Award – Best Play) and Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women (Pulitzer Prize). In Chicago, Leavitt has produced and/or directed numerous productions including Neil Simon’s Lost in Yonkers and Laughter on the 23rd Floor; Six Degrees of Separation; a two-year run of the hit farce Lend me a Tenor, and the award-winning drama Having Our Say. Born and raised in Chicago, Leavitt is a graduate of the Goodman School of Drama and DePaul University. In the early 1980s, Leavitt started his own theatrical company, the Payne Leavitt Group, which he operated for almost a decade. In 1991, Leavitt accepted a bid from Fox Associates to buy his company. Leavitt was named Executive Producer, and later President, of their new theatrical production arm, Fox Theatricals. In addition to producing theatre, Leavitt developed and operated numerous live theatrical venues, including the Apollo Theatre, Royal George Theatre, Wellington Theatre (formerly the Ivanhoe Theatre) and Briar Street Theatre. Leavitt brought the hit show Blue Man Group to Chicago, where it continues to enjoy record-breaking sold out performances. Leavitt next created a partnership with developer Michael Moyer, overseeing a $25 million redevelopment of the 1926 Palace Theatre. As president of the theatre, Leavitt created both a naming rights deal with Cadillac (naming the theatre the Cadillac Palace Theatre) and a deal with Walt Disney Productions. The Cadillac Palace Theatre opened in 1999 with the Disney production of the Elton John musical, Aida. Leavitt currently has several new productions in different stages of development.

JOHN C. REILLY is an alumnus of The Theatre School who has made a name for himself as one of the finest actors of his generation. Most recently he was nominated for Academy and Golden Globe awards as Best Supporting Actor in the Best Picture-winning Chicago, and he played featured roles in two of the other nominated films, Gangs of New York and The Hours— the first time a single actor has enjoyed such an honor. He received Best Supporting Actor honors from the Las Vegas Film Critics for Chicago. His other numerous film credits include The Good Girl (with Jennifer Aniston), for which he received an IFP Independent Spirit Award nomination; The Anniversary Party (with Alan Cumming and Jennifer Jason Leigh); The Perfect Storm (with George Clooney); For Love of the Game (with Kevin Costner); Never Been Kissed (with Drew Barrymore); The Thin Red Line; What’s Eating Gilbert Grape?; Georgia; Dolores Claiborne; Casualties of War; and Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Hard Eight, among others. Reilly was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance in True West on Broadway, in which he and Philip Seymour Hoffman alternated the play’s two key roles each night. His other stage roles include the recent Huntington Theatre production of the musical Marty in Boston, Steppenwolf Theatre’s The Grapes of Wrath and A Streetcar Named Desire, and Exit the King at the Actor’s Gang Theatre in Los Angeles, directed by Theatre School faculty member Ric Murphy. Reilly received The Theatre School’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2001.

SBC COMMUNICATIONS INC. has an unparalleled record of corporate citizenship ranging from employee volunteer efforts to arts and technology grants funding. In 2002, SBC Illinois provided nearly $10.6 million in community support, including corporate, charitable and initiatives focusing primarily on technology access, technology training, economic development and education. Additionally, employees statewide accounted for nearly 96,000 volunteer hours from SBC employee and retiree projects. SBC www.sbc.com is one of the world's leading data, voice and Internet services providers. Through its world-class networks, SBC companies provide a full range of voice, data, networking and e-business services, as well as directory advertising and publishing. A Fortune 30 company, America's leading provider of high-speed DSL Internet Access services, and one of the nation's leading Internet Service Providers, SBC companies currently serve 57 million access lines nationwide. In addition, SBC companies own 60 percent of America's second- largest wireless company, Cingular Wireless, which serves 22 million wireless customers. Internationally, SBC companies have telecommunications investments in 27 countries.

