TRU Offers 'Career Paths To Producing:' Company Manager, General Manager, Publicist, & More 11/18

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), Audience Extras and Back Stage present the industry panel Career Paths to Producing: Company Manager, General Manager, Publicist, More on Wednesday, November 18, 2009 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre Mainstage, 115 MacDougal Street (below W. 3rd Street), NYC.

Unless you happen to be very rich, it's hard to jump in and produce a commercial show first time out. You have to build a career and reputation, and gain important skills along the way. Not to mention the fact that a producer is the last person to get paid on a project! So how do you even afford to become a producer? We'll look at various career paths that can earn you a living and teach you what you need to know to succeed. And we'll also consider the shocking fact that there are very few African Americans and persons of color on this path. Why?

Panelists will include Shirley Faison, executive director, National Black Theatre; Tiffani Gavin, Sr. Director of Licensing for Theatrical Rights Worldwide, former executive producer at Clear Channel Entertainment, former company manager (Blue Man Group); Jamillah Lamb, producer (Platanos and Collard Greens); Tom Smedes, producer (Ace the Musical, [title of show], Naked Boys Singing, Dog Sees God), general manager (Altar Boyz, Musical of Musicals), company manager (Show Boat); Lauren Yates, assistant general manager with Martian Entertainment (Rooms, Naked Boys Singing), former company manager (Riverdance, Bring in de Noise Bring in de Funk).

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 for reservations: 212/714-7628; or e-mail TRUnltd@aol.com. The panel will be co-moderated by Sherry Eaker, editor-at-large of Back Stage.

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 Ms. Eaker to generate topics of interest to both TRU membership 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."

Audience Extras (AE) is a "papering" system that was established by Mr. Peter Copani and his son John-Vincent to benefit the Performing Arts in innovative ways, by screening for responsible, dependable and discreet people to put in an empty seat when a producer needs extra audience; and by distributing "paper" complimentary tickets in a way that can develop future audiences, on a "free sample" introductory basis.

TRU also publishes a monthly email community newsletter of services, goods and productions. In addition, TRU served as the umbrella organization for a co-production by several of its member companies as a part of the first annual New York Fringe Festival. From that experience, the organization has expanded its production efforts by creating the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and the TRU VOICES Annual New Musicals Reading Series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings of new works for theater. In 2001, TRU began giving annual scholarships to The Commercial Theater Institute, to encourage the development of aspiring producers, created a Producer Mentoring 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. Last March, 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, Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as free monthly actor events, including workshops.

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, visit www.truonline.org or call 212-714-7628.