Barlow-Hartman PR To Cease Operations, Partners To Start Separate Companies

After 10 successful years in business, Barlow-Hartman Public Relations will cease operations on June 14, 2009. The company will be exactly 10 years old on that date. John Barlow, a partner in the firm, will form an entertainment consultancy group and partner Michael Hartman will open a new company, THE HARTMAN GROUP, an entertainment media relations agency.

Barlow-Hartman Public Relations was incorporated and began business on June 14, 1999 and has since represented over 100 productions, which included Broadway and off-Broadway shows as well not-for-profit theater companies, celebrities and special projects in the theater industry.

Barlow-Hartman is currently represented on Broadway by 9 to 5 The Musical, Billy Elliot The Musical, Guys and Dolls, In The Heights, Next to Normal, Rock of Ages, West Side Story and Wicked.

Michael Hartman and his newly formed THE HARTMAN GROUP will continue to represent all of the firm's current projects as well as other productions to be announced at a later date. THE HARTMAN GROUP will begin operations on Monday, June 15th at 260 West 44th Street, 5th Floor, New York, NY, 10036.

"I don't think it would be possible for me to love the theater any more than I do. It always has been (and I hope always will be) one of the most important and enriching parts of my life. But I think this is the moment for me to take a step back and look at all of the changes that are happening in the theater, and in entertainment as a whole, and figure out how I might best serve that which is so fundamentally a part of me. Taking this step to evaluate how I can best do this is going to facilitate that goal. To that end, I plan to open a consultancy group which will serve the theater and the arts and bring the best of what I do and what I have learned to this ever-changing landscape," said Barlow.

"Creating Barlow-Hartman has been more rewarding than I could have imagined, however, if we remain open and conscious, the call to evolve inevitably sounds. Not only have John and I both evolved, the theater industry and the very nature of media coverage has evolved as well. I'm very inspired to originate an agency with an emphasis on new media relations and developing projects and relationships that contribute to the vitality and relevance of this industry that I remain passionate about and devoted to," said Hartman.

THE HARTMAN GROUP is proud to announce that the firm will continue to employ the current Barlow-Hartman staff, which includes Wayne Wolfe, Leslie Baden, Tom D'Ambrosio, Juilana Hannett, Michelle Bergmann, Melissa Bixler, Matt Shea, Lexie Pregosin and Frances Connelly. Holly Kinney will join the firm as Business Manager.

Past productions represented by Barlow-Hartman include The Producers, Movin' Out, The Full Monty, 700 Sundays, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Pillowman, The Woman In White, The Color Purple, A Chorus Line, Company, Legally Blonde, Radio Golf, Young Frankenstein, Gypsy, Boeing-Boeing, Noises Off, A Moon for the Misbegotten, Seussical The Musical, , King Hedley II, Sweet Smell Of Success, The Graduate, The Wild Party Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, Salome, Anna In The Tropics, Little Shop of Horrors and Bombay Dreams.