Light Up CenterStage is December 7; Harlan to chair

Online Auction begins November 3; main event is expanded

[by Shiela Steinman Wallace, Editor, Community]

The Jewish Community Center is the place, but when you come to Light Up CenterStage on Saturday, December 7, no one would blame you if you thought you were enjoying a gala evening at a swanky nightclub.

The festivities begin at 7 p.m. when the silent auction opens, along with an open bar and hors d’oeuvres. Add in cocktails and a dessert buffet at 7:30. Kick the excitement up another notch at 8:15 when John Leffert and the CenterStage Company present an original Broadway revue and a live auction.

This year’s event will be bigger and better than years past, said Light Up CenterStage Chair Sarah Harlan. “We’re moving the silent auction to the upper gym,” although by the time Eventualities does its magic, you’ll forget where you are. The room will accommodate a stylish bar and high-top tables for casual, sophisticated conversation. The perimeter will be lined with silent auction tables that will give partiers plenty of room to view the offerings and check on the status of their bids.

In fact, the move means this year’s event can accommodate 250 people in the auditorium for the show. That means this year 50 more people can join the fun.

To add to the excitement, CenterStage will also be raffling a “spectacular trip to New York,” Harlan said. “Tickets are only $50 and only 150 will be sold, so people have a pretty good chance of winning.”

Can’t wait until December 7 to get in on the action? You don’t have to. The pre-event online auction starts November 3. Watch www.CenterStageJCC.org for details about how to participate.

Harlan is a member of the Jewish Community of Louisville’s Board of Directors, and she served as 2013 Super Sunday chair. She has been an active member of the CenterStage Board since 2007 and has chaired the successful Light Up CenterStage fundraiser for four years. She also chaired the JCC’s Jewish Festival of the Book for several years.

With National Council of Jewish Women, Louisville Section, she’s a director, a member of the Nominating Committee and is president of the St. Francis School Downtown Campus Parent Association and is a trustee of the school. She is principal of the High School of Jewish Studies and is a teacher at The Temple Hebrew School.

Harlan and her husband, Michael, have three children, Jennifer, Sadie, and Joseph.