D.B. Bonds and Lauren Zakrin Join TRU Love Benefit

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), now celebrating its 21st year as a not-for-profit service organization, has announced a lineup of Broadway stars performing at their annual TRU Love Benefit, Making the Impossible Possible!.

The previously announced honorees include producer Van Dean of The Broadway Consortium; director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell for his work with Broadway Bares; and legendary downtown entrepreneur Edith O'Hara and the 13th Street Repertory Company. The event will take place Sunday November 11th at the brand new midtown Lucky Cheng's at 240 W. 52nd Street, with generous sponsorship support from Peroni Beer, The Players Theatre, Pure Audio Systems and open captioning for people with hearing loss provided by C2 Caption Coalition. The festivities begin at noon with wine, drinks and appetizers served as only the Lucky Cheng's girls can serve them, followed by a luncheon at 1pm and the awards ceremony and performances at 2pm.

The star-studded Broadway cast is headed by Andrea McArdle (Annie, Les Miserables, Beauty and the Beast, State Fair), as well as an array of talent that has appeared - or is appearing - in Dean and Mitchell productions: Laura Osnes will sing a song from Dean-produced Bonnie & Clyde as well as the upcoming first ever Broadway production of Rodger and Hammerstein's classic Cinderella; Kerry Butler (Xanadu, The Best Man) will be featured in her star turn solo from Catch Me If You Can, which Dean produced and Mitchell choreographed; Celina Carvajal (Disney's Tarzan) will be singing a song with composer Paul Scott Goodman from his musical Rooms: A Rock Romance, Dean's first off-Broadway venture before forming The Broadway Consortium; Tanesha Ross (Hair) and Darren Ritchie (Wonderland) will sing a duet from Saint Heaven, Dean's very first musical production which he found through the TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series; Lauren Zakrin (Legally Blonde, Wicked) and D.B. Bonds (Legally Blonde, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Last Five Years, associate director of incoming Kinky Boots) will be joining the cast recreating their roles of Elle and Emmett in Legally Blonde, which Mitchell directed and choreographed; and young Isabela Moner (Evita) will be singing a song from Dean-produced Evita. A few added surprises are in store as well.

TRU is proud to recognize one of their own by presenting the 2012 TRU Spirit of Theater Award to Van Dean in recognition of his remarkable rise from first-time producer in the TRU Voices reading series in 2005 (Saint Heaven) to a current Tony Award winner (Porgy & Bess) and prolific Broadway producer and creator of The Broadway Consortium, a new investment model that has helped bring Bonnie & Clyde, Chinglish, revivals of Evita and The Best Man and more to the Broadway stage; as well as for his ongoing generosity as an active contributor to TRU's programs and his avid outreach on TRU's behalf. TRU will present their annual TRU Humanitarian Award to Broadway director-choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can, Legally Blonde and the upcoming Cyndi Lauper musical Kinky Boots) for his selfless work and passionate, generous spirit as the creator of Broadway Bares, raising money for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. This year's TRU Entrepreneur Award will be given to Edith O'Hara in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the 13th Street Repertory Company, and which for four decades has provided a valuable first home for so many people who move to New York to pursue theater.

The Honorary Benefit Committee lending their luminous names and support to this year's event include writers Nell Benjamin and Laurence O'Keefe (Legally Blonde); producer Corey Brunish (The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Bonnie and Clyde, Peter and the Starcatcher); Kristin Caskey, president of Fox Theatricals (Bring It On, Red, Legally Blonde, Thoroughly Modern Millie); producer/investor Will Dombrowski (The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, The Addams Family, Hairspray); producer Sue Frost of Junkyard Dog Productions (Memphis, Vanities); writer Heather Hach (Legally Blonde); playwright Israel Horovitz (Line, The Indian Wants the Bronx); producer-presenter Mike Isaacson, former vice president of Fox Theatricals, current executive producer of the Muny in St. Louis; producer Hal Luftig (Kinky Boots, Catch Me If You Can, Evita revival, Legally Blonde); Sandra Nordgren, artistic director of 13th Street Repertory Company; 3-time Tony Award winning director Jack O'Brien (Catch me If You Can, The Coast of Utopia, Hairspray, The Full Monty); writers Marc Shaiman & Scott Wittman (Hairspray, Catch Me If You Can); producer Brisa Trinchero (The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Bonnie and Clyde, Peter and the Starcatcher); producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld (The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, A Steady Rain, Legally Blonde, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty); and writer Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll and Hyde, Bonnie and Clyde).

The event will include a Silent Auction whose more than 60 items include a weekend stay at the Trump International Hotel in New York; VIP tickets to the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade; and tickets to Kinky Boots, Evita, War Horse, The Anarchist, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Peter & the Starcatcher and much more; plus over 50 gift items and services. Bidding will start Friday 11/9 on line, and continue at the event itself; items that do not reach their guarantee bid will continue bidding online during the following week. For information about being a bidder, email TRUAuction@gmail.com. The proceeds from this event directly benefit the programs of Theater Resources Unlimited, a not-for-profit service organization that educates people in the business of the arts, with a focus on producers, emerging theater companies and self-Producing Artists. Programs include monthly panels, workshops, a Producer Development and Mentorship Program, a new plays and new musicals reading series and a community e-newsletter of jobs, services, resources and theater events.

Tickets for the event are $175 Premium Patron Level reserved seating on the first tier near the stage and $150 for Patron Level reserved seating on the first tier sides and second tier. Non-reserved General Admission tickets may be purchased for $100. Details are available at www.truonline.org/TRULove12.htm, and tickets are available through the TRU Store at www.truonline.org/store-new.html.