Robert Redford hosted a high-end benefit for the Sundance Institute on Monday and Queerty was there . The evening started with a private performance of Denis O’Hare (True Blood) and Lisa Peterson’s An Illiad at New York Theatre Workshop, followed by cocktails on the terrace of The Bowery Hotel. Guests included Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Lackawana Blues), Montego Glover (Memphis), Christine Ebersole (Grey Gardens), Doug Wright (I Am My Own Wife), Julie Taymor, The Help‘s Chris Lowell (above) and Beau Bridges.

In addition to shepherding filmmakers, the Sundance Institute has worked with emerging stage talents in its Theatre Program. Beneficiaries have included projects by out playwrights like Tony Kushner’s Angels in America, Doug Wright’s I Am My Own Wife, Moises Kaufman’s The Laramie Project and Craig Lucas’ The Light in the Piazza.

Photos: Jeffrey James Keyes