Mark Taper Forum The auditorium was renamed the Amelia Taper Auditorium after a $2 million gift from the S. Mark Taper Foundation. The Taper has presented innovative plays since its 1967-opening of "The Devils" from playwright John Whiting about the sexual fantasies of a 17th-century priest and a sexually repressed nun. The play received a great deal of protest from local religious leaders and the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, although the production continued. The production of such plays as "Murderous Angels", "The Dream on Monkey Mountain", "Children of a Lesser God", "Savages", "The Shadow Box", "The Kentucky Cycle" and "Angels in
Vanessa Redgrave awarded a lifetime achievement award from the Transilvania International Film Festival, one of whose sponsors is a mining company named Gabriel Resources. She dedicated the award to a community organisation from Roşia Montană, Romania, which is campaigning against a gold mine that Gabriel Resources is seeking to build near the village. Gabriel Resources placed an "open letter" in "The Guardian" on 23 June 2006, attacking Redgrave, arguing the case for the mine, and exhibiting support for it among the inhabitants: the open letter is signed by 77 villagers. In December 2007, Redgrave was named as one of the possible suretors