HONORING ESTHER'S FOLLIES
Hosted by GUY FORSYTH
February 29th, 2024
11:00 - 1:30pm
THE AUSTIN CLUB
110 E. 9th St.
Austin, TX 78701
Join the AHCA for a welcome reception, seated Austin Club luncheon, and live performance by Esther's Follies, which will take attendees on a journey through Austin's historic vaudeville past. The event also will honor and feature a conversation with Esther's Follies owner, Shannon Sedwick and Lara Toner of Austin Playhouse, led by a Anne Gatling Haynes (Austin Economic Development Corp)
RUN OF SHOW
11:00 - 12:00: Refreshment Mixer, featuring the music of Marvin Dykhuis & Warren Hood
11:30 - 12:00: Refreshments continue as local painter, Wiley Ross begins live painting.
12:00 - 12:15: Seating & Appetizers. Guy Forsyth Welcome & Introductory Remarks.
12:15 - 12:45: Main Program Begins. Live Performance by Esther's Follies.
12:45 - 1:15: Discussion between Shannon Sedwick (Esther's Follies) and Lara Toner Haddock (Austin Playhouse), Moderated by Anne Gatling Haynes (Austin Economic Development Corporation)
1:15 - 1:30: Live Auction of Wiley Ross Painting, Donation Appeal, Closing Remarks
SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITIES
Individual tickets are not tax deductble | Sponsoships deduction amounts indicated per tier
$1,500 BRONZE SPONSOR
2 tickets at table 14, 15, 16 or 17
Name/Logo On Printed and Digital Materials
Valet Parking
$1000 Tax Deduction Value
$2,500 SILVER SPONSOR
4 tickets at table 11, 12 or 13
Name/Logo On Printed and Digital Materials
Valet Parking
$1500 Tax Deduction Value
$5,000 GOLD SPONSOR
6 event tickets at table 6, 7, or 8
Name/Logo On Printed and Digital Materials
Valet Parking
$3500 Tax Deduction Value
$10,000 PLATINUM SPONSOR
8 event tickets at table 2 or 3
Presenting Sponsor
Name/Logo On Printed and Digital Materials
Valet Parking
$8000 Tax Deduction Value
$25,000 DIAMOND SPONSOR
10 event tickets at table 1
Title Sponsor
Onscreen Digital Banner
Name/Logo On Printed and Digital Materials
Speaking Opportunity During Program
Valet Parking
$22500 Tax Deduction Value
Sponsor Online OR Mail Checks To:
AHCA | P.O. Box 12546, Austin, TX 78711
ABOUT THE EBERLY LUNCHEON
Since 2009, The Angelina Eberly Luncheon has served as the Austin History Center Association's primary fundraiser. Following the debut of AHCA’s solo 2023 event, Our Austin Sound, the beloved Eberly Luncheon rejoins the AHCA yearly event line-up. The 2024 Eberly promises to stir up some Austin history - and the spirit of Angelina Eberly - in partnership with Austin’s legendary Esther’s Follies and The Austin Club, in an historic building once home to the Millett Opera House.
The Angelina Eberly Luncheon has been conducted annually since 2009 by the Austin History Center Association. The event celebrates Angelina Eberly, an early Austin innkeeper, who in December 1842, famously fired a six-pound cannon into the General Land Office Building to alert citizens when agents, secretly dispatched by Governor Sam Houston, began loading contents of the government archives into a wagon to transport ithem to Washington-on-the-Brazos. Austin prevailed in the "Archives War," and remained the capital of Texas and keeper of the state's archives. A bronze statue of Eberly and her cannon stand in the 900 block of Congress Avenue in downtown Austin.
ABOUT ESTHER'S FOLLIES
6th Street- the source of Esther's humor and unwitting backdrop for its stage- will always define Esther's distinct comedic blend of magic, music, and comedy. We’ve been called the Texas answer to SNL--a modern-day vaudeville revue mixed with political comedy that is like nothing else on the national comedy scene. Esther’s history stretches back 46 years.
In the spring of 1977, 6th Street was a culturally diverse neighborhood whose nighttime residents were primarily artists and transients. During this time, in the middle of 6th Street's 500th block, Michael Shelton and Shannon Sedwick, who already operated Austin's famed Liberty Lunch, leased an old, narrow bar at 515 E. 6th (now the Flamingo Cantina), throwing their first party on April Fool's Day. This turned into an improvisational free-for-all of fun with singers, poets, dancers, mimes, musicians, and comics coming in off the street to create and ended with dances around a lawn sprinkler in a campy tribute to aquatic-choreographer Esther Williams.
What exactly is it, that has made the magical world of Esther's Follies so unique? The peculiar interaction between stage and street has been a Follies hallmark since the beginning. With 6th Street still dimly sinister after dark, the windows provide safe haven between numbers to watch the steady parade of Sixth Street denizens, and revelers wander by. Esther’s is an equal opportunity satirical revue—fond of skewering both political parties and using the absurd in politics and pop culture as a foundation for their sketches. The end result is a smartly funny, unifying experience for a politically diverse audience, where everyone laughs under one roof.
