Encore Sets a New Record: $333,000 for Kinder HSPVA Curriculum

Thank you for making the 2025 Encore Luncheon, Center Stage, a huge success!

The 19th Annual Encore Luncheon was Thursday, April 3, seated on the Denney Theatre stage. Luncheon Chairs Sally and Philip Edmundson welcomed 250 guests to celebrate 2025 Distinguished Alumnus and two-time Tony Award-nominated theatre, film, and TV actor K. Todd Freeman ’83.

Thanks to the generosity of HSPVA Friends supporters, the 2025 Encore Luncheon raised a record-breaking $333,000 for Kinder HSPVA programs. These funds will provide arts supplies, adjunct faculty, specialized equipment and technology, and other essential building blocks of Kinder HSPVA’s nationally acclaimed, tuition-free arts curriculum.

Read more about Encore below, and check out photos from the event.

Upon arrival at Kinder HSPVA, guests were greeted by Mariachi Nuevo Jalisco, a full mariachi ensemble made up of 20 student musicians. As they took in the music, guests roamed a pop-up gallery of paintings by visual arts students. Then, guests entered the Denney Theatre and made their way onto the stage, where tables were set for them to enjoy lunch. Café Natalie served lemon herb chicken with basil aioli and a couscous salad with feta, tomatoes, and roasted vegetables. There was a selection of mini fruit tarts, carrot cakes, and chocolate mousse for dessert.

The program began with a video message from Distinguished Alumnus K. Todd Freeman. Freeman could not join the celebration in person because he is on set filming an upcoming major motion picture written and directed by Jesse Eisenberg and starring Julianne Moore and Paul Giamatti.

Following remarks by HSPVA Friends Executive Director Alene Coggin, the entertainment continued with a medley of songs by Kinder HSPVA singers Sabine Lesniewicz, Ogechi Nwachukwu, Starla Sanchez, and Sarah Vanlandingham. These students are 2025 winners of the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists’ prestigious YoungArts program, which recognizes the best high school artists in the nation. Starla performed an original song with guitar, Ogechi sang a Broadway show tune, and Sabine and Sarah performed classical art songs.

Guests also got a sneak peek of the Kinder HSPVA Theatre Department’s production of Urinetown, opening on April 7. Luncheon Chair, HSPVA Friends Board Member, and Houston actor Sally Edmundson delivered remarks about Kinder HSPVA’s place in the Houston and national arts ecosystems and the need for the philanthropic community’s support of this tuition-free HISD public school.

After the lunch break, there was a panel discussion about Kinder HSPVA’s role as an arts education leader in Houston and nationwide, moderated by Matthew Loden, Lynette S. Autrey Dean of Music at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Panelists were Dr. Priscilla Rivas (Kinder HSPVA Principal), Jonathan Klein (Kinder HSPVA Director of Admissions and Community Relations), and Devondria Douglas (HISD Director of Fine Arts).

Photos by Priscilla Dickson

Thank you to our underwriters!

About 2025 Distinguished Alumnus K. Todd Freeman ’83

K. Todd Freeman is a two-time Tony Award-nominated theatre, film, and TV actor. He has appeared on Broadway in The Minutes, Airline Highway (Tony Award nominee for Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play and Drama Desk Award winner for Outstanding Featured Actor in a Play),Wicked, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and The Song of Jacob Zulu (Tony Award nominee for Best Actor in a Play).

Freeman’s other awards include the Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Lead Performer in a Play, the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Featured Performer in an Off-Broadway Play, and the Obie Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance for his acclaimed work in Downstate. Other Off-Broadway credits include Corruption and Fetch Clay, Make Man (Obie Award winner for Performance).

In addition to his stage work, Freeman has extensive experience on camera. His TV credits include Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events  and Amazon’s The Horrors of Dolores Roach, as well as Will Trent, The Rehearsal, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and guest roles on some of TV’s most enduring primetime dramas. Films include Peter Hedges’ The Same Storm, Tim Blake Nelson’s Anesthesia, Naked Singularity, The Dark Knight, Cider House Rules, and Grosse Pointe Blank.

Freeman has been a Steppenwolf Theatre company member since 1993. He received his BFA from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and is a 1983 graduate of the HSPVA Theatre Department.