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"Growth as an actor and growth as a human being are synonymous," Adler famously said, and with that message in mind, the evening’s five honorees - Harry Belafonte, James Earl Jones, Daryl Roth, Ed Schultz, and Masa Tanaka - were singled out not only for acting ability but also for their work with social causes and community engagement.
"The harder you work, the luckier you get," MSNBC host Schultz told the young people in the room. Schultz received the Harold Clurman Spirit Award for all the culture he's brought to New York City. Producer Daryl Roth also received the Harold Clurman Spirit Award, calling the honor “kind of awesome.” Tanaka, CEO for the Americas and The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, received the Stella Adler Corporate Award, "I never dreamed I'd receive an award from an acting studio,” he said to audience laughter.
Actor Cynthia Adler presented James Earl Jones with The Stella Adler Award, for "consummate artistic achievement and interpretation." Though Jones never studied with Adler, he spoke of her influence on the great actors with which he has worked.
The award ceremony concluded with the presentation of the Marlon Brando Award for "a life committed to social activism and excellence in film art" to Harry Belafonte.
Fundraising from the evening goes to benefit the school’s charitable programs including the Outreach Division, which allows students who wouldn't otherwise be able to afford acting instruction to study at the studio.
"The mission of the studio is to train actors so they value humanity, their own and others, as their first priority while bringing art and education to the community,” Tom Oppenheim, artistic director and president of the studio, told Back Stage. He explained the Outreach Division has a dual purpose, "to provide acting training to those who can't afford it while providing our tuition-based students with a model of social engagement."
The program serves underprivileged inner-city youth through three major initiatives. The high school-age students participate in the Adler Youth Group, during which they study twice a week after their normal a school day for two years, the Summer Shakespeare Program, or through a partnership with the school. In this scenario, instructors from the studio teach acting classes at the students’ schools.
Through the Outreach Division the studio has been able to offer more than two thousand students free acting lessons since 2004. Oppenheim estimated about $150,000 had been raised through the gala to help fund its efforts.
At the gala, Reggi, a student of the program, shared how he had suffered a near death experience as a child through a combination of sickle cell anemia and pneumonia, and he wanted to know why he survived. He became a student at the studio and realized he wanted to be an actor.
“Acting is magical,” he said in a heartfelt manner. "Thanks to the Stella Adler Studio, I feel like I have a place where I belong."
