FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 11, 2025

FIASCO THEATER to host annual gala December 4th, 2025 at The Dumbo Loft: 
'Tis a Gift: A Very Merry Fiasco Fundraiser

New York, NY – On Thursday December 4th, starting at 6pm at The Dumbo Lofts, Fiasco Theater (Co-Artistic Directors Jessie Austrian, Noah Brody, Ben Steinfeld and Managing Producer Bonnie J. Evans) will host their annual gala: 'Tis a Gift: A Very Merry Fiasco Fundraiser.

A ticket includes drinks, dinner, dessert, and an opportunity to meet and mingle with supporters, artists, and community members. In addition to party games and raffles, the intimate evening will feature guest performances from Tony winner Miriam Silverman, The Saunders Collective, musical writing team Noisemaker, and the Fiasco Acting Company. 

Tickets start at $100, with an artist rate option of $50, and can be purchased here.

The evening aims to raise money for Fiasco’s programs and productions, including their affordable training programs, full productions, works in development and access initiatives. 

Performers:

Miriam Silverman:
Miriam Silverman won the 2023 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play for her critically-acclaimed performance as Mavis in the Broadway production of THE SIGN IN SIDNEY BRUSTEIN'S WINDOW, as well as winning the 2023 Drama Desk Award for the same role at BAM. TV/ Film includes YOUR FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORS (Apple+), BREAKING, THE NIGHT AGENT (Netflix), DEAD RINGERS (Amazon), THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL (Amazon), FLEISHMAN IS IN TROUBLE (Hulu),THE BLACKLIST (NBC), and BLUE BLOODS (CBS). Upcoming: VLADIMIR (Netflix), LANDMAN (Paramount+), the independent feature MOTHERLAND, opposite Holland Taylor and SACRIFICE from Will Arbery and Romain Gavras.  Other Broadway / Theater includes JUNK (LCT), ANATOMY OF A SUICIDE (ATLANTIC), YOU GOT OLDER (Page73),  EVERYTHING YOU TOUCH (Rattlestick),FINKS (EST- Drama Desk Nomination),  and PLANO, FIND ME HERE and DEEP BLUE SOUND with Clubbed Thumb where she is an Affiliated Artist. Miriam holds a BA from Brown and an MFA from Brown/Trinity.

The Saunders Collective:
The Saunders Collective is a family of NYC-based theater-makers including siblings Heath, Trent, Alanna and Claire Saunders – all of whom are musical theater performers and writers working individually at the top of their field. The Collective is the space they have created to work as a professional ensemble, in a field that often fails to imagine the possibilities for them to exist together in the same show. Claire is a graduate of the prestigious musical theater program at Carnegie Mellon. Heath, Trent and Alanna are University of Miami alumni whose shared experiences include trio performances on CBS’s The X Factor as well as the cabaret “One Black Man” featuring songs written for black characters arranged as duets by Heath and Trent. They re-formed as the Collective in 2015 with the mission to tell theatrical stories that stretch the imagination, build empathy, and encourage community across differences.

Noisemaker:
Scott Gilmour & Claire McKenzie are the award-winning musical theatre writing partnership also known as Noisemaker. Originally from Glasgow, Scotland, the pair formed their company in 2012 to begin creating stories that bring folk together through music, song, humour and heart. Since they began working together they’ve written over 20 original works including: CEILIDH (Barbara Whitman Productions/ Grove Entertainment); Hi, My Name Is Ben (Goodspeed Musicals/NAMT); SCOTS (Edinburgh Fringe/54 Below/National Tour ’26); Oor Wullie ( Selladoor Worldwide/Dundee Rep); Atlantic: A Scottish Story (Edinburgh Fringe/Big Light Podcast Series - Winner of British Podcast Award); My Left/Right Foot (National Theatre of Scotland/Birds of Paradise - Winner of Edinburgh Fringe Herald Angel); Legend Trippers (National Youth Music Theatre); The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover (Faena Theater, Miami); The Girl Who (AMTP/ Edinburgh Fringe); Little Red and the Wolf; The Snow Queen and A Christmas Carol (Dundee Rep). The pair are alumni of Johnny Mercer Writers Grove, The American Musical Theatre Project at Northwestern University, Walt Disney Imagineering/NMI New Voices Award and are cultural ambassadors for The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the American Scottish Foundation. 

Upcoming projects include: The Snow Goose, Noisemaker’s adaptation of Paul Gallico’s novella, will receive it’s world premiere next year at Goodspeed Musicals; Big Noise, a new commission by The National Theatre of Scotland; the UK premiere of CEILIDH; and a brand new collaboration between Fiasco Theater and Signature Theatre, VA, called PORTER.

FIASCO:
FIASCO THEATER is an ensemble theater company based in NYC that offers dynamic, joyful, actor-driven productions, and the highest quality, accessible, affordable training for emerging artists. Fiasco produces annual programming by developing shows through the internal development series, GroundWork, as well as year-round readings and workshops that are open to the public; including the workshop production initiative Without a Net. Additionally they partner with other theaters who present and/or co-produce Fiasco productions. Presenting partner theaters in NYC have included Classic Stage Co, TFANA, New Victory and Roundabout Theatre, where Fiasco serves as the first-ever Company in Residence. Fiasco training programs offer emerging artists the chance to train full-time in Fiasco’s joy-based, actor-centered approach to theater-making. Fiasco’s first production, Cymbeline, staged in a downtown NYC loft in 2009, was a run-away success; it was presented Off-Broadway twice, for nearly 200 performances and honored with the 2012 Off-Broadway Alliance Award for best revival. Fiasco’s Into the Woods garnered another Off-Broadway Alliance Award, as well as the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Revival. The national tour of Into the Woods received the Helen Hayes Award for Outstanding Visiting Production and LA Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Direction and Best Ensemble. Cymbeline, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Measure for Measure and Into the Woods have all been New York Times Critics’ Picks. Merrily We Roll Along (2019), The Knight of the Burning Pestle (2023) and Pericles (2024) were collectively nominated for four Drama Desk awards, two Off-Broadway Alliance awards, and a Lortel Award. Fiasco’s work has been experienced by over 200,000 audience members in New York City and around the country. The New York Times has called Fiasco “a force to reckon with in the American theater.” In addition to Roundabout, they are currently in residence with NYU-Gallatin, have been commissioned by the Old Globe and created a podcast of Aditi Brennan Kapil’s Measure for Measure in collaboration with Next Chapter Podcasts. They have been in residence with TFANA, New Vic Labworks, Duke University, Marquette University and LSU. They have developed work with the Sundance Theatre Lab, the Orchard Project, SPACE on Ryder Farm and the Shakespeare Society.