2024 New Hampshire Benefit
We were thrilled to gather with more than 120 of our supporters, friends, neighbors, artists-in-residence, and board members to raise more than $65,000 in support of our mission at the 2024 MacDowell New Hampshire Benefit on Saturday, May 18. Thanks to you and your generous support, we are able to continue to provide time, space, and care to the over 300 artists-in-residence who come to MacDowell each year.
The evening, hosted by MacDowell Fellow Jared Mezzocchi (17, 20), a two-time OBIE Award-winning theater artist and Producing Artistic Director of Andy's Summer Playhouse, began with a cocktail reception in the James Baldwin Library, followed by a musical performance from New York based vocalist, composer, and educator, Aubrey Johnson (23), and her trio before dinner from the world-famous MacDowell kitchen in historic Bond Hall, the heart of the MacDowell campus, where artists-in-residence gather each evening.
Stay tuned for a slideshow from the evening!
MacDowell supporters gather in Bond Hall (Jonathan Gourlay photo)
Artist Participants
Jared Mezzocchi (17, 20) and Aubrey Johnson (23) (Joanna Eldredge Morrissey and Lauren Desbreg photo)
Jared Mezzocchi is a two-time OBIE Award-winning theater artist whose work appears nationwide, including The Kennedy Center, Geffen Playhouse, Arena Stage, Woolly Mammoth, Manhattan Theater Club, Vineyard Theater, En Garde Arts, and HERE Arts. In 2016, he received his first OBIE, Lucille Lortel and Henry Hewes Award for outstanding projection design in Vietgone at the Manhattan Theatre Club. In 2020, The New York Times spotlighted his innovations alongside four theater artists, including Andrew Lloyd Webber and Paula Vogel. His direction on Sarah Gancher’s digital production Russian Troll Farm was celebrated as a New York Times critic pick, praised for being the first digitally-native success, earning Mezzocchi his second OBIE.
Mezzocchi is a two-time Macdowell Fellow, a 2012 Princess Grace winner, and producing artistic director of Andy's Summer Playhouse, an innovative youth theater in Wilton, NH where professionals work eye-to-eye with young artists to produce original works for audiences of all ages.
Aubrey Johnson is a New York-based vocalist, composer, and educator. Her debut record, Unraveled, featuring her original music and arrangements was released on Outside In Music in 2020. Play Favorites, her duo album with the pianist Randy Ingram was released on Sunnyside Records in 2022. Among the 40+ albums Aubrey has appeared on are Bobby McFerrin’s Grammy-nominated release, VOCAbuLaries, Arturo O'Farrill's Grammy Award-winning album Four Questions, and Lyle Mays’ Grammy Award-winning Eberhard.
Most recently, Aubrey was awarded the “Performance Plus” grant from Chamber Music America, allowing her to collaborate with Grammy Award-Winning pianist, Billy Childs, on composing music for her next album. Aubrey is also a 2023 MacDowell fellow in music composition, and holds faculty positions at Montclair State University and Queens College.
New Hampshire Benefit Committee
Co-chairs:
Sarah Garland-Hoch
Monica Lehner
Andi Axman
Ellen and Ed Bernard
Eleanor Briggs
Ellen and Thomas Draper
Amelia Dunlop
Peter and Katherine Frid
Frank Guerra and Scott Manning
James Georgopoulos
Kit Henry
Rosemary James
Emily Noelle Lambert
Dave and Terry Martland
Mollie Miller
Jessica Quinn
Jamie Trowbridge