Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), Audience Extras and Back Stage present the industry panel Cooking from Scratch: How a Producer Puts Together the Ingredients of a New Musical on Thursday, December 17, 2009 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre Mainstage, 115 MacDougal Street (below W. 3rd Street), NYC.
Where do new musicals come from? Sometimes the ideas spring from the mind of a producer, not a writer. The art of creative producing is back and thriving. Meet some producers who come up with concepts, get the rights, hire a writing team and put all the pieces together to cook up a brand new musical. How involved do they get in the creative process? And how tricky is it to let go and let the writers do their job? How do they guide the process without being intrusive? Are producer-driven musicals any different than the sort shows writers come up with on their own? Are they more (or less) successful commercially?
Panelists will include
Randy Adams,
Junkyard Dog Productions (Vanities, Memphis);
Tom Polum, producer (The Toxic Avenger);
Tom Smedes, producer (Ace the Musical, [title of show], Naked Boys Singing); Ken Waissman, producer (original Broadway productions of Grease, Over Here!, Agnes of God, Torch Song Trilogy and the upcoming musical, Josephine); and others to be announced.
"This year's panel about musical development falls right smack in the middle of our TRU Voices Series," said TRU President
Bob Ost, referring to the upcoming TRU musical readings of The Thing About Joe on December 14, RIPPED! on December 15 and The Arresting Dilemma of Mr. K on December 21. "So essentially, TRU friends and followers will get one chance to hear how a producer puts together a musical and three chances to see what writers have come up with."
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. Details of the upcoming TRU musicals series may be found at www.truonline.org/TRUMusicals.htm.
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. 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, 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.
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