Super Bowl Blast!
Want to party with Michael Phelps, James Brolin and Common? Here’s your VIP ticket inside one of Super Bowl 51’s best bashes, the CityBook-sponsored Big Game Big Give blowout!
Feb. 6, 2017
Laura Anne Day
During cocktail hour, a large bar designed to look like a ‘50s-era movie-theater concessions stand occupied the main reception area. On the bar were curious boxes emanating smoke; guests who dared open them were surprised with a martini!
Before dinner was served, guests heard from the man himself, Alfred Hitchcock. Well, Alley actor Chris Salazar dressed as Hitchcock welcomed guests alongside fellow company members portraying some of the filmmaker’s most beloved characters from The Birds, Psycho, and Rear Window.
The live auction was a theater-lover’s dream, boasting a walk-on roll in the Alley’s beloved Christmas Carol and a luxury trip to enjoy The Devil Wears Prada on London’s West End up for grabs! The party progressed onto the hypnotic black-and-white dancefloor — a nod to the movie Vertigo — where revelers danced until after midnight to The Big Beyond.
Alley Theatre stages Hitchcock’s Dial M for Murder this summer as part of its Summer Chills programming.
Dean Gladden, Roger & Connie Plank, Angela & Craig Jarchow, Rob Melrose
Scarlett Hankey & Ryan Arnoult
Kelly Noel, Valerie Jalufka, Gayle Delahunt
Tony & Cynthia Petrello
Vertigo on the dancefloor!
Hector and Victoria Longoria, Carly Standley, Arturo Chavez
Health LaPray & Travis Torrence
Ford Hubbard & Renee Lewis
Derrick Shope & Brandon Bourque
Sofia & Nadeem Sheikh
Oscar Brown & Sarah Morgan
Betty Hrncir, Sidney Faust, John Hrncir
Kelly Somoza, Brandon Weinbrenner & Beth Madison
Alex and Victoria Lazar
Roger and Connie Plank
Janet Hobby, Anne Hamman Brollier, Kate Gibson
More than 450 guests — many dressed in floral-, greenery- and picnic-inspired attire, and many delighted at the “no ties or heels” dress code — came together for an al fresco cocktail hour to kick off the evening. A transluscent tent, erected on the smoothly clipped yet lush lawn, had a walk-through timeline of the park as well as tables filled with roses, ranunculus and wildflowers, reminding gala-goers of the park’s longstanding natural beauty.
The evening highlighted of some of MPC’s most recent projects, like the Sports Complex, Kinder Land Bridge and the Running Complex. Thomas Woltz, lead architect of Memorial Park’s Ten-Year Plan, introduced the evening’s honoree, Christopher Knapp, who’s responsible for bringing on Nelson Byrd Woltz as the landscape architect.
A deliciously seasonal dinner, courtesy of City Kitchen, included a burrata bowl with heirloom tomatoes and asparagus, and Gulf Coast shrimp stuffed with crabmeat. David Caceres and his jazz band serenaded the guests, who danced the night away in celebration of the record-smashing $1.25 million raised.
Rich and Nancy Kinder, Thomas Woltz
Phoebe and Bobby Tudor
Will Denton and Sarah Dodd-Denton
Lesley Briones and Blake Ellis
Mary Nan Huffman, Eli Huffman
Jim and Whitney Crane
Cyvia Wolff
Jeff and Wendy Hines
Emily Clay, Bill Schneidau, Shellye Arnold
Louie and Maggie Layrisson
Giles and Andrea Kibbe
Event chairs Paul and Karol Barnhart, Diane and David Modesett, Kate and Steve Gibson
Mia and Peter Smith
Polly and Murry Bowden, Holli Clements
Park Ball dinner
Tammy Jenkins, Myron Blalock, Steve Jenkins, Carrie Pepi
Roberta and David Rude