Sam Rudy Media News

Veteran Broadway press agents Jim Byk and Shane Marshall Brown have created The Press Room, a new theatrical and entertainment publicity office now open in New York City. Founders Byk and Brown are joined by publicist Kelly Guiod, who serves as Vice President for the company.

Tom Viertel, Executive Director of Commercial Theater Institute (CTI), the theater industry's leading training & professional development program for those interested in producing, announces the final line up for its upcoming Marketing Seminar on March 9th and 10th at the Anne L. Bernstein Theater (210 West 50th Street).

Cherry Lane Theatre (38 Commerce St.) will present its second annual week-long education program, CHERRY LANE SCHOOL - featuring panel discussions and workshop sessions with leading figures in the professional theatre - from October 24 to 28 at Cherry Lane Theatre. 

We meet with Jim Wann, the composer/lyricist/co-author of the book, and with director/producer, Kate Middleton. Daniel Bailey accompanies Mariand Torres and Richard Binder in three songs: 'Tippo', 'Lockdown Blues', and Come on Down to Tippo'. This is Jim Wann's first musical since the award-winning Pump Boys and Dinettes, which launched the career of Debra Monk, among others. A little bit love story, a little bit courtroom drama, the musical comedy is set in Tippo, Geroge. It's about the trial of Mona Mae Kitt, who owns a popular hangout in town, and is charged with her husband's murder. If she's convicted, she will have to go to jail, and her attorney has never won a case against the prosecutor -- who is also his fiancee. This production marks its New York premiere. It is playing at the Abingdon Theatre (312 West 36th Street), and opened July 18th.

Ground UP Productions presents the New York premiere of The People vs. Mona, a new Southern murder mystery musical from Jim Wann