Magical gala for Sam Shepard awards
The people who attended the annual Magic Theatre fundraiser gala on Friday, March 9, were a little bit different from the people who attend most other formal galas. The patrons were loud and casual, laid-back and drenched in individual style. More than one gala guest was overheard telling jokes and stories that included not only punch lines but also wacky voices. And perhaps most noticeably, Magic Theatre gala patrons enthusiastically and theatrically participated in the night’s cheeky masquerade theme.
Managing Director Jaimie Mayer watched as her guests arrived at the Julia Morgan Ballroom, a historic, lush and wood-paneled event space 15 floors above downtown San Francisco. Mayer couldn’t believe how many people wore masks, costumes or some variation thereof.
“I thought maybe 5 percent
would wear a mask,” Mayer said and grinned as about half of the night’s 150 guests greeted one other in feathered masks or theatrical costumes. From the outset, the night was a hit. Nothing says “I’m ready to have a good time” like a sparkly dress and a bedazzled mask.
Architect and Magic board member John Marx happily dressed up for the event, donning a feathered owl mask and a custom fur-trimmed jacket designed to be an exact replica of one Jimi Hendrix wore in the 1960s. Marx was one of the night’s two recipients of the inaugural Sam Shepard Legacy Award, and as a 35-year fan and patron of the theater, was especially honored to be so.
After all, Shepard is a touchstone for the Magic. The late playwright and actor forged his early career as a Magic playwright-in-residence. While there, Shepard wrote some of his seminal works, like “True West” and “Fool for Love.” To the 51-year-old San Francisco theater company, an award named after Sam Shepard is the highest honor they could ever bestow.
“Tonight is especially poignant,” said Marx, “because I started coming to the Magic in 1983 and I saw ‘Fool for Love’ with Ed Harris and Kathy Baker — and Sam Shepard directed it!”
Before an elegant sit-down dinner, guests knocked back cocktails named after former Magic production characters, and bid on artsy silent auction items like designer jewelry or tickets to a dress rehearsal of the Tony Awards. The atmosphere, even in the sophisticated and luxurious Morgan Ballroom, was familial and intimate, more in line with a small beloved theater event than a big city arts organization gala. But at its heart, despite its many awards and its staying power and its repeat performers like Harris and Taylor Mac, the Magic still regards itself as a hometown theater, rolling up its collective shirtsleeves to put on brandnew and often risky plays.
“What I love about the Magic,” said Marx, having pushed his owl mask over his long tufts of white hair, “is that it’s fiercely independent, it’s uncompromising.”
The night’s other honoree was Toni Rembe, a former Magic board member and a longtime supporter of theater. “My love for theater,” gushed Rembe, “is like my love for breathing, almost.”
Following a hearty dinner in the ballroom, guests were treated to a Shepard tribute performance starring five Magic Theatre actors and directed by Artistic Director Loretta Greco. The tribute was a stirring assemblage of short selections from Shepard plays and letters. Rather thrillingly, several of the actors performed from podiums set up among the dinner tables. A black-and-white photo of a smoldering young Shepard was projected onto a screen above the stage, as if the playwright, who died last year, was looking down on the proceedings with approval.
And Greco didn’t just direct the show. She cheerily made the rounds from table to table, greeting her guests and answering questions about next month’s debut of playwright Jessica Hagedorn’s “The Gangster of Love,” a play that Greco is directing.
In addition to honoring Rembe and Marx, the gala served as a vital fundraiser for the Magic. Guests forked over upward of $500 to attend — and then they kept giving. One of the night’s most popular live auction items was two tickets to Burning Man, the Nevada desert community and art event that’s a personal favorite of Marx’s. The Burning Man bidding war was so exciting, it might just become a future production at the Magic.
As the night wound down, guests discarded their masks and kicked back with the stellar s’mores-style dessert. Magic Theater supporter Jennifer Raiser placed her intricate gold masquerade mask on a dinner table and looked around the ballroom, still buzzing with laughter and a little liquor.
“I mean, look at these wonderful people,” smiled Raiser. “How can you not love the Magic?”