Jeffrey Banks will be honored by the Dramatists Guild Foundation
WAITING IN THE WINGS: Fashion designer Jeffrey Banks to be among honorees at annual Dramatists gala Guild Foundation later this month.
Banks will receive his award from Tony Award-winning costume designer Clinton Ramos. DGF Board Member Barbara Olcott will also be recognized for her support of the arts. Additionally, playwright Paula Vogel, whose work includes "How I Learned to Drive" among other plays, will also be honored at the 60th anniversary event on October 24 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.
>Banks will also be honored this fall by another organization celebrating its 60th anniversary — the Council of Fashion Designers of America – for his contributions to American fashion and his status as a longtime exemplary member of the CFDA. Banks will receive the special anniversary award at this event next month at Cipriani South Street at Casa Cipriani.
Related GalleriesDuring an interview earlier this week, Banks said that as a teenager he followed a summer acting class in Washington, D.C., with a young actor, Chris Sarandon, who was making a name for himself, much like his wife at the time, Susan. “She helped with the class. I really thought I was ugly, but it was fun to do. I love the theater,” Banks said, adding that Chris Sarandon called him a few months later to encourage him to audition for the 1967 play “The Great White Hope” which premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., then moved to Broadway.
After five auditions and readings with director Edwin Sherin and actress Jane Alexander, who would go on to be the One of the protagonists, Banks reached the final round with another actor, who finally got the role. Disheartened and convinced he would never perform again, Banks said decades later that he had been invited by designer Kenneth Cole to a fundraiser for his father-in-law Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York. After spotting the event's emcee, James Earl Jones, sitting down eating a steak, Banks said he tapped him on the shoulder to say, "Excuse me, Mr Jones. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Jeffrey Banks. I was almost your son," the designer recalls with a laugh.
Years later, Banks agreed (somewhat reluctantly) to appear in a short film in as an editor a friend was filming for his last senior project at New York University Film School. Titled "Plus", the award-winning short film is about a plus-size model vying for a fashion magazine cover and has become popular on the short film circuit. "That's my only IMDb credit," he laughed. "That was my brush with acting, but I don't quit my day job."
WAITING IN THE WINGS: Fashion designer Jeffrey Banks to be among honorees at annual Dramatists gala Guild Foundation later this month.
Banks will receive his award from Tony Award-winning costume designer Clinton Ramos. DGF Board Member Barbara Olcott will also be recognized for her support of the arts. Additionally, playwright Paula Vogel, whose work includes "How I Learned to Drive" among other plays, will also be honored at the 60th anniversary event on October 24 at the Ziegfeld Ballroom in New York City.
>Banks will also be honored this fall by another organization celebrating its 60th anniversary — the Council of Fashion Designers of America – for his contributions to American fashion and his status as a longtime exemplary member of the CFDA. Banks will receive the special anniversary award at this event next month at Cipriani South Street at Casa Cipriani.
Related GalleriesDuring an interview earlier this week, Banks said that as a teenager he followed a summer acting class in Washington, D.C., with a young actor, Chris Sarandon, who was making a name for himself, much like his wife at the time, Susan. “She helped with the class. I really thought I was ugly, but it was fun to do. I love the theater,” Banks said, adding that Chris Sarandon called him a few months later to encourage him to audition for the 1967 play “The Great White Hope” which premiered at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., then moved to Broadway.
After five auditions and readings with director Edwin Sherin and actress Jane Alexander, who would go on to be the One of the protagonists, Banks reached the final round with another actor, who finally got the role. Disheartened and convinced he would never perform again, Banks said decades later that he had been invited by designer Kenneth Cole to a fundraiser for his father-in-law Mario Cuomo, the former governor of New York. After spotting the event's emcee, James Earl Jones, sitting down eating a steak, Banks said he tapped him on the shoulder to say, "Excuse me, Mr Jones. I would like to introduce myself. My name is Jeffrey Banks. I was almost your son," the designer recalls with a laugh.
Years later, Banks agreed (somewhat reluctantly) to appear in a short film in as an editor a friend was filming for his last senior project at New York University Film School. Titled "Plus", the award-winning short film is about a plus-size model vying for a fashion magazine cover and has become popular on the short film circuit. "That's my only IMDb credit," he laughed. "That was my brush with acting, but I don't quit my day job."
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