The Summer Institute 30th Anniversary Benefit Celebration at Indochine
March 29, 2026 1:30 pm
Indochine, 430 Lafayette St, New York, NY 10003
Purchase Tickets or Donate Please join us in celebrating 30 years of The Wooster Group Summer Institute.
Paul Lazar
Natsuko Ohama
Kaneza Schaal
What: 30th Anniversary Benefit for The Wooster Group Summer Institute
When: Sunday, March 29, 2026, 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Where: Indochine, 430 Lafayette Street, NYC
Who: A free, three-week performing-arts program for NYC public-school students ages 12–18
Why: To keep the Summer Institute tuition-free for all participants
$5,000
Event Sponsor
$2,500
Patron
$1,000
Benefactor
$500
Supporter
$250
Artist Ticket – recognized as contributor
May be purchased by an artist, or by a supporter to sponsor an artist’s attendance.
Steve Cuiffo and Eleanor Hutchins
James Dennin and Heather Brennan
Vallejo Gantner
David Gilbert and Hara Woltz
Mike Iveson
Robin Jenkins and Lisa Marie Simonetti
Mark Russell and Jennifer Goodale
Scott Shepherd
Kathy and Allan Weiser
Founded in 1996 as an educational offshoot of The Wooster Group, the Summer Institute invites students to discover new dimensions of themselves through joyful, rigorous exploration of live performance. Each summer, we serve approximately 20 students and 4–5 paid interns. More than half of participating families receive government assistance, and students come from all five boroughs, representing a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The 30th Anniversary Benefit is both a celebration and a fundraiser. Proceeds directly support the Institute’s continued ability to remain tuition-free for students, ensuring that access is never determined by a family’s ability to pay.
The afternoon will be convivial and informal, with food, conversation, and community, as we honor three teaching artists whose work has been foundational in shaping the spirit, pedagogy and ethos of the Summer Institute.
Paul Lazar is a founding member, along with Annie-B Parson, of Big Dance Theater. He has co-directed and acted in works for Big Dance since 1991, including commissions from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Walker Art Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Classic Stage Company and Japan Society. Paul directed Jerry Lieblich’s Barbarians at La Mama (2025 Obie Award), Christina Masciotti’s Social Security at the Bushwick Starr, Elephant Room at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Young Jean Lee’s Obie Award-winning We’re Gonna Die at Joe’s Pub, as well as a version of We’re Gonna Die featuring Dvid Byrne at the Meltdown Festival in London. Paul directed Bodycast: An Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra, featuring Frances McDormand, for the BAM Next Wave Festival, and Major Bang for the Foundry Theatre at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Paul performed in The Wooster Group’s Brace Up!, The Hairy Ape, and North Atlantic. Paul’s one-person performance, Cage Shuffle premiered at the American Realness Festival in 2017 and continues to tour the United States and Europe. Paul is currently creating a new piece with text from Anne Carson, tentatively entitled “Snowstanding/Waterwalking.” It will premiere at The Chocolate Factory this coming September. Paul has acted in over 40 feature films, including Snowpiercer, The Host, Mickey Blue Eyes, Silence of the Lambs, Beloved, Lorenzo’s Oil, and Philadelphia. Recent stage acting credits include Big Dance Theater’s The Road Awaits Us at The Skirball Center; Macbeth on Broadway; and Irene Fornes’s Mud at Mabou Mines, directed by Joanne Akalaitis.
Natsuko Ohama is one of the premier voice teachers in the country. Trained under Kristin Linklater, Peter Kass, Trish Arnold, and Joseph Chaikin at the Working Theatre in New York, she is a founding member and permanent faculty member of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. She has taught at numerous institutions including New York University, CalArts, Columbia University, the Sundance Institute, the New Actors Workshop, the Stratford Festival (Ontario), and served as Director of Training at the National Arts Centre of Canada, with international teaching in Turkey, Italy, China, and at the Linklater Voice Centre in Scotland. A Drama Desk–nominated actress, she has portrayed roles ranging from Juliet to Lady Macbeth, and from Hamlet to Prospero (Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company), as well as Snow in Midsummer at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and her favorite role, Winnie in Happy Days at Boston Court. She has appeared in Out of Time at The Public Theater and Deep Blue Sound with Clubbed Thumb in New York, and was recently seen in Disney/Marvel’s Wonder Man opposite Sir Ben Kingsley. She has received the Playwrights’ Arena Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theatre Award and heads the voice progression for the MFA Acting Program at USC. Kudos to Kate Valk and Ariana Smart Truman – and, as always, to Kristin.
