Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) and Back Stage will host the networking panel, Pitch Perfect: How to Present Your Projects (and What a Producer Should Be Looking For) on Wednesday, February 18 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street (below W. 3rd Street), NYC.
Panelists include Michael Feingold, literary consultant for Theater for a New Audience, former literary manager of Yale Repertory Theater, and critic for The Village Voice; and Michael Nassar, producer, general manager and former associate artistic director of the O'Neill Center, dramaturge at The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club and 7 Devils PW Conference.
Topics for discussion will include:
* Why producers choose the projects they do;
* What makes a play viable and dramatic, and what producers should be looking for when reading scripts, including some of the basics of good playwriting;
* What makes a play of interest to more than just the playwright and his immediate circle? Are "timely" and "controversial" plays hot tickets, or do they have a short shelf life? Are they often merely exploitative?
* We'll offer insights into good presentations versus messy or murky presentations of materials; and
* The producer-writer relationship: do writers and producers speak the same language? And if not, how do they find their way to the same page?
The panel will be co-moderated by Sherry Eaker, editor-at-large of Back Stage. Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments; panel begins promptly at 7:30pm. Admission is FREE for members of TRU; $12 for non-members. To reserve a space at the panel or to become a member of TRU, please call 212-714-7628 or e-mail TRUnltd@aol.com.
TRU was founded in 1992 to promote a spirit of cooperation and support within the general theater community by providing information and a variety of entertainment-related services and resources that strengthen the business capability of producing organizations, individual producers, self-producing artists and other theater professionals. The company holds monthly seminars on a wide range of subjects important to theatrical producers and artistic directors conducted by panels of experts from both the commercial and not-for-profit segments of Broadway, Off-Broadway and the motion picture industry. These educational forums have been a core program of TRU since its inception, and in recent years executive director Ost has partnered with Ms. Eaker to generate topics of interest to both TRU membership and Back Stage readers. "Through TRU, Back Stage is able to reach beyond its actor base to a wider theater community," said Ost, "and we get more visibility through the Back Stage connection."
TRU also publishes a monthly email community newsletter of services, goods and productions. In addition, TRU served as the umbrella organization for a co-production by several of its member companies as a part of the first annual New York Fringe Festival. From that experience, the organization has expanded its production efforts by creating the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and the TRU VOICES Annual New Musicals Reading Series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings of new works for theater. In 2001, TRU began giving annual scholarships to The Commercial Theater Institute, to encourage the development of aspiring producers, and most recently created a Producer Mentoring Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York theater. In March, TRU was associate producer of its first Equity showcase, Missives at 59E59 Theatre, a play that was developed in the 2006 TRU reading series. TRU programs for actors include an Annual Audition Event, Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as free monthly actor events, including workshops.
Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as generous support from the Friar's National Foundation Association.
For more information about TRU membership, visit www.truonline.org or call 212-714-7628.
