William Inge's boyhood home in Independence, Kansas, is now a year-round artist retreat. Talented stars of today perform at the annual William Inge Theatre Festival Gala Dinner, a fund-raiser for continued renovations to the "Inge House," so this refuge can continue to be home to talented artists.

The Gala Dinner takes place Friday, April 15, during the 30th Annual William Inge Theatre Festival, April 13-16.

The performers will share songs associated with previous William Inge Theatre Festival Honorees: Betty Comden and Adolph Green (1990); Stephen Sondheim (1998); John Kander and Fred Ebb (2002); Arthur Laurents (2004); Sheldon Harnick (2007); Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt (2009); and Marsha Norman (2011).

An evening highlight will be a song from Sheldon Harnick—the co-creator of Fiddler on the Roof and a previous Honoree. Harnick is at the Inge Festival for a preview presentation of his newest musical, A Doctor in Spite of Himself, which takes the stage April 13, the opening night of the William Inge Theatre Festival.

Performers include Wayne Bryan, who has extensive Broadway and television credits. Bryan is producing artistic director of Music Theatre Wichita. Daisy Eagan—who at age 11 won her Tony for starring in The Secret Garden and is a current cabaret artist—is also a featured performer.

Gala Dinner audiences will also hear from Burke Moses, the original Gaston in Beauty and the Beast, who is also appearing at the Inge Festival in Harnick's A Doctor in Spite of Himself. Moses teams with Bryan in the duet Lily's Eyes from the musical The Secret Garden.

Another soloist is Los Angeles-based actor Alan Safier, who is in a national tour of show about George Burns, Goodnight Gracie. Safier also performs in A Doctor in Spite of Himself.

More performers include Uzo Aduba, from Broadway's Coram Boy, as well as numerous regional theater appearances.

Another for the audience will be a reading by Tony-winning actress Elizabeth Wilson. An inductee of the Theatre Hall of Fame, her celebrated career on film and stage includes both the original Broadway cast and then the film version of Picnic.

The Gala dinner also includes a presentation to long-time guest artist and Inge Festival favorite Luke Yankee, a director, playwright, and actor. He will receive the Jerome Lawrence Award for outstanding contributions to both the Inge Festival and the national theater community.

The Gala Dinner is titled "30 Years Later: the Inge Festival in Revue." Tickets, including a delicious gourmet dinner, are $45. The event takes place at the Independence Civic Center at 7 p.m. Friday, April 15, 2011. Tickets for all events are available at www.ingecenter.org, or by phone at (800) 842-6063 ext. 5491, weekdays 1-5 p.m.

The William Inge Home was built in 1895. William Inge lived there from approximately age 6 through graduation from high school in 1930. The house's inside staircase and grand porch were direct inspiration for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and Picnic.

It is owned by the William Inge Festival Foundation, a non-profit which maintains the home. Since 2002, it has been used as an artists residence by the William Inge Center for the Arts, located at Independence Community College.

The William Inge Center for the Arts is a participant in the New Generations Program, funded by Doris Duke Charitable Foundation/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by Theatre Communications Group, the national organization for the American theatre.

Also, this program is presented in part by the Kansas Arts Commission, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency, which believes that a great nation deserves great art.

Additional supporters include the Hallmark Corporation, the William Inge Festival Foundation, and Independence Community College.

Independence, Kansas, is located 90 miles north of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and 140 miles south of Kansas City, Missouri.