The official color for Saturday Night Alive was emerald green, chosen because emeralds are the gemstone associated with a 35th anniversary and this was SNA’s 35th year.
A bold hue, it was beautifully executed in the invitations, auction catalog, commemorative program, gift bags and décor.
But getting right to the nitty-gritty, when the last of the 800 guests departed the on March 7, the fundraiser’s leadership team — Susan Stiff, Roger Hutson, Hassan Salem and Claudia Miller — were pretty excited about a another shade of green.
Saturday Night Alive 35, you see, had a record net of $907,000, thanks to months of hard work put in by event chair Stiff; corporate co-chairs Hutson and Salem; auction coordinator Miller; and a committee of about 50 whose members included Sharon Whiton Gelt, Kay Burke, Sarah Sena, Valerie Alford, Pam Sletten, Faye Washington, Lois Paul, Alice Foster, Lynn Wong, Steve Farber and Brett Dolan.
The money goes to the DCPA’s theater education programs that introduce an estimated 67,000 children in 47 schools per year to the performing arts.
“I have never seen such support for an event as I have for this one,” Stiff said. “Everyone did their job, and did it well.”
As has been tradition since the first Saturday Night Alive was held in 1981, guests assembled in the lobby of the Helen Bonfils Theatre Complex at 6 p.m. to enjoy cocktails, hors d’oeuvres, silent-auction bidding and surprise box sales.
Two hours later everyone headed upstairs to the Seawell Grand Ballroom for a beef tenderloin dinner from Gold Sponsor Epicurean Catering served with Clos du Bois wines at tables decorated by Lilli Black’s floral company, .
Then it was down to the Space Theatre for Broadway standards and pop tunes performed by Jessie Mueller and Jarrod Spector, stars of “Beautiful: The Carole King Musical.” The Tony Award-winning show is scheduled to play Denver in July 2016.
The DCPA’s founder, Donald Seawell, along with trustee Judi Wolf and her husband, Marvin, were among those joining director Noreen Salah Burpee and her family at the Salah Foundation table; the foundation was a Platinum Sponsor of SNA, as was United Airlines.
Dan Ritchie, who is retiring as the DCPA’s chairman, said he was leaving on a high note, having just learned that the DCPA is now the nation’s largest nonprofit theater group, based on number of tickets sold.
Which of course was music to the ears of such DCPA trustees in the crowd as Patricia Baca, Joy Burns, Isabelle Clark, Navin Dimond, Margot Gilbert Frank, Leo Kiely, Trish Nagel, Rick Sapkin, Martin Semple, Dean Singleton, Bob Slosky and Tina Walls.
CBS4 news anchor Jim Benemann was master of ceremonies for the dinner portion of the evening and was accompanied by his fiancee, Karen McArdle. Others enjoying the festivities were U.S. Rep. Mike Coffman; Hilja Herfurth; Kirk and Samantha Scheitler with their daughter, Anna; Roxanne and Fred Vierra; Carol Roger; Leslie and Howard Farkas; Eva and Dr. Dennis Lanier; Steve Edmonds and Charles Varin; Kathie and Keith Finger; and Nancy and Robert Hemming from Always Best Care Senior Services.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@ denverpost.com or twitter.com/joannedavidson
Online: More pictures from this event denverpost.com/seengallery
