Theater Resources Unlimited Sets 12/18 Panel: THE BUMPY ROAD TO NEW YORK

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces the December panel The Bumpy Road to New York: Developmental Paths for New Works on Wednesday, December 18, 2013 at 7:30pmat The Players Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street, NYC. Doors open at 7pm for networking and refreshments, presentations and roundtable introductions start at 7:30pm.

Guests will include producer Van Dean of The Broadway Consortium (Tony Award winning producer of The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess with 4 other Tony Award nominations for the revivals of Evita, Gore Vidal's The Best Man, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and Catch Me If You Can; also Matilda, Big Fish, Bonnie & Clyde, Chinglish, Rooms: a rock romance; Grammy nominee for Matilda recording) and general partner on an incoming Broadway show; producer Larry Kaye of HOP Theatricals (revival of Mamet's Oleanna, the Tony Award winning American Idiot, Tony Award winning revival of Blithe Spirit, off-Broadway's Rooms: a rock romance) and general partner on an incoming Broadway show; producer Jana Robbins (Little Women, Ragtime revival, Through the Night) who has been working with writer D. Tucker Smith to bring in Smith's play Roof of the World (formerly The Great Game); and Ken Waissman (the original Grease, Agnes of God, Torch Song Trilogy) who is working on bringing in Josephine, a musical about legendary Josephine Baker.

Getting a show to New York is difficult, and there are multiple ways to go about it. This panel will explore various developmental trajectories, including regional productions, not-for-profit partnerships, college collaborations and testing the waters in the West End, as well as the early steps from table readings to industry presentations. We will also talk about the producer's role as a creative collaborator, options and other ways a producer can be attached to a project, the pros and cons of having a producer come on board during early development and the reasonable expectations a writer and producer may have of each other during the road to production.

Admission is $12 (free for TRU members). Please RSVP at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 212/714-7628; or e-mail TRUnltd@aol.com

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.

Built in 1907 and converted into a theatre in the late 1940's, The Players Theatre, host of the monthly TRU panels, has been a jewel in the midst of beautiful Greenwich Village, serving as a magnet for performing artists and their audiences. The mainstage theatre has been home to such long run productions as An Evening with Quentin Crisp, Psycho Beach Party and Ruthless starring an 8 year old Brittany Spears, Natalie Portman and Legally Blonde the Musical's Laura Bell Bundy. The Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre, a 60-seat loft space on the 3rd floor offers an intimate home for TRU's panels, as well as a range of new works. For more information, please visit www.theplayerstheatre.com.

Conceived of as an artists' work space for writers, directors, composers, actors, producers and others committed to the professional theater arts and its industry.

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.