'Catch Me If You Can Get the Rights' Talks Adapting Films into Musicals

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), The Players Theatre and Back Stage present the industry panel Catch Me If You Can Get the Rights: Adapting Films into Musicals on Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre, 3rd Floor Loft Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street (below W. 3rd Street), NYC.

The panel will include Tony-nominated producers Margo Lion (Catch Me If You Can, Hairspray, The Wedding Singer, Come Fly Away, Caroline or Change) and Hal Luftig (Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde, Movin' Out, Come Fly Away, Thoroughly Modern Millie). Their first-hand experiences will throw light on specific issues such as identifying a movie property with musical potential, how many hoops do you have to jump through to get the rights, what makes it sing, and how do you put together the right creative team to translate it into something stage-worthy? Other areas to be covered include: when is a familiar movie a marketable brand, and when is it just a good story with a proven structure? How open (or resistant) are movie fans to tampering with their beloved classics? Does a stage version of a film attract a wider audience than a show written directly for the stage?

Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, panel starts promptly at 7:30pm. FREE for TRU members; $12 for non-members. Please call at least a day in advance (preferably sooner) for reservations: 212-714-7628; or e-mail Christopher Massimine, Programming Director at ChrisM@truonline.org.

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 Back Stage to generate topics of interest to both TRU members 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 presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series which is scheduled for Monday evenings June 13, 20 and 27; and the TRU VOICES Annual New Musicals Reading Series. These are new works series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new works as well as new producers for theater. In 2001, TRU began giving annual scholarships to The Commercial Theater Institute, to encourage the development of aspiring producers, created a Producer Development Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. In March '08, 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 currently scheduled for April 2nd and 3rd 2011; TRU partners with Weist-Barron Studios to offer quarterly Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as free monthly actor events.

The historic Players Theatre is a landmark theater on MacDougal Street, a space for New York performances and rehearsals and a home to TRU. The building includes, a main stage 184 seat Off Broadway theatre, currently the home to the hit thriller/magic show Play Dead by Teller (of Penn and Teller); a 50 seat Off Off Broadway black box theatre; four rehearsal studios; an office suite for arts organizations; and the famous Cafe Wha?, which has been a Greenwich Village mainstay since the 1960's. Built in 1907 and converted into a theatre in the late 1940's, The Players Theatre has been a jewel in the midst of beautiful Greenwich Village, serving as a magnet for performing artists and their audiences. The theatre has been home to such long run productions as An Evening with Quentin Crisp, Psycho Beach Party and Ruthless starring an 8-year-old Britney Spears, Natalie Portman and Legally Blonde, the Musical's Laura Bell Bundy.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) 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 and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call 212-714-7628.