This winter, Todd Haimes and the Roundabout staff suddenly felt like a million bucks—thanks to a generous grant from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. These two visionary funders, working in tandem, awarded $900,000 to the Roundabout Theatre Company, one of only seven theatres in the United States to receive similar support under the "National Leading Theatres" program.

The grantmakers’ goal is to seek out "exemplary theatres across the U.S." and contribute significant sums in an effort to ensure the theatres’ financial stability for future generations. The Doris Duke portion marks a milestone: the $500,000 award is the first restricted endowment grant in Roundabout’s 37-year history and must be matched dollar-for-dollar. The Mellon Foundation’s contribution to the Roundabout totals $400,000 over the next three years and will help offset operating costs as the company builds for its future.

The importance of such endowment support can’t be exaggerated. "This grant recognizes—in perpetuity— the importance of our work and Roundabout’s leadership role in the performing arts community, both locally and nationally," says Artistic Director Todd Haimes. "The grant from the Duke Foundation serves as the lead gift in building our endowment. A healthy endowment performs three crucial tasks: it provides our programming with a stable base of support; allows us to take artistic risks; and makes us able to quickly respond to the ever-changing needs and interests of the community and our artists."

Especially in an uncertain economic climate, a strong endowment is crucial, and its role in Roundabout’s future becomes more vital as the company expands its operations. "As we solidify and secure our physical presence in New York City by assuming a long-term lease at the 46th Street theatre and purchasing Studio 54 to be our musical theatre home," says Haimes, "we can begin to focus on securing the artistic future of the company— thanks to the support of the Duke and Mellon Foundations."

Todd Haimes’ remarkable leadership at the Roundabout over the past two decades has transformed the theatre from a small, debt-ridden but accomplished off-Broadway jewel into one of the most thriving and vibrant not-for-profit theatres in America. It enjoys one of the largest subscription bases in history. And its subscribers have followed Haimes and company—from a supermarket basement on 26th Street through bankruptcy to success on Broadway—as if he were the Moses of modern theatre. Sounds like a reason to celebrate.

This year’s Spring Gala Celebration on April 21, 2003, honors Haimes’ 20th Anniversary at the Roundabout with a performance of Nine: The Musical (starring Antonio Banderas, Laura Benanti, Jane Krakowski, Mary Stuart Masterson, and Chita Rivera), followed by a festive gala dinner at Cipriani’s on 42nd Street.

Nine, as those who saw the 1982 Tony Award-winning show know, is about the life of a film director, who has reached a creative and artistic crisis. It’s based on Fellini’s autobiographical cinematic masterpiece, 8½. Too bad Haimes wasn’t around when Fellini experienced that creative block. For Haimes’ boundless vision and passion—and patience—has made Roundabout one of the country’s most respected producers, an artistic haven for the world’s best theatre artists to unload their creative talents.

Haimes has nurtured young directors, cultivated relationships with the leading playwrights, actors and designers in the world, and led an expansion of the theatre’s mission to include commissioning musicals and new works by established playwrights.

He’s also made Roundabout’s theatre-in-education programs, which reach thousands of New York City public school students annually, one of the company’s highest priorities.

You don’t have to "Be Italian," as Saraghina sings in Nine, to appreciate Haimes 20 years.

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