RSC Goes Brooklyn Even Bigger Than BAM

With the exception of Ian w in McKellen a friend , who ‘s place stayed in Chinatown, the Royal Shakespeare Company members who performed in “King Lear” and “The Seagull” at the Brooklyn Academy of Music last month spent their four weeks in New York living at the Marriott in Downtown Brooklyn.

The location gave them access to many of the city’s attractions. Sylvester McCoy, who played Lear’s Fool, visited Harlem. Jonathan Hyde, who played Earl of Kent, went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art with his daughter, Georgia King, who is also an actress.

But at their closing cast party, several members of the company said they had a better idea for where they’d like to stay next time: the luxury condominiums at One Hansen Place, right next to BAM.

Notwithstanding their charm and talent, standing in the captivating One Hansen Place ground-floor space that once housed the Williamsburgh Savings Bank and which its developer, Dermot Company, had made available for the party, it was easy to agree. It was even easier to agree during a tour of a model apartment on the 19th floor, which offered unobstructed views of Park Slope and the Statue of Liberty.

“I love it in Brooklyn. I’d like to come back and see what happens. And BAM should have an artist’s apartment here,” Montana native Philip Winchester, who played the evil Edmund in “King Lear,” said.

Told of his idea, the executive directorofBAM, Karen Brooks Hopkins, said, “We’d be happy to house artists here, if we find a donor to buy an apartment and give it to BAM.”

Mr. McKellen might be content to return to Chinatown.

“It’s so quiet at night, I’m able to sleep,” the actor most famous for his role as Gandalf in “Lord of the Rings” said. “It’s an interesting part of New York I didn’t know.”

And it’s not too far away from the John Varvatos store on Mercer Street, where he likes to shop. (The designer doesn’t have stores in Britain, Mr. McKellen noted.)

Indeed, it wasn’t his white beard that made Mr. McKellen stand out at the party as he schmoozed with fans and friends, such as frequent RSC director David Jones, but rather his Royal Rebel T-shirt, grey cargo pants, and John Varvatos canvas sneakers.

“He has a great sense of style,” one partygoer, 13-year-old Anna Freedman, said of Mr. McKellen after obtaining his autograph.

Giving Back to Gilda’s Club

There’s nothing like really loud music to get a crowd going, so the deejay at the top of the stairs of the Donna Karan store on Madison Avenue can take some of the credit for the high energy at a benefit organized by the Young Leadership Council of Gilda’s Club Worldwide.

Then again, the hosts of the party can take even more credit: They were the ones who generated genuine enthusiasm and interest in Gilda’s Club from the more than 600 20 and 30-somethings they they assembled that night, raising $115,000.

“I connected with Gilda’s Club’s mission, and it became my mission. I want to make sure everyone has a place to go,” one of the chairmen of the council, Allison Silver, a Tri-BeCa resident who works in film production, said.

Ms. Silver, 34, was standing on a redcarpetoutsidethestore, wearing an H&M sweater dress (apparently Donna Karan did not offer to dress the party chairwomen). It was quiet outside because the paparazzi had finished photographing arrivals, including David Alan Basche, who has a role in Candace Bushnell’s new television series, “Lipstick Jungle,” and played Todd Beamer in the film “United 93,” and his wife Alysia Reiner, who is working on a 20-minute short, “Speed Grieving,” which she is would like to be used as an art therapy tool in hospitals, hospices, and Gilda’s Clubs.

Ms. Silver first came to Gilda’s Club because her mom had cancer; her mom did not go to Gilda’s Club.

“She wanted to be private, which meant I couldn’t talk to a lot of my family about it. That’s why Gilda’s Club became so important to me,” Her mother died four years ago, and is her inspiration for becoming a volunteer fund-raiser. “My mother was the most positive person I’ve ever met,” Ms. Silver said. “I try to channel her voice.”

One of the 50 or so friends Ms. Silver brought to the party was Joe Vendemia, who runs a foundation with his family in honor of his mother, who died of cancer. The Janine Vendemia Cancer Foundation gives grants to people in Brookfield, Ohio, where his mother lived and where he was raised.

“We gave a grant to a girl so she could buy a wig and get a dress to go to her prom,” Mr. Vendemia said. “I’ve been in New York eight years. I want to get involved in Gilda’s Club because it’s offering the same kind of support but on a larger scale.”

Ms. Silver wants to see Gilda’s Club expand. “It breaks my heart when I meet someone who isn’t in a location where I can recommend a Gilda’s Club,” Ms. Silver said.

Ms. Reiner, whose father died of cancer, explained why she is making a film to help others through the grieving process.

“I remember being so afraid of people who had cancer. Now that I’ve lost someone, I want to be the person I couldn’t be before.”

agordon@nysun.com