Schwartz, Gleason, Jbara, Etc. Honored at NETC in Nov.

The 2006 New England Theatre Conference (NETC) will be holding its annual theatre convention held at the Omni New Haven Hotel at Yale from November 16 – 19, 2006 and this year will include a star-studded line-up of award winners and workshop presenters.  Among the honorees will be Stephen Schwartz, Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara.
 
The Major Award recipient this year will be Stephen Schwartz, the composer/lyricist whose Broadway credits include Wicked, Pippin, The Magic Show and Godspell; he also penned The Baker's Wife.  Schwartz collaborated with composer Alan Menken on the scores for the Disney animated features Pocahontas, for which he received two Academy Awards and another Grammy, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. He also provided songs for DreamWorks' first animated feature, The Prince of Egypt, for which he won another Academy Award for the song "When You Believe." 

In addition to attending the awards banquet on Saturday evening, Schwartz will be taking part in an interview session Saturday afternoon conducted by BroadwayWorld.com's TJ Fitzgerald, after which the floor will be open up to questions from the audience.

Special Award recipients joining Schwartz include Joanna Gleason and Gregory Jbara, both of whom originated roles in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  Gleason won the Tony Award, the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for her portrayal of the Baker's Wife in the original production of Into the Woods.  She also received Tony®, Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Award nominations for her role as Muriel in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  Other Broadway credits include I Love My Wife, The Real Thing, Joe Egg (Tony nod), Social Security, Nick and Nora, and more.  Gleason will be giving a special Master Class on Saturday at the convention.

Jbara originated the role of Andre in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels.  Jbara received the Backstage West Garland 2000 Award for his performance in the West Coast Premiere of George Furth's Precious Sons with Nora Dunn. Other Broadway credits include Chicago, Victor/Victoria, Damn Yankees, Born Yesterday, Serious Money, and more.  Jbara will be presenting a workshop on audition strategies and preparation.
 
Another Special Award Recipient is filmmaker/writer Rick McKay.  His "Broadway: The Golden Age" has won over 15 film festival awards to date, is on 17 critics' year-end lists of their Top Ten Films of 2004 and was a hit in theatres around the country. The DVD has been a best seller as a Sony/BMG release and the film premiered on US television in March 2006 on national PBS. Two sequels to the film are already in production with Robert Redford, Liza Minnelli, Glenn Close, Alan Cumming, Liev Schreiber and 100 other stars. McKay's documentary, "Fay Wray: A Life" is due out in late 2006. In a special seminar session, McKay will be talking about his "Broadway: The Golden Age" film as well giving a sneak clips of the upcoming sequel, "Broadway: The Next Generation."
 
Rounding out the honorees is producer/director Jamie McGonnigal as a Regional Award Winner. As a theatrical producer and director, he has been responsible for many acclaimed concerts. As the founding artistic producer of The World AIDS Day Concerts, he has presented concerts of the New York Premiere of Stephen Schwartz' Children of Eden, the concert premiere of Pippin starring Rosie O'Donnell and Ben Vereen, and The Secret Garden.  McGonnigal has produced and/or directed more than 50 events in just three years for The Matthew Shepard Foundation, God's Love We Deliver, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and more.  His current projects include the 4th Annual World AIDS Day Concert of the musical Rags, to take place December 11th at Times Square's Nokia Theatre.

Plus, the convention will include the Theatre Olympiad, several theatre-related workshops and seminars including workshops by Sherry Eaker of Backstage, Mike Spiegel of SHURE, Inc, a special Disney workshop,  a college fair and theatre trade show, as well as more events TBA shortly.

For more information, e-mail Tim Fitzgerald at disneytim@msn.com or call the NETC office at (617) 851-8535.