Thank you to the more than 200 guests, sponsors, contributors, and donors to our Jack Jones Children’s Literacy Gala this past Saturday night!

We are deeply appreciative to the Jones family for being our title sponsor once again, and we loved having Gossett Porsche (and their ride in front!) as our first Corporate Performance Sponsor.

What a fun celebration, and you made it successful. We raised $180,000 for our Education and Outreach Programs in Shelby County for the coming year! That’s $15,000 more than our goal. This success allowed us to announce Saturday night that our upcoming 16th performance season will include:

• our 7th Annual Free Shout-Out Shakespeare Series of The Tempest in October;
• the launch of our Classical Theatre Apprentice Program;
• Hamlet on the Tabor Stage next April;
• and the expansion of our Romeo and Juliet Project, Macbeth Initiative, Feast of Crispian-South Program, and Juvenile Justice Program.

We also mentioned works by Oscar Wilde, Tennessee Williams, and Barbara Kingsolver that we hope to be able to stage when we secure the title sponsors.

The lovely Spring evening was perfect for revealing the renewal of our Shakespeare Garden, wining and dining indoors and out, and enjoying scenes from Cyrano de Bergerac, Hamlet, Henry IV part one, The Taming of the Shrew, Much Ado About Nothing, and As You Like It — all favorite plays chosen by our inaugural Teacher of the Year, Hutchison School’s Christina Wellford-Scott.

The winner of our Broadway Trip for Two Drawing was Lisa Fields, and dozens in the capacity crowd went home with auction prizes ranging from a year’s worth of ice cream to Grizzlies’ signed/framed jerseys.
When we speak about the work we do in our schools every day, in our detention centers, and in the Memphis V.A. Hospital in the coming year, please know it is made possible by YOUR generosity here at our Gala. 

Please take a moment to see all of our sponsors below, and please join us in thanking them!

Title Sponsor:
The Family of Jack Jones

Corporate Performance Sponsor:
Gossett Porsche

Teacher of the Year Award Sponsor:
Deborah Dunklin Tipton

Live Auction Sponsor:
Nancy R. Copp

Buffet Sponsor:
Our Board of Directors

Broadway Trip for Two Drawing Sponsors:
Pat and Thane Smith

Open Bar Sponsors:
Susan and RJ Moskop

Platinum Sponsors:
Campbell Clinic
Kathryn and Jim Gilliland
Anne and Michael Keeney
Pat and Ernest Kelly
Dorothy O. Kirsch
Sims Family Charitable Trust
Irene and Fred Smith
Pat and Thane Smith
Camp Tabor
Jeannie and Owen Tabor, Jr.
Deborah Dunklin Tipton

Gold Sponsors:
Doug and Heather Baldwin
E. Frank and Brenda Bluestein
Louise and Jim Calandruccio
Nancy R. Copp
Elise and Richard Jordan
W. Reid and Chris Sanders (in honor of Nancy Copp and Christina Wellford-Scott)
Hon. Sheryl Lipman and Dale Anderson
Cristie and Hank Pellegrin

Silver Sponsors:
Rhea Clift
Alicia and Stephen Davis
Melanie Stovall Murry
Pete Pranica
Square Beans

Donors:
Jack and Kathy Blair
Blanche Deaderick (in memory of her husband Mike Deaderick)
Rose M. Johnston
John McCarroll
Scott Lewis
Bill and Dan McKelvy