ATW Assembles Casting Directors for CUNY TV/Web Program

The American Theatre Wing assembles a quartet of the industry's busiest casting directors on its upcoming "Working in the Theatre" on CUNY TV on Sunday, March 18 at 5 p.m. The segment will repeat on Friday, March 23 at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Saturday, March 24 at 11 a.m., and Sunday, March 25 at 5 p.m. Following the initial airing on CUNY TV, the program will also be available nationally from www.americantheatrewing.org.

The role of the Casting Director is explored with a panel featuring Tara Rubin (Spamalot, Jersey Boys), Laura Stanczyk (Translations, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?), Daniel Swee (The Coast of Utopia, The Vertical Hour) and Bernard Telsey (Wicked, Grey Gardens), discussing an array of topics including the basics of how they do their jobs, dos and don'ts for auditioners, where they find and how they prepare new talent, the challenge of casting understudies and replacements -- and whether they were ever tempted to be actors.

Tara Rubin began casting as an assistant at Johnson-Liff Associates, working with Geoffrey Johnson and Vinnie Liff on Cats, Les Miserables, Phantom Of The Opera, Miss Saigon, Guys And Dolls, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Victor Victoria, Side Show and The Producers. In 2001 she started her own company, Tara Rubin Casting. She and her associates cast for Broadway: Jersey Boys, The Pirate Queen, Mary Poppins, Les Miserables, Mamma Mia!, Monty Python's Spamalot, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Phantom of the Opera, The Producers. They also cast for Second Stage Theater Company, Yale Rep, La Jolla Playhouse and the Williamstown Theater Festival. They are currently at work on Young Frankenstein, Shrek and The Little Mermaid for next season. Tara is a board member of the Casting Society of America.

Laura Stanczyk was the Casting Director for the Broadway productions of Translations, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (also West End), Sweet Charity, Wonderful Town, Urinetown (also national tour), Judgment At Nuremberg, Seussical, and The Music Man. Other credits include National Anthems (Old Vic), My Brilliant Divorce (Druid Theatre Company, Galway, Ireland), The New Moon (Encores!), and Once Upon A Mattress (ABC TV). She is the resident casting director for The McCarter Theatre Center, Princeton, NJ and has consulted for Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, The Huntington Theatre, The Pittsburgh Public Theatre, ACT and The Long Wharf Theatre. Upcoming projects include Coram Boy (Broadway), Radio Golf (Broadway), The Seafarer (Broadway), The Glorious Ones (Pittsburgh Public) and Some Like It Hot (West End).

Daniel Swee is the Casting Director for Lincoln Center Theater in NY, for which he has cast more than 50 productions including The Coast of Utopia, The Clean House, Awake and Sing, Edward Albee's Seascape, Third, The Rivals, Henry IV, Dinner at Eight, Morning's at Seven, The Invention of Love, Contact, Ten Unknowns, Twelfth Night, Ah, Wilderness!, A Delicate Balance, Pride's Crossing, An American Daughter, Racing Demon, The Heiress, Arcadia, Carousel, The Sisters Rosensweig and The Substance Of Fire. Additional Broadway credits include Frost/Nixon, The Vertical Hour, Julius Caesar (starring Denzel Washington), The Retreat From Moscow, The Crucible (starring Liam Neeson), Art, Amy's View, The Judas Kiss, Skylight, Once On This Island and The Heidi Chronicles. UK Theatre casting includes Fuddy Meers (West End) and Bash and The Distance From Here at The Almeida. Prior to working for Lincoln Center Theater, he was the casting director for Playwrights Horizons.

Bernard Telsey opened his own casting office in 1988. Telsey + Company, formerly Bernard Telsey Casting, is responsible for many Broadway and Off-Broadway productions that include The Wedding Singer, Company, Grey Gardens, The Color Purple, Sweeney Todd, Wicked, Hairspray, Rent, Legally Blonde, In the Heights, The Rocky Horror Show, The Fantasticks, The Drowsy Chaperone, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Frozen, High Fidelity, Anna in the Tropics, La Boheme, Moon for the Misbegotten, Aida, Death of a Salesman, Electra, De La Guarda, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Capeman, Wit, and The Food Chain. Telsey + Company has also cast for many of the leading New York non-profit theater companies such as MCC Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, Signature Theatre, Drama Dept. and New York Theatre Workshop. Regionally, they have cast for The Goodman Theatre, Hartford Stage, Long Wharf Theatre, and La Jolla Playhouse.

The ATW "Working in the Theatre" panels bring together theatre's best-known performers, producers, playwrights, directors, choreographers, composers, agents and others for sustained peer-to-peer conversation about how theatre is made.

CUNY TV is a cable channel serving the five boroughs of New York City with educational, cultural and public affairs programs. As part of The City University of New York, CUNY TV operates as a non-commercial station. Its mission is to extend the academic and intellectual richness of the University beyond the campuses and to offer New York City residents a haven for life long learning experiences through television.

About The American Theatre Wing

The American Theatre Wing is best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, which it presents annually with the League of American Theatres and Producers. The Wing's other activities, dedicated to recognizing excellence and supporting education in theatre, include its "Working in the Theater", now in their 27th year of telecasts on CUNY TV in New York and on other national cable outlets; "Downstage Center," its weekly theatrical interview show on XM Satellite Radio; "Guides to Careers in the Theatre," a video series developed for schools and libraries; a grants and scholarship program to New York City schools and not-for-profit theatre companies, which has awarded more than $2.5 million since its inception; the Theatre Intern Group, a career development program for young professionals; and SpringboardNYC, a two-week college-to-career boot camp for young performers moving to NYC. Visitors to www.americantheatrewing.org can view an archive of "Working in the Theatre" and the career guides and listen to "Downstage Center", all as free, on-demand streaming or downloadable audio and video. Sondra Gilman is Chairman of the Board of the American Theatre Wing; Doug Leeds is President of the Board and Howard Sherman is Executive Director.