Kaneza Schaal works in theater, opera and film. Her work has shown in divergent contexts from NYC galleries, to courtyards in Vietnam, to East African amphitheaters, to European opera houses, to USA public housing, to rural auditoriums in the UAE. By creating art that speaks many formal, cultural, historical, aesthetic, and experiential languages she seeks expansive audiences. Schaal received a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship, Herb Alpert Award in Theatre, United States Artists Fellowship, SOROS Art Migration and Public Space Fellowship, Ford Foundation Art For Justice Bearing Witness Award, and she directed the 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar. Schaal is an Arts-in-Education advocate, most recently she taught a course on theater and social practice at Harvard University and served as the Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theatre at Fordham University. In her commitment to artist centered institutions, Schaal co-founded Gihanga Institute for Contemporary Art in Kigali Rwanda; served on the board of PS122/PSNY; Leadership Council for Creatives Rebuilt New York artists employment and guaranteed income initiative; Artistic Leadership Committee for New Victory Theater; and was co-Director of Under The Radar Festival, NYC from 2024-2026.
Madeleine Grynsztejn and Tom Shapiro
Tom and Jennifer Jacoby
Noni Pratt
Erica Weissman
Amy Huggans and Jim Findlay
Aran Maree
Weinberg Family Fund
David Zinn
All ticket purchases and contributions directly support the Summer Institute, a program of The Wooster Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Payment must be received by March 25.
Honoring
Paul Lazar
Natsuko Ohama
Kaneza Schaal
At a Glance
What: 30th Anniversary Benefit for The Wooster Group Summer Institute
When: Sunday, March 29, 2026, 1:30 PM to 4:00 PM
Where: Indochine, 430 Lafayette Street, NYC
Who: A free, three-week performing-arts program for NYC public-school students ages 12–18
Why: To keep the Summer Institute tuition-free for all participants
Ticket & Support Levels
$5,000
Event Sponsor
$2,500
Patron
$1,000
Benefactor
$500
Supporter
$250
Artist Ticket – recognized as contributor
May be purchased by an artist, or by a supporter to sponsor an artist’s attendance.
Event Sponsor
Select Equity Group FoundationInvitation Committee
Larry Casalino and Margaret SloanSteve Cuiffo and Eleanor Hutchins
James Dennin and Heather Brennan
Vallejo Gantner
David Gilbert and Hara Woltz
Mike Iveson
Robin Jenkins and Lisa Marie Simonetti
Mark Russell and Jennifer Goodale
Scott Shepherd
Kathy and Allan Weiser
Founded in 1996 as an educational offshoot of The Wooster Group, the Summer Institute invites students to discover new dimensions of themselves through joyful, rigorous exploration of live performance. Each summer, we serve approximately 20 students and 4–5 paid interns. More than half of participating families receive government assistance, and students come from all five boroughs, representing a wide range of cultural and linguistic backgrounds.
The 30th Anniversary Benefit is both a celebration and a fundraiser. Proceeds directly support the Institute’s continued ability to remain tuition-free for students, ensuring that access is never determined by a family’s ability to pay.
The afternoon will be convivial and informal, with food, conversation, and community, as we honor three teaching artists whose work has been foundational in shaping the spirit, pedagogy and ethos of the Summer Institute.
