The Moth to Honor Regina King and Kemp Powers at 2021 Moth Ball

NEW YORK, April 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Beloved storytelling nonprofit The Moth today announced details for their annual fundraising gala, The Moth Ball. Taking place at Spring Terrace (6 Johns Lane, TriBeCa) on Tuesday, June 22nd, Bring On The Light: The 2021 Moth Ball will honor writing phenom and Moth storyteller Kemp Powers and acting/directing powerhouse Regina King. Tickets are on sale now for the inspirational and powerful evening of storytelling that promises to captivate, connect, and delight.

"Every year at The Moth Ball, we honor extraordinary individuals who are contributing to storytelling in persistently bold and exceptionally enlightening ways," says Sarah Haberman, Executive Director of The Moth. "There are no better recipients for this award than Regina King and Kemp Powers –  who have done so much to elevate more inclusive and diverse stories through their brilliant and important work. We're thrilled to celebrate both of them!"

This year, the event will be presented to a smaller, more intimate audience of close to 150 guests, including The Moth's incredible storytellers (writers, actors, musicians, astronauts, physicists, reformed pickpockets, spies, Nobel Laureates, Freedom Riders and more), plus luminaries from the worlds of art, finance, fashion, media and philanthropy. In addition to celebrating Mr. Powers and Ms. King, the gala will also feature stories from Moth StorySLAM-ers, a student from The Moth Education Program, and alumni from storytelling workshops with community partner organizations.

"Our theme this year, 'Bring On The Light' is a hopeful request for the emergence of possibility  following the darkness of the past year," says Catherine Burns, Artistic Director, The Moth. "It bodes well for all that there's talent like Kemp--one of our favorite Moth storytellers--and Ms. King in the world. Both stand as powerful examples of how storytelling helps forge powerful connections and creates greater empathy and understanding. They inspire and engage us all."

Tickets for Bring On The Light: The 2021 Moth Ball are $1,000 for individuals and tables of 10 are available at $10,000 and $15,000. They are available by contacting [email protected] or visiting https://themoth.org/botl.

About The Honorees
KEMP POWERS is a Golden Globe Award-winning and Academy Award-nominated screenwriter, playwright, producer and director who was named one of VARIETY's 2020 "10 Screenwriters to Watch."

Powers wrote the critically acclaimed Amazon feature, One Night in Miami…, adapted from his 2013 award-winning stage play of the same name. Powers was recently nominated for an Academy Award for 'Best Adapted Screenplay' on behalf of his work on the film. In addition to being selected as one of AFI Awards' "Movies of the Year," the film has also garnered a WGA Award nomination for Powers, five NAACP Image Award nominations including "Outstanding Writing in a Motion Picture" for Powers and "Outstanding Motion Picture" for the film, six Critics Choice Award nominations including "Best Adapted Screenplay" for Powers and "Best Picture" for the film, three Golden Globe nominations and a PGA Award nomination.

He is also the co-director and a screenwriter of Disney/Pixar's Academy Award-nominated animated feature Soul. Powers makes history with Soul, as the first Black person to receive a director or screenwriter credit on any Pixar project. Soul debuted on Disney+ on December 25, receiving a Golden Globe Award for "Best Animated Film" and "Best Original Score," a PGA Award for "Best Animated Feature," three Critics' Choice Super Awards for "Best Animated Movie" and for two of its voice actors, and was also selected for the AFI Awards' list of "Movies of the Year." Previously, Powers wrote for the popular CBS All Access series, Star Trek: Discovery.

His stage plays include the award-winning One Night in Miami..., Little Black Shadows, Christa McAuliffe's Eyes Were Blue, The Two Reds and A Negro by Choice. The 2016 production of One Night in Miami... at London's Donmar Warehouse earned Powers an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play. One Night's Los Angeles world premiere won the production three LA Drama Critics Circle Awards and four NAACP Theatre Awards, as well as the 2013 Ted Schmitt Award for Outstanding New Play for Powers.

