The Board of Directors and the Executive
Director/Producer of THE COLUMN Theatre Awards announced today that
Tony Award nominee Stephanie D'Abruzzo is scheduled to appear as a
guest star at the 8th Annual THE COLUMN Theatre Awards Gala on
Monday, February 26, 2007.
Executive Director/Producer John Garcia said of Ms. D'Abruzzo's
upcoming appearance at the gala, "I can't tell you how excited we
all are of having Stephanie be one of our major guest stars. I saw
her hysterical, rip-roaring performance in AVENUE Q on Broadway that
earned her a well deserved Tony nomination. She has a gorgeous set
of vocal pipes and impeccable talent."
He went on to say, "Having her at THE COLUMN Awards is both an honor
and a joy. She has many Texas fans, so I know they must be leaping
with excitement as much as my board and I have been since she
accepted our invitation to appear."
Stephanie D'Abruzzo is best known for her Tony nominated performance
as Kate Monster and Lucy the Slut in the Tony-winning Broadway
musical Avenue Q. In addition to her Tony nomination, she also
received a Theatre World Award, and a special Outstanding Ensemble &
Puppet Artistry Award from the Outer Critics Circle, as well as a
2003 Drama Desk nomination for her work in Avenue Q's Off-Broadway
run. She has also graced the New York stage in I Love You Because,
Carnival (Encores!), Encores! 10th Anniversary Bash, and the
Theatreworks/USA limited NYC run of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and
Other Story Books.Stephanie will be making her prime-time
television debut as a special guest star in the upcoming musical
episode of the NBC series SCRUBS, which will air on January 18,
2007.
She has also performed in several readings, including the very first
presentations of Avenue Q, as well as The Cherry Sisters Revisited,
I Love You Because, Oh What a Lovely War, and The Medium at Large.
Stephanie made her Carnegie Hall debut with the New York Pops in
Skitch Henderson's New Faces of 2004, and has performed in two
star-studded concerts honoring Stephen Sondheim's 75th birthday in
2005: Children and Art: Stephen Sondheim's 75th Birthday Gala and
Stephen Sondheim's 75th: the Concert at the Hollywood Bowl.
In addition, she made her solo cabaret debut at the famed jazz club
Birdland in 2005, and has also performed at Caroline's, Town Hall,
and a number of Broadway theatres for countless benefit performances
including the Atrainplays XXI and the Actor's Fund concert of Chess.
She also made a record-breaking three guest appearances at Into the
Weeds, the Bill Weeden revue at the West Bank Cafe©.
A native of McMurray, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh), Stephanie
attended Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, where she studied
Radio/TV/Film production. While at Northwestern she received a
National College Television Award from the Academy of Television
Arts & Sciences for Freeform, her original half-hour comedy starring
puppets. After graduating in 1993, she began working with the Jim
Henson Company as a Muppet Performer. Since that time she has
puppeteered and voiced about 200 characters for film and television.
Stephanie has spent 14 seasons as a Muppet Performer on the
Emmy-winning Sesame Street, where she currently lends her talents to
Curly Bear, as well as a myriad of walk-on characters on the street,
and also brings life to countless inanimate objects on Elmo's World.
She can also be heard in many animated and Muppet inserts on Sesame
Street, from Peters Sis' Madlenka to a Kate Pierson Muppet singing
with R.E.M. on their "Furry Happy Monsters."
In addition, she performed the short-lived recurring characters of
Elizabeth and Lulu for several seasons. Stephanie also plays Uma and
Inka on the acclaimed Noggin preschool series Oobi. She has
performed on Jack's Big Music Show, Bear in the Big Blue House,
Donna's Day, The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss, Binyah Binyah!, The
Puzzle Place, the television specials Elmo's Magic Cookbook,
Elmopalooza and CinderElmo, as well as the 1999 feature film The
Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland. She can also be heard on the
Grammy-winning recordings of Elmo in Grouchland and Elmopalooza.
As a voice-only talent, her credits include Proof of Life on Earth,
Sheep in the Big City and The Book of Pooh, as well as a myriad of
promos, commercials and narration, among them several Scholastic
children's read-along books on CD, including Clifford the Big Red
Dog and Clifford the Small Red Puppy. She will also soon be heard on
the souvenir album for the Finding Nemo attraction at Walt Disney
World. Her many promotional television appearances range from
morning fare like Today, The View, and Live With Regis and Kelly to
the syndicated game show Pyramid, where as a celebrity player she
helped her contestants win $20,000.
She can also be seen expounding on pop culture in VH1's I Love the
70s Part II, I Love the 80s 3-D, and I Love the Holidays.
Stephanie D'Abruzzo has spent more than a third of her life residing
in New York City with her husband of eleven years, award-winning
producer and writer Craig Shemin.
John F. Garcia, Jr.
Executive Director/Producer, THE COLUMN Theatre Awards
Editor & Founder of THE COLUMN
Texas Regional Theater Critic for talkinbroadway.com |