HONOREE BIOGRAPHIES
Paul Lazar is a founding member, along with Annie-B Parson, of Big Dance Theater. He has co-directed and acted in works for Big Dance since 1991, including commissions from the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Walker Art Center, Dance Theater Workshop, Classic Stage Company and Japan Society. Paul directed Jerry Lieblich’s Barbarians at La Mama (2025 Obie Award), Christina Masciotti’s Social Security at the Bushwick Starr, Elephant Room at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Young Jean Lee’s Obie Award-winning We’re Gonna Die at Joe’s Pub, as well as a version of We’re Gonna Die featuring Dvid Byrne at the Meltdown Festival in London. Paul directed Bodycast: An Artist Lecture by Suzanne Bocanegra, featuring Frances McDormand, for the BAM Next Wave Festival, and Major Bang for the Foundry Theatre at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Paul performed in The Wooster Group’s Brace Up!, The Hairy Ape, and North Atlantic. Paul’s one-person performance, Cage Shuffle premiered at the American Realness Festival in 2017 and continues to tour the United States and Europe. Paul is currently creating a new piece with text from Anne Carson, tentatively entitled “Snowstanding/Waterwalking.” It will premiere at The Chocolate Factory this coming September. Paul has acted in over 40 feature films, including Snowpiercer, The Host, Mickey Blue Eyes, Silence of the Lambs, Beloved, Lorenzo’s Oil, and Philadelphia. Recent stage acting credits include Big Dance Theater’s The Road Awaits Us at The Skirball Center; Macbeth on Broadway; and Irene Fornes’s Mud at Mabou Mines, directed by Joanne Akalaitis.
Natsuko Ohama is one of the premier voice teachers in the country. Trained under Kristin Linklater, Peter Kass, Trish Arnold, and Joseph Chaikin at the Working Theatre in New York, she is a founding member and permanent faculty member of Shakespeare & Company in Lenox, Massachusetts. She has taught at numerous institutions including New York University, CalArts, Columbia University, the Sundance Institute, the New Actors Workshop, the Stratford Festival (Ontario), and served as Director of Training at the National Arts Centre of Canada, with international teaching in Turkey, Italy, China, and at the Linklater Voice Centre in Scotland. A Drama Desk–nominated actress, she has portrayed roles ranging from Juliet to Lady Macbeth, and from Hamlet to Prospero (Los Angeles Women’s Shakespeare Company), as well as Snow in Midsummer at Oregon Shakespeare Festival and her favorite role, Winnie in Happy Days at Boston Court. She has appeared in Out of Time at The Public Theater and Deep Blue Sound with Clubbed Thumb in New York, and was recently seen in Disney/Marvel’s Wonder Man opposite Sir Ben Kingsley. She has received the Playwrights’ Arena Outstanding Contribution to Los Angeles Theatre Award and heads the voice progression for the MFA Acting Program at USC. Kudos to Kate Valk and Ariana Smart Truman – and, as always, to Kristin.
Kaneza Schaal works in theater, opera and film. Her work has shown in divergent contexts from NYC galleries, to courtyards in Vietnam, to East African amphitheaters, to European opera houses, to USA public housing, to rural auditoriums in the UAE. By creating art that speaks many formal, cultural, historical, aesthetic, and experiential languages she seeks expansive audiences. Schaal received a 2021 Guggenheim Fellowship, Herb Alpert Award in Theatre, United States Artists Fellowship, SOROS Art Migration and Public Space Fellowship, Ford Foundation Art For Justice Bearing Witness Award, and she directed the 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning opera Omar. Schaal is an Arts-in-Education advocate, most recently she taught a course on theater and social practice at Harvard University and served as the Denzel Washington Endowed Chair in Theatre at Fordham University. In her commitment to artist centered institutions, Schaal co-founded Gihanga Institute for Contemporary Art in Kigali Rwanda; served on the board of PS122/PSNY; Leadership Council for Creatives Rebuilt New York artists employment and guaranteed income initiative; Artistic Leadership Committee for New Victory Theater; and was co-Director of Under The Radar Festival, NYC from 2024-2026.
Patrons
AnonymousBenefactors
Jerry Bernstein and Ann BerlsteinMadeleine Grynsztejn and Tom Shapiro
Tom and Jennifer Jacoby
Noni Pratt
Supporters
Dolores BuddErica Weissman
Contributors
Sandra GarnerAmy Huggans and Jim Findlay
Aran Maree
Weinberg Family Fund
David Zinn
All ticket purchases and contributions directly support the Summer Institute, a program of The Wooster Group, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit.
Payment must be received by March 25.