Prior to his work in stage, television and film, Powers was a journalist for 17 years.

REGINA KING 
Oscar-winning actress Regina King has a decades-spanning career in Hollywood and shows no sign of slowing down. In addition to the Academy Award, King won a Golden Globe, an Independent Spirit Award and the prestigious National Board of Review award for her supporting role as 'Sharon Rivers' in Barry Jenkins' adaptation of James Baldwin's If Beale Street Could Talk. King has also won three Emmy Awards in recent years; one for 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie' for her work in the Netflix racial crime drama Seven Seconds and had won the previous two Emmy Awards in the 'Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie' category for her role in the ABC anthology series American Crime, which garnered her first Golden Globe Award nomination. Over the past few years, King has also stepped behind the camera directing episodes of critically acclaimed television series such as NBC's award-winning THIS IS US, ABC's Scandal, TNT's Animal Kingdom, ABC's The Good Doctor and HBO's Insecure among others.             

King starred as the lead role in HBO's critically hailed Peabody Award-winning Watchmen series from creator Damon Lindelof based on and inspired by the DC comic book, once again earning her an 'Outstanding Lead Actress in a Limited Series or Movie' Emmy Nomination. This is the second time King has teamed up with Lindelof – they last collaborated on HBO's The Leftovers, for which King won a Critics' Choice award during the series' second season.                  

Amazon Studios acquired and released to rave reviews her directorial feature film debut, One Night in Miami, which  has earned a slew of award nominations including a Golden Globe nom for "Best Director – Feature Film," SAG Awards nom for "Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture," Critics Choice noms for "Best Picture," "Best Director" and "Best Acting Ensemble" as well as a "First Time Feature Film" nomination for the 73rd Annual DGA Awards, and three Oscar nominations, among others.

King currently resides in Los Angeles.

Thanks to our Lead Sponsor
SPRING

ABOUT THE MOTH
The Moth is an acclaimed nonprofit organization dedicated to the art and craft of storytelling. Since launching in 1997, The Moth has presented over 40,000 stories, told live and without notes to standing-room-only crowds worldwide. The Moth conducts eight ongoing programs: The Moth Mainstage, which tours internationally, has featured stories by Elizabeth Gilbert, Hasan Minhaj, Kathleen Turner, Malcolm Gladwell, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, John Turturro, Molly Ringwald, Boots Riley, Krista Tippett, Damon Young, Mike Birbiglia, Rosanne Cash, Danyel Smith and Tig Notaro, as well as an astronaut, a pickpocket, a hotdog eating champion and hundreds more; The Moth StorySLAM program, which conducts open mic storytelling competitions in 30 cities: 27 in the US plus Sydney and Melbourne, AU and London, UK; The Moth Community Program, which offers storytelling workshops and performance opportunities to adults who are too often overlooked by the mainstream media; The Moth Education Program, which brings the thrill of personal storytelling to high school and college students throughout the US, and educators around the world; The Moth Global Community Program, which develops and elevates true, personal stories from extraordinary individuals in the global south; The Moth Podcast—the 2020 Webby People's Voice Award Winner for Best Podcast Series—which is downloaded more than 77 million times a year; MothWorks, which uses the essential elements of Moth storytelling at work and other unexpected places; and the Peabody Award-winning The Moth Radio Hour which, produced by Jay Allison at Atlantic Public Media and presented by PRX, The Public Radio Exchange, airs weekly on over 550 public radio stations nationwide. To date, The Moth has published three critically acclaimed books: The New York Times Best Seller The Moth: 50 True Stories (Hachette Books, September 2013), All These Wonders: True Stories About Facing the Unknown (Crown Archetype, March 2017) — described as "wonderful" by former NYT's Book Critic Michiko Kakutani and Occasional Magic: True Stories of Defying the Impossible (Crown Archetype, March 2019) which debuted at #12 on The New York Times Best Sellers List. www.themoth.org.

@themoth @mothstories #MothBall2021

SOURCE The Moth