Kathy Shayna Shocket has the stories on the people who make a difference. 

Kathy reports from the golden carpet of Gammage.

 It was a LANDMARK gala for an architectural LANDMARK and many of Phoenix’s elite played starring roles!   Among that cast at the benefit for ASU Gammage, were major sponsors Laurie and Chuck Goldstein and co-chairs of Golden Gammage Gala 2015 Committee Leslie Rich and Mary Way. 

Broadway star and Tony Award winning Sutton Foster performed at the formal fete. (Sutton will also star with Hillary Duff in the upcoming TV-series “Younger”)  David Stone,  a leader on Broadway and the producer of long running “Wicked”, was presented with the inaugural Gammy Award.  Actor and reporter (CBS, The Daily Show) Mo Rocca emceed. 

The fancy affair boasted a golden decor in the spirit of  Gammage’s Golden Initiative (GGI). The GGI is the performing art center’s  $16.2 million capital campaign for capital improvements and a programing endowment. The 50th Anniversary Leadership board co-chaired by Leslie and Jeff Rich and Mary Way, raising funds with Gammage’s Executive Director, Colleen Jennings-Roggenstack and her staff, also includes Valley luminaries such as William Ahearn, the late Jerry Appell, Jo Finks, Laurie and Chuck Goldstein, Grady Gammage, Jr., Albert Leffler, Michael Manning, Sarah Nolan and Bill Way. 

(Pictured above, right corner are Glenn and Felice Appell, children of the late Jerry Appell.) Bill Way. 

Guests at the sold out event toasted Gammage’s 50th anniversary and its cultural and economic impact in Arizona. In the past eight years, Gammage and its Broadway Series have generated more than $350 million into Arizona’s economy and have granted access to nearly 5 million people to world-class arts experiences.

Grady Gammage, Jr. and his wife Karen Gammage and their family were also in attendance.  Gammage is named for Grady’s father, Grady Gammage, a former President of ASU, who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright to make Gammage a reality. 

“I believe President Gammage and Frank Lloyd Wright’s dream about a magnificent theater to house the world's best art and culture for the community has come to fruition, " says Colleen Jennings-Roggensack.

 Kathy Shayna Shocket is a freelance Writer and TV-Field Producer based in Phoenix, AZ. She’s a former TV Reporter w ho’s also written for national publications such as TIME Magazine, MONEY Magazine, PEOPLE Magazine, the Hollywood Reporter and The NEW YORK TIMES. She can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it