MOLLY SHANNON spent six seasons as a member of the repertory company at Saturday Night Live. Primarily known for the eclectic characters that she created, such as Mary Katherine Gallagher, she was also praised for her parodies of Courtney Love, Liza Minnelli, Monica Lewinsky, and "The View's" Meredith Vieira. Since leaving SNL, Shannon has successfully segued from television to the silver screen and has quickly become one of Hollywood's most sought-after talents. With starring roles in The Good Boy! and The Guest, as well as a highly anticipated return to television in the upcoming FOX sitcom Cracking Up, Shannon continues to deliver fabulous performances that keep her fans coming back for more. Earlier this year, Shannon appeared in the television remake of the classic musical The Music Man. Her recent film credits include the romantic comedy Serendipity opposite John Cusack and Kate Beckinsale, Osmosis Jones, the animated comedy co-starring Bill Murray, and the independent feature film Wet Hot American Summer, opposite Janeane Garofalo and David Hyde-Pierce. Shannon also appeared in a cameo role opposite Tim Allen in Disney's Santa Claus 2. She portrayed Betty Lou Who in Ron Howard's highly successful How the Grinch Stole Christmas and the title role in the comedy Superstar, the film about her SNL character Mary Katherine Gallagher. Her additional credits include A Night at the Roxbury, Analyze This opposite Billy Crystal, Todd Solondz's Happiness and Never Been Kissed opposite Drew Barrymore. Prior to joining SNL, Shannon appeared at The Up Front Comedy Theater in Los Angeles in The Rob and Molly Show, an improvisational show which she co-wrote with Rob Muir. Her television credits include multiple guest appearances on Will & Grace and Sex and the City.

JACQUELINE WILLIAMS is a Chicago-based alumna of The Theatre School (formerly the Goodman School of Drama) who has made a career on stage, in film, television and radio. She has received many awards and nominations, including The American Arts Council/Dewers Profile Performance Art, Joseph Jefferson, Black Theatre Alliance, Connecticut Critics Circle, Helen Hayes and Drama Desk awards. She has been a recurring stalwart in The Vagina Monologues and is proud to be part of a theatrical force that has raised more than 7 million dollars in the fight to stop violence and injustice against women and girls. Her many productions at the Goodman Theatre include The Amen Corner, Oo-Bla-Dee, Blues for an Alabama Sky, Richard II, The Skin of Our Teeth (with Marcia Gaye Harden), Gertrude Stein: Each One as She May, ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore (with Don Cheadle and Joan Cusack, directed by JoAnn Akalaitis) and I Am a Man, among others. Other credits include No Place Like Home, Waiting to Be Invited (with Irma P. Hall), The Colored Museum (directed by Moscow Art Theatre’s Mikhail Mokejev), Born in the R.S.A. (directed by the late Barney Simon of the Market Theatre of Johannesburg), The Odd Couple (with Barbara Eden) and The Taming of the Shrew. Williams has worked extensively throughout the country in regional theatre and her internationally acclaimed production of From the Mississippi Delta still resonates years after its two-and-a-half-year run Off-Broadway. Other Off-Broadway credits include The Talented Tenth at Manhattan Theatre Club and the Goodman's production of Mill Fire at the Women's Project. Williams performed in Horton Foote's Tony Award-nominated play The Young Man From Atlanta (with Rip Torn and Shirley Knight) at the Goodman and on Broadway. Her television credits include the CBS series Turks, the NBC miniseries A Will of Their Own, Early Edition, Hardball, White Boyz and the yet-to-be-released Bad Meat.

Since the inception of the Awards Gala in 1989, 80 honorees have received The Theatre School’s Award for Excellence in the Arts, including F. Murray Abraham, Gillian Anderson, Blythe Danner, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Franz, John Guare, Julie Harris, Gregory Hines, Celeste Holm, Bonnie Hunt, Martin Landau, Patti LuPone, John Mahoney, Michael Maggio, Karl Malden, Joe Mantegna, Marlee Matlin, Rita Moreno, Edward James Olmos, Estelle Parsons, Elizabeth Perkins, David Hyde Pierce, Aidan Quinn, John C. Reilly, William Warfield, Wendy Wasserstein, George Wendt and Jane Wyman. A complete list of past honorees may be viewed at http://theatreschool.depaul.edu/programs/gala.htm.

The Theatre School, DePaul University, educates, trains and inspires students of theatre in a conservatory setting that is rigorous, disciplined, culturally diverse and that strives for the highest level of professional skill and artistry. A commitment to diversity and equality in education is central to the school’s mission. As an integral part of the training, The Theatre School produces public programs and performances from a wide repertoire of classic, contemporary and original plays that challenge, entertain and stimulate the imagination. The school seeks to enhance the intellectual and cultural life of the university community, the city and the profession.