[NEohioPAL] NEWS RELEASE: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Gift Propels GLTF Campaign to Successful Conclusion

[Todd Krispinsky]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2010

TOM HANKS and RITA WILSON Give Significant Gift to
Great Lakes Theater Festival Propelling Fundraising
Campaign to Successful Conclusion
Robust community support enabled GLTF to meet the terms of The Kresge
Foundation's 
Challenge Grant garnering a $1M gift from the foundation to complete 
the Festival's fundraising campaign.

CLEVELAND, OHIO  (January 27, 2010) - Great Lakes Theater Festival
(GLTF) alumnus, and two-time Oscar award-winner, Tom Hanks and his wife
Rita Wilson made a significant gift to the Festival over the holidays
enabling the company to successfully achieve its Re-Imagine a Classic
Campaign fundraising goal.  Hanks has served as the Honorary Chair of
the fundraising efforts to 're-imagine' the Hanna Theatre as the new
home for the Festival and to establish an endowment for the classic
theater company since 2008.  Although the amount of the gift is
confidential, the donation will be used to create a permanent endowment
to support Festival artists called The Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson Fund
for Artists.

With Hanks' and Wilson's gift, GLTF successfully raised $18,293,926,
meeting the terms of its Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant.  Pending a
review of a final report, The Kresge Foundation will award the Festival
a $1M gift to complete its fundraising effort.  To date, over 700 donors
have made gifts to the campaign which was launched in the fall of 2007.

Tom Hanks encouraged Northeast Ohioans to join him in supporting the
Festival.  "Now it's your turn to give a gift to this gem of a theater
by introducing a new theater-goer to the joy of the Great Lakes Theater
Festival at the Hanna: gift some tickets to a college student, bring a
grandchild, organize a birthday trip," urged Hanks in a recent
statement.  "Buy season tickets here in your own backyard to experience
as great a moment in the theater as I've had anywhere in the world."

"We are truly grateful to our good friends Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson for
their immense generosity in helping bring our campaign to its successful
completion," said Charles Fee, GLTF's Producing Artistic Director.  "For
sharing his valuable time with us, for continually demonstrating his
commitment to the classics in Cleveland, and for his grand efforts to
help his home theater grow...all of us at the Festival and in Northeast
Ohio say thank you Tom!"  Fee continued, "I know Tom and Rita are
standing with all of us at the Festival -- from our remarkable Board of
Trustees, our visionary staff and artists, our partners at
PlayhouseSquare-to give a well deserved ovation to the generous
supporters across our region who have helped write this extraordinarily
successful chapter in Great Lakes Theater Festival's history."

Tim Pistell, GLTF's campaign chair and Executive Vice President and
Chief Financial Officer of Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin Corporation
echoed Fee's sentiments.  "What a tremendous achievement to reach our
goal and secure The Kresge Foundation's Challenge grant. The fact that
we accomplished this successful outcome in an economic downturn
exemplifies the commitment and hard work of GLTF's staff, benefactors
and audience.  This is a big win for Great Lakes Theater Festival,
PlayhouseSquare, the performing arts and the residents of Northeast
Ohio.  If you haven't yet experienced the re-imagined Hanna Theatre, we
invite you to stop by for a visit to see the most exciting new
performance space in Ohio."

Great Lakes Theater Festival opened its permanent, new home at the Hanna
Theatre, PlayhouseSquare (designed by Cleveland-based architectural firm
Westlake Reed Leskosky) on September 20, 2008.  The company will
conclude its second full season in the space this spring.

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Media Contact
Todd Krispinsky
Marketing and Public Relations Director
Great Lakes Theater Festival
1501 Euclid Avenue, Suite 300
Cleveland, Ohio  44115
(216) 241-5490 x317 / (216) 241-6315 Fax
www.greatlakestheater.org <http://www.greatlakestheater.org/> 




Great Lakes Theater Festival
The mission of Great Lakes Theater Festival, through its main stage
productions and its education programs, is to bring the pleasure, power
and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience.

Since the company's inception in 1962, programming has been rooted in
Shakespeare, but the Festival's commitment to great plays spans the
breadth of all cultures, forms of theater and time periods, and provides
for the occasional mounting of new works that complement the classical
repertoire.

Classic theater holds the capacity to illuminate truth and enduring
values, celebrate and challenge human nature and actions, revel in
eloquent language, preserve the traditions of diverse cultures and
generate communal spirit. From the historic Hanna and Ohio Theatres in
PlayhouseSquare and through community outreach, the Festival seeks to
create visceral, immediate experiences for participants, asserting
theater's historic role as a vehicle for advancing the common good, and
helping people make the most joyful and meaningful connections between
classic plays and their own lives. The Festival wishes to share such
vibrant experiences with people across all age groups, creeds, racial
and ethnic groups and socio-economic backgrounds.

The Festival is dedicated to the highest standards, to creative problem
solving and to innovation in all areas of its operation, including
theater production, education, outreach, management and governance.


The Kresge Foundation
The Kresge Foundation is a $2.8 billion private, national foundation
that seeks to influence the quality of life for future generations
through its support of nonprofit organizations in six fields of
interest: health, the environment, community development, arts and
culture, education and human services.  The foundation is headquartered
in metropolitan Detroit, in the suburb community of Troy, Michigan.  In
2008, The Kresge Foundation awarded 342 grants totaling $181 million.

Created by the personal gifts of Sebastian S. Kresge, The Kresge
Foundation supports communities by building the capacity of non-profit
organizations.  The foundation's primary grantmaking tool is its
Challenge Grant Program which is designed to assist nonprofit
organizations as they work to strengthen leadership and financial
support through challenge grants for capital projects.


PlayhouseSquare
PlayhouseSquare is a not-for-profit performing arts center whose mission
is presenting and producing a wide variety of quality performing arts,
advancing arts education and creating a theater district that is a
superior location for entertainment, business and housing, thereby
strengthening the economic vitality of the region.






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