The Tisch School of the Arts honored Winnie Holzman, who wrote the Broadway musical “Wicked,” and award-winning actor Daniel Dae Kim at its 2025 Gala on Monday evening.
Casa Cipriani on South Street was decked out for celebration despite the rain as over 500 members of the community gathered to celebrate the arts, complete with a purple carpet. University President Linda Mills, Tisch’s Dean Council members and alumni, including recent Oscar winner and “Wicked” costume designer Paul Tazewell, attended the gala, which raised over $1.7 million to support Tisch students.
For over 50 years, Tisch has pulled from the artistic and cultural resources of New York and NYU to create a training ground for upcoming artists. The school’s annual gala celebrates alumni and collaborators who are redefining the arts. All donations from the event will go toward student scholarships and school-wide needs.
“It’s nice to be here with so many professors and classmates and friends,” said Kim. “It just reminds me of how special NYU is. Everything I know as an actor I learned here at NYU, so I use the things that I learned in the classroom almost every day, on set and on stage.”
Kim, who graduated from Tisch’s Graduate Acting program in 1996, is best known for his performances as Jin-Soo Kwon in the sci-fi series “Lost” and Chin Ho Kelly in drama series “Hawaii Five-0.” In 2013, he founded the production company 3AD, which produced ABC’s “The Good Doctor” and Kim’s audio adaptation of David Henry Hwang’s play “Yellow Face.” Last year, Kim starred in a Broadway revival of the same play. At the event, Kim announced a $500K donation to form a new Tisch Graduate Acting scholarship.
Co-honoree Holzman, who graduated from the Musical Theater Writing program in 1983, wrote the book for Stephen Schwartz’s musical “Wicked,” earning her a best book of a musical nomination at the 2004 Tony Awards. She co-wrote the screenplay for the 2024 film adaptation, with sequel “Wicked: For Good” scheduled for release in November. Holzman created the TV series “My So-Called Life” and also holds multiple acting credits, including a cameo on “Curb Your Enthusiasm.”
“I feel very lucky,” Holzman said. “NYU Tisch [and] the Musical Theatre Writing program really made an impact on my life. I wasn’t even writing musicals before I went [into the program]. It really focused me and gave me a new direction, and gave me an exciting feeling of possibility.”
“It felt appropriate for Winnie because Wicked’s such a sensation right now. She’s from our very first musical theatre class, cycle number one. They’re going to be performing a song that she wrote for her thesis in 1983,” Tisch Dean Allyson Green said in an interview with WSN. “And Daniel, he’s the most lovely person and he came out of graduate acting. Everybody’s such a huge fan of him so I thought they were such an interesting combination.”
Green, Tisch dean for 11 years, is resigning from her post and rejoining the school’s staff this year. Green is a choreographer and visual artist and plans to spend more time creating while also teaching in Tisch’s Department of Art and Public Policy and its Department of Dance.
“It’s bittersweet,” Green said. “It’ll be hard because I love this school so much but I’m a Tisch for life. It’s been the opportunity of a lifetime to do the work that we do at this school.”
Contact the Julia Diorio and Dani Biondi at arts@nyunews.com.
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