Fulfilling a pledge made by Laura Pels celebrating Roundabout Theatre Company’s 50th anniversary, the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater has made a $2 million gift to the theater, Playbill reports.

The foundation’s largest gift to date will support the theater’s Board-Designated Reserve Fund as well as Roundabout’s New Play Initiative and works developed and produced in the company’s Laura Pels Theatre, a large Off-Broadway space at the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre that has carried Pels’ name since 1995. Pels, a Roundabout board member for nearly three decades, died in May at the age of 92.

According to Playbill, the Pels Foundation will continue under the leadership of Julie Kinsella, serving as president, and Jack Brister, serving as executive director. Both had worked alongside Pels at the foundation for several years.

“We are deeply grateful to the Laura Pels International Foundation for Theater for this extraordinary investment in Roundabout’s future, and to our beloved Laura for her generosity, foresight, and commitment,” said interim artistic director Scott Ellis. “Laura was a fierce advocate for artists everywhere, a leader on our board of directors for 28 years, and a creative force herself who made us a braver, better theater....This landmark gift ensures that her legacy will live on in the many Roundabout artists who share her courageous spirit.”

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