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I didn’t hear how much the package of deluxe Capitals, Wizards, and Nationals tickets went for at a benefit auction at the Helen Hayes Star Gala on Friday; I was too busy trying to parse the level of sarcasm in Antiques Roadshow auctioneer Sebastian Clarke’s voice when he repeatedly followed up the phrase “Washington Nationals” with “because they’re awesome.”

But unlike the Nationals, D.C.’s well-heeled theater lovers have something to do in October (besides the theater): Pay a lot of money for pie. A year’s worth of Dangerously Delicious’ deep-dishers (without delivery but with naming rights for a new pie) fetched $1,600.

The live auction came near the end of a fancy and delicious meal: a half roasted pear filled with blue cheese, dried cranberries and walnuts, drizzled with a port wine vinaigrette; followed by a main course of “panko crumb crusted cobia atop a maple infused fall vegetables mashed with roasted brussel sprout leaves in brown butter.” For the vegetarians in our midst, there was a roasted acorn squash filled with curry & lentil stew. Desset was a chocolate and pumpkin crème brulee dome on a gingerbread crumb crust, plus pieces of bark-brittle-caramel toffee.

Elegant place settings stimulated the appetite with calla lilles floating in etched-glass vases bearing the names of contributing individuals and organizations.

It was a night for many of those contributors to dine with some of the artists who spend their money.

Actors James Konicek and Susan Lynskey turned up. Serge Seiden and Keith Alan Baker, both of the Studio Theatre, attended, as did Woolly Mammoth artistic director Howard Shalwitz. Actor-director Marcus Kyd waited patiently for actor-director Lise Bruneau to get her fill of singing around Glenn Pearson’s piano.

In all, 300 guests packed the pink-and-gold Corcoran ballroom of the Four Seasons Hotel for the black-tie benefit feting two couples for generosity to area theatres as donors and fundraisers. Accepting a “Helen’s Star” on behalf of himself and his partner, Sara Cormeny, Woolly Mammoth board president Pete Miller said, “Sara and I do what we do for an entirely self-serving reason… we’re just supporting our habit.”

Susan and Dixon Butler also received a Helen’s Star. Susan is board chair of the Studio Theatre. Accepting the award, she said her courtship with her husband began with an evening of theater when she was sixteen.

At the same time, many new courtships were taking place. The most unique item on the block was a one-ounce gold coin struck in 1984 bearing Helen Hayes’s image and the inscription “First Lady of the Stage.” Clarke opened the bidding at $1,000. The winner? One Tyne Daly, the evening’s celebrity host, who bid $3,500. Daly said she would make a gift of the coin to her youngest granddaughter, Poppy Hope, upon her 16th birthday.

Dinner for up to ten at the Embassy of Canada in the company of Ambassador Gary Doer, went for $7,500. There were higher-ticket items — luxury vacation itineraries to California, London, Vietnam, India, and Costa Rica.