(Enlarge) Rep Stage founder Valerie Lash

Columbia's Rep Stage Company is foregoing its usual dramatics to concentrate on a bit of fun and fundraising this weekend. The Actors' Equity troupe is staging its first fundraising gala, dubbed "REPartee," Saturday, Nov. 15, at 6 p.m. on the campus of its home base at Howard Community College.

The event is serving multiple purposes as an assist to offsetting Rep Stage's operating costs and as a tribute to the resident company's founding artistic director, Valerie Lash. It will also introduce audiences to the new look of the Smith Theatre, which has been mostly closed for renovation since 2006.

Proceeds from the evening will help to endow the new Valerie Lash Arts and Humanities Scholarship through the HCC Educational Foundation.

"Rep Stage has never really done a gala or a signature event," notes Michael Stebbins, the troupe's producing artistic director. "It came about as Rep Stage was going to celebrate its 16th season. Given that Valerie Lash was the founding director of Rep Stage, I kept reflecting on her and realizing that without Valerie there would be no Rep Stage."

Stebbins decided it was time to say thank you with an event that would celebrate Rep Stage and acknowledge Lash by establishing a new scholarship. The scholarship is designed to "help students with needs and with talents in the arts and humanities as they enter the college."

Lash, the division chairwoman of arts and humanities at the college, founded Rep Stage in 1993 as the county's first professional Actors' Equity troupe. She served as the company's producing artistic director through 2005, when Stebbins took over. Lash was recognized with a Howard County Arts Council Howie Award for her achievements as an arts educator.

Because of evening's theatrical nature, Stebbins and his cohorts at the college hit upon organizing the event like a stage production, complete with three acts. Each act will be held in separate locations around the college.

"Act I" opens the evening with hors d'oeuvres, a carving station, vegetarian food and wine on the fourth floor of the Rouse Company Foundation Student Services Hall. "Act II" starts at 8 p.m. with stage entertainment led by both Stebbins and regular Rep actor Bruce Nelson in the Smith Theatre. The evening will conclude with "Act III," which will offer desserts, wine and more musical entertainment in the Horowitz Center for the Performing Arts' Grand Hall.

"We're also looking to show off different areas of the college that maybe people hadn't been to," Stebbins notes. "So the dinner portion of the evening and the live auction portion - the pre-show party, so to speak -- will be on the fourth floor of the Rouse Building.

"Then, at 7:30 p.m., we'll have the unveiling of the Smith Theatre, with a show starting at 8 p.m. Bruce Nelson and I will be romping around, introducing special guests."

Stebbins says featured guests will include actors and singers from New York and Washington, many of whom are connected to the company in some way. Confirmed performers include Sherri Edelen, Felicia Curry, Shannon Wollman, Nigel Reed and Bill Largess. There will also be video montages of interviews with "luminaries of the community," Stebbins says, all of whom were asked questions about Lash, the college and Rep Stage.

The final segment of the evening will feature the music of the big band act Swing Speak, which will also provide incidental musical accompaniment throughout the evening. The group won the 2007 Washington Area Music Association award as Best Swing Group.

"We'll head out to the Horowitz Center lobby, and there will be coffee, wine and desserts on the dance floor," Stebbins explains. "The idea is to showcase the different areas and keep the party moving."

Stebbins says the effort received a big boost after several of HCC's departments got involved. "It started out as a Rep Stage event, but what it really has become is Rep Stage and HCC's celebration."

The Rep Stage Company will host "REPartee" Saturday, Nov. 15, starting at 6 p.m. at Howard Community College. Tickets run $150 per person for the entire evening's events (Acts I-III), $50 per person for just the show and after-party. For additional information or to buy tickets, call 410-772-4900 or go to www.repstage.org.

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