Exclusive Star-Studded Dining Event Supports Organization’s Food Voucher Program
AIDS Assistance Program – Food Samaritans (AAP) announces the return of an exclusive, star-studded event in support of its vital food voucher program. Hollywood Dine and Dish III will take place at 7 pm on Saturday, October 29, 2016 at a private estate in Palm Springs.
Presented by fervent AAP supporter, successful producer and award-winning Hollywood photographer Michael Childers, the Master of Ceremonies for the evening will be none other than Emmy Award-winning lifestyle and real estate correspondent Michael Corbett. This one-of-a-kind evening reveals saucy secrets of Hollywood stars by celebrity guests including Tony® nominee and bon vivant Sharon McNight, hilarious actor and comedian Alec Mapa, and Emmy Award-winning comedy writer Bruce Vilanch. Billed as the ultimate Hollywood experience, Hollywood Dine and Dish III will include hors d’oeuvres, premium cocktails, and an exquisite dinner, along with MORE Tinsel Town dish that’s too hot to print!
“When Michael Childers first created this event for us in 2013, we were elated with the response,” stated Mark Anton, Executive Director of AIDS Assistance Program – Food Samaritans. “With its reprise in 2014, we enjoyed the stories of charming and saucy Ms. Jackie Collins. This year, Red Hot Mama Sharon McNight – one of the few real women to impersonate Bette Davis – is joining us, as is Alec Mapa, whom Ellen Degeneres has called “smart, hilarious and funny.”
AAP receives no federal or state funding, relying on the generosity of private donors and other organizations. Currently there are more than 500 clients who rely on AAP for food twice each month, and a waiting list for services. That list includes some of the Coachella Valley’s most desperate neighbors who struggle to maintain their strength and well-being. Donations from the community are critical so that AAP may continue to provide these services and hopefully reduce the waiting list.
“A big ‘Thank you’ to Michael Childers for bringing together such an illustrious group for this event,” added Anton. “It will be a delightful evening filled with never-heard stories of Hollywood escapades!”
Mingle with these Hollywood insiders for an outrageous, saucy, ribald, and totally hysterical evening. Hors d’oeuvres, premium cocktails, and an exquisite dinner will be served.
Tickets for Hollywood Dine and Dish III are $500 per person or $750 per couple. This event is sure to be funny, raucous, and always sells out. For more information and to purchase tickets, please call 760-325-8481 or visit aidsassistance.org. The address of the private venue will be provided upon RSVP.
Now in its 25th year of service to the community, AIDS Assistance Program of Palm Springs remains dedicated to providing nutritional support to improve the quality of the lives of people living with HIV/AIDS and other chronic illnesses. Initiated by a small group of concerned citizens led by the late Gloria Greene and Jeannette Rockefeller, AAP provides nutritional support to members of the community with low incomes. For more information, please call 760-325-8481 or visit aidsassistance.org.
About the stars:
MICHAEL CHILDERS
Michael Childers is one of the entertainment industry’s most renowned and highly respected portrait, fashion and art photographers. He was a founding photographer for Andy Warhol’s Interview and After Dark magazines, and produced Dance magazine covers featuring the Joffrey Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and Alvin Ailey Dance Company, and co-authored Bejart: The World of Dance. Instrumental in capturing the beauty and magnetism of such explosive young stars as Mel Gibson, Demi Moore, Richard Gere, John Travolta, Sissy Spacek, Michelle Pfeiffer, and Elton John, Childers continues to influence the world of art photography today. Childers work has graced more than 200 magazine covers and 150 album covers, film posters for major motion picture studios, and he has worked as a special photographer on dozens of top box office films. His photos are in museums all over the world, and are featured in numerous gallery exhibitions. He is celebrating his 10th successful year as the producer of One Night Only for Jewish Family Service this year on April 20, 2017 with HELLO JERRY, a Musical Tribute to Jerry Herman.
MICHAEL CORBETT
Michael Corbett is an Emmy Award-winning lifestyle and real estate correspondent for NBC’s number-one-rated national ne Extra,” and is the host and producer of “Extra’s Mansions & Millionaires,” now in its tenth season. Corbett is the resident real estate expert for ABC’s “The View,” CNN’s “Newsroom,” and “The Today Show Australia,” and has weekly segments on “FOX and Friends.” He is also Trulia.com’s real estate expert, and provides tips and nationally syndicated content to the Huffington Post and Wall Street Journal. Corbett is well known by daytime TV audiences as a star of CBS’s “The Young and the Restless,” ABC’s “Ryan’s Hope,” and NBC’s “Search for Tomorrow.”
SHARON MCNIGHT
Sharon McNight made her Broadway debut and received a Tony® nomination for her performance in the 1989 production of “Starmites.” She is the recipient of the coveted Theatre World Award for “Outstanding Broadway Debut” and has played from the Moose Hall to Carnegie Hall, from San Francisco to Berlin. She has five solo recordings to her credit, one of those being “The Sophie Tucker Songbook,” which contains the music of her one-woman Off-Broadway show, “RED HOT MAMA” based on the life of the first lady of show business. The Off-Broadway show opens the 2017 season of the Cinnabar Theatre, Petaluma, in January. The concert version of that show won the BroadwayWorld.com for best show. Her most recent award was the Bistro Award presented and produced by Backstage.com. In addition, Sharon is most noted for her movie reenactment of “The Wizard of Oz” and for being one of the few real women to impersonate Bette Davis. Sharon has been an AIDS activist since the beginning of the pandemic and is happy to support AIDS Assistance Program. www.sharonmnight.com
BRUCE VILANCH
Bruce Vilanch has been wandering in the desert for more than forty years, but he manages to settle down every now and again for a benefit. Winner of six Emmy Awards, and loser of four, he has scripted 23 Oscar telecasts and a lot of other television that you have been simultaneously ashamed and delighted to watch. For six years, he resided to the left of Whoopi Goldberg, if that is possible, as a Hollywood Square. For two years, he donned the pantyhose of Edna Turnblad in the national tour and Broadway production of “Hairspray.” He is also a songwriter and the star of his own one-man show, which stopped at the Annenberg Theater a few years ago. This spring, he will be in San Francisco starring in a new revival of Cole Porter’s “DuBarry Was a Lady” in a role originated by Bert Lahr, one of whose signature characters his follicles bear a passing resemblance.
ALEC MAPA
Ellen Degeneres has called Alec “smart, hilarious and funny,” and Variety has said, “Alec Mapa is a freak. No one should be this talented.” With uproarious live performances and groundbreaking television roles, actor and comedian Alec Mapa has entertained audiences worldwide in every imaginable medium. He has guest starred on more than 40 television series, including “Alias,” “Friends,” “Roseanne,” “Seinfeld,” and “NYPD Blue.” He played network television’s very first gay Asian series regular role on the CBS sitcom “Some Of My Best Friends.” and starred in four seasons of the UPN sitcom “Half & Half.” He played “N’Cream” in the wildly popular drag queen musical “Connie and Carla,” and has also appeared in “Playing By Heart,” “Marley & Me,” and “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan.”
