Award-winning Porchlight Music Theatre announces today that multi-award winner and star of stage, screen and television Raúl Esparza is the 2024 ICON Award recipient. Mr. Esparza is scheduled to attend the ICONS Gala, Sunday, Sept. 22 at 11 a.m. at The Ritz-Carlton Chicago at Water Tower Place, 160 E. Pearson St. The ICONS Gala supports Porchlight’s mission of celebrating the past, present and future of music theatre through its artistic, educational and community programming. Single tickets are $350 and $500 and table reservations are now on sale at PorchlightMusicTheatre.org. Sponsorship opportunities are also available. For more information about sponsorship opportunities, please contact Development Director Pam Klier at Pam@PorchlightMusicTheatre.org.
Porchlight launches the 30th season with its annual fundraiser and includes a full slate of entertainment with an interview between Mr. Esparza and WGN’s Paul Lisnek and performances celebrating Mr. Esparza’s stage career including numbers from tick, tick … BOOM!, Company, Sunday in the Park with George and others, directed by Artistic Director Michael Weber. The ICONS Gala also includes highlights from its educational and community initiatives, the presentation of the 2024 Luminary Award to longtime supporters Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro, an exciting auction and a deluxe brunch buffet with mimosas and wine sponsored by Uvae Kitchen and Wine Bar.
The ICONS Gala was launched in 2012 and many icons have been honored throughout its history including Hal Prince, Elaine Stritch, Bob Fosse, Ethel Merman and Fred Astaire among others. In 2020, the ICON Award was established to celebrate a notable artist who has made an indelible contribution to American entertainment and has since been presented to living legends Joel Grey, Chita Rivera, Donna McKechnie and Ben Vereen.
The Luminary Award is bestowed annually at the ICONS Gala and this year it is presented to longtime supporters Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro. This honor recognizes an outstanding individual, family or family foundation with a history of philanthropic and volunteer leadership on behalf of Porchlight and music theatre in Chicago, and whose generosity inspires others to philanthropic action. Past honorees include Rick and Deann Bayless and the Bayless Family Foundation, Elaine Cohen and Arlen D. Rubin, Jim Jensen, Jean Klingenstein, Dan Ratner and the Ratner Family Foundation and Paul M. Lisnek.
ABOUT RAÚL ESPARZA, 2024 ICON AWARD RECIPIENT
Raúl Esparza is an American stage and screen actor, recently starring as “Galileo Galilei” in Galileo in the dazzling world-premiere musical at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, helmed by Tony Award-winner Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening, American Idiot) and written by two-time Emmy winner Danny Strong (Dopesick, Empire, The Butler). A four-time Tony Award-nominee and three-time Drama Desk Award winner, his Broadway and notable theater credits include Company, tick, tick... BOOM!, Taboo, The Homecoming, Speed-the-Plow, Leap of Faith, Arcadia, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Cabaret, The Rocky Horror Show, Oliver!, Seared, Road Show, The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui, Cymbeline, The Cradle Will Rock, Twelfth Night, The Normal Heart, Comedians, Merrily We Roll Along, Sunday in the Park with George, Evita, The Waves and Chess. On TV and film, Esparza is best known for his work on “Law & Order: Special Victims Unit,” “Hannibal,” “Murder at the End of the World,” “Candy,” “Dopesick,” “The Path,” “BoJack Horseman,” “Pushing Daisies,” “Ferdinand,” “My Soul to Take” and Sidney Lumet’s “Find Me Guilty.”
In the immediate wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic, Esparza conceived of, executive produced and performed in the online concert event “Take Me to the World: A Sondheim 90th Birthday Celebration.” The concert received a special Drama League Award and is now preserved in the Library of Congress.
ABOUT PORCHLIGHT MUSIC THEATRE
Porchlight Music Theatre, entering its 30th season, is the award-winning center for music theatre in Chicago. Through live performance, youth education and community outreach, we impact thousands of lives each season, bringing the magic of musicals to our theatre home at the Ruth Page Center for the Arts in the Gold Coast and to neighborhoods across the city. Porchlight has built a national reputation for boldly reimagining classic musicals, supporting new works and young performers, and showcasing Chicago’s most notable music theatre artists, all through the intimate and powerful theatrical lens of the “Chicago Style.”
Porchlight's history over nearly three decades includes more than 70 mainstage works with 15 Chicago premieres and five world premieres.
Porchlight's education and outreach programs serve schools, youth of all ages and skill levels and community organizations. Porchlight annually awards dozens of full scholarships and hundreds of free tickets to ensure accessibility and real engagement with this uniquely American art form.
The company’s many honors include 178 Joseph Jefferson Award (Jeff) nominations and 49 Jeff awards, as well as 44 Black Theatre Alliance (BTA) nominations and 15 BTA awards. In 2019, Porchlight graduated to the Large Theatre tier of the Equity Jeff Awards and has been honored with seven awards in this tier to date including Best Ensemble for Duke Ellington’s Sophisticated Ladies (2019) and Best Production-Revue for Blues in the Night (2022).
Through the global pandemic, Porchlight emerged as one of Chicago’s leaders in virtual programming, quickly launching a host of free offerings like Sondheim @ 90 Roundtables, Movie Musical Mondays, Porchlight by Request: Command Performances and WPMT: Classic Musicals from the Golden Age of Radio. In 2021, Porchlight launched its annual summer series, Broadway in your Backyard, performing at parks and venues throughout the city.
The 30th Anniversary Season is Sponsored By Elaine Cohen & Arlen Rubin and Brenda & Jim Grusecki.
Porchlight Music Theatre is partially supported by generous contributions from Actors’ Equity Foundation; Allstate; Comcast/Xfinity; Cliff Dwellers Arts Foundation; Free for All; Glimpse Vision; James P. and Brenda S. Grusecki Family Foundation; Hearty Boys; the Pritzker Traubert Foundation; Ryan and Spaeth, Inc.; Daniel and Genevieve Ratner Foundation; The Saints; Dr. Scholl Foundation; Service Club of Chicago and The Shubert Foundation.
The season program is partially supported by a grant from the Illinois Arts Council Agency, a state agency, and by a CityArts Grant from the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs & Special Events.
Porchlight Music Theatre wishes to thank members of the Matching Gift Corporate Program including Allstate; BDO; Google; Jackson National Life Insurance; Lloyd A. Fry Foundation and The Saints.
The 2024 ICON Award Recipient Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro. Photo by Judy Freeman.
The 2024 Luminary Award Recipients Michelle and Steve Cucchiaro. Photo by Judy Freeman.