TRU Appoints Directors of TRU Producer Development and Mentorship Program, Sept 2013

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) has announced the appointment of commercial producers Michael Alden, Patrick Blake and Patricia R. Klausner as the new directors of theTRU Producer Development and Mentorship Program (PDMP), beginning September 2013.

The Producer Development & Mentorship Program was created by TRU in 2005 in collaboration with Tony winning Broadway producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld (The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, Vanya & Sonya & Masha & Spike, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, Legally Blonde, A Steady Rain), to offer specific one-on-one mentorship for TRU producer members with commercial projects. This private program expanded in 2006 to include monthly seminars to offer ongoing support and education for producers at all levels of experience, and the mentorship component was formalized into 3-month goal-oriented sessions with top professionals. The program has grown through word of mouth, and is now formally open for application for the September 2013-July 2014 cycle. Deadline to apply is August 30th, 6pm.

PDMP now consists of two separate but interactive divisions: a Career Producers Group (CPG) led by Broadway producer Michael Alden (Grey Gardens, Bridge & Tunnel, Bat Boy the musical, The Kings' Speech on stage), and Self-Producing Artists (SPA) led by off-Broadway producer/writer Patrick Blake (The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Play Dead!). Patricia R. Klausner, managing director of Shotgun Productions (Chaos Theory, The Lost Boy) and commercial producer (Pippin, Trip to Bountiful, The Scottsboro Boys, Stick Fly), will serve as program director for those members working in the not-for-profit sector across both CPG and SPA.

The program guides members through step-by-step aspects of producing, ending with the presentation of a workable business plan for their projects. The program also provides the opportunity for goal-oriented one-on-one mentorships and consultations between industry pros and aspiring producers. Applicants must commit to attending monthly evening seminars, generally on the last Tuesday of every month. Deadline to apply is August 30th, 6pm. Interested candidates may email TRUMentor@gmail.com to request an application. If selected, the cost of the program is $100 for the year; candidates must also join TRU as a member for $75. For more information on the program visit www.truonline.org/PDMP.htm.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM DIRECTORS:

As a film and theater producer, Michael Alden has been represented in the West End with David Seidler's original play The King's Speech and Bat Boy the Musical, on Broadway withGrey Gardens and Bridge & Tunnel (Special Tony Award), and Off Broadway and regional with the Brochu-Schalchlin musical The Last Session, Bat Boy the Musical, Sarah Jones Bridge & Tunnel, Spalding Gray: Stories Left to Tell and the Los Angeles productions of Howard Crabtree's When Pigs Fly and Theresa Rebeck's Bad Dates directed by Judith Ivey. Film works include: Just Cause with Sean Connery, the fashion forward documentaryUnZipped for Miramax, Stephen Daldry's The Hours, the multi-award winning feature comedy Kissing Jessica Stein and Ralph Ziman's foreign feature film The Zookeeper starring Sam Neill. Mr. Alden's current projects include the Broadway premieres' of David Seidler'sThe King's Speech and along with Producer Elizabeth Healy, Wendy Yondorf's comedyAdmit One directed by Karen Lynn Carpenter, Becoming Dr. Ruth starring Debra Jo Rupp and the screen version of Emmy-nominated writer Jason Odell's Handle with Care.

Patrick Blake is a writer/producer based in New York and San Francisco. In New York theater, he was one of the producers of Play Dead! at The Players Theatre, he has producedIn the Continuum at Perry Street Theatre, Noah's Archive, Joe Fearless, The Exonerated(Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Court TV's Scales of Justice Award) and The Soap Myth at Southstreet Seaport. He also produced Dirty Works at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He is currently working on bringing to New York the hip hop musicalFreedom starring the rapper Maino, which (like The Exonerated) deals with the issue of unjust conviction. He was Executive Producer for the short film, The Igloo, and the feature film Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler.

Patricia R. Klausner has produced, written and assistant directed theater. She is one of the producers of the Tony Award winning revival of Trip to Bountiful and Pippin on Broadway. Previously she was a producer of the Broadway shows The Scottsboro Boys and Stick Fly. As the Managing Director of Shotgun Productions, a theatrical non-profit, she has developed & produced theater, dance and operas. Productions include: Clear. . .A new musical experience (co-production with Dixon Place, Hendel Productions, Wayne Brady, Michele Crowley & Earl Dax), Santa Claus is Coming Out (co-production with Penguin Rep & Diverse City Theater), Marc Deaton in Vienna (classical concert, Schoenberg Center, Austria), The Lost Boy (co-production with QTIP & The Helen Hayes Theater in Nyack),Tristan und Isolde in Sofia (staged concert, Bulgaria), 24-Hour Drama-Thons, Big Kids, The Chaos Theories, Seduction (musical theater dance opera), Undivulged Crimes, Don't Hug Me(co-production with NJ Rep), Mia Michael's R.A.W. (dance concert), and Joined at the Head. Ms. Klausner has a Ph.D. in sociology and has taught women's studies, race relations, and criminology at the University of Delaware and Montclair State College.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is a twenty-one year old 501c3 nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of theater. Membership includes self-Producing Artists as well as career producers and theater companies.

TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, goods and productions; presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and Annual New Musicals Reading Series, two new works series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new shows as well as new producers for theater; TRU offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York Theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include an Annual Combined Audition and quarterly Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as free monthly actor workshops, in partnership with Weist-Barron Studios.

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 New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, 9th district Council Member Inez Dickens and Council Member Christine Quinn; The Montage Foundation, as well as 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.