On Friday, November 9th, the Napa Valley Film Festival was pleased to honor The Groundlings Theatre & School with the Miner Family Winery Legacy Ensemble Tribute in a special presentation that consisted of an on-stage conversation with Groundlings alumni including Jordan Black, Stephanie Courtney, Tracy Newman, Cheri Oteri, Julia Sweeney and Michaela Watkins, moderated by current Groundling Michael Churven. The theater was filled with laughter as the group looked back on their time at The Groundlings, giving the audience a peek into the early days of SNL and working with other amazing talents that have come up through the Groundlings program.
Later that evening, the festival screened the documentary film, This Changes Everything, which was followed by a special tribute program for Geena Davis, who received the Davis Estates Visionary award. Award-winning journalist Stacey Wilson Hunt moderated an on-stage conversation where Davis spoke about the importance of eliminating unconscious bias and highlighting gender balance by creating roles for strong female characters in the entertainment and media. Backstage, Davis was interviewed by two young, budding female journalists from Napa Valley’s local middle schools (dubbed “Teen Press”), and gave them some words of wisdom as a women in the entertainment and media industry.
Earlier in the day, Top Chef star and 2018 James Beard Award-winning Chef Nina Compton participated in a culinary demonstration on the Monogram Appliances Demonstration Kitchen Stage to a packed audience.
View video footage here: