Theatre Resources Unlimited Hosts Writer-Producer Virtual Speed Date: The Art Of The Pitch

Theatre Resources Unlimited (TRU) is excited to announce the Writer-Producer Virtual Speed Date, held on Zoom on Sunday, July 16, 2023. This event offers a chance to writers to practice their pitching with real producers who are open to and interested in meeting them. They'll give valuable feedback about the writer's work and their ability to talk about it, as well as the opportunity to start developing a relationship. Held on Zoom, each writer will be in an individual breakout room with each producer. We'll have eleven producers lined up, from both the commercial and not-for-profit worlds, all with an interest in new projects; we also may have eleven aspiring producers from our Producer Development and Mentorship Program, so writers be pitching to as many as 22 producers in total! Applications for this event are due on July 6. For more information on submitting, as well, as more details, visit https://truonline.org/events/virtual-speed-date-07-16-23/.

Confirmed producers include:

· Luis Reyes Cardenas, co-artistic director & co-founder, Open Hydrant Theater Company, NYC;

· Merrie L. Davis, producer (Tony Award for Parade, 5 Tony Awards for Company on Broadway, 4 Olivier Awards for Company London, 6 Tony Award nominations for Eclipsed, Gigi; Himself and Nora; Museum of Broadway; upcoming Working Girl);

· Jane Dubin, producer (Is This A Room, Dana H., The Prom, Tony winning The Norman Conquests, An American in Paris, Farinelli and the King, Bandstand, Peter and the Starcatcher, Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, The 39 Steps, Ann; upcoming: The Village of Vale, an original fantasy musical audio drama);

· Tim Errickson, artistic director of Boomerang Theatre Company, NYC;

· Cooper Jordan, producer of Live Entertainment for New York, Atlantic City and National Touring Productions (New York's Got Talent, Santa's Sing-A-Long, Easter Bunny HOP! Live, The Rat Pack Undead, Saw The Musical: The Unauthorized Parody of Saw & more) - Cooper Jordan Entertainment manages and produces national self-Producing Artists, tribute artists and 1-3 person Live Entertainment touring productions primarily based in New York, Boston, Atlantic City, and Las Vegas.

· John Lant, indie producer/director & showrunner (17 off-Broadway shows: Frankenstein, Wicked Frozen, It Came from Beyond, Wicked City Blues, Fabulous; Earnestly LGBTQ+, XIMER), producing artistic director Write Act Rep NYC/LA (20 years); 2-time NAACP, 4-time DramaLogue & 4-time California for the Arts Winner; production manager Carnegie Hall (13 years), resident theatre operator and renter in NYC & LA; development consultant and specialist for musicals/plays off-Broadway;

· Tamra Pica, producer and casting director for Write Act Repertory, and the new Park Performing Arts Center's (PPAC) in Union City, NJ - "My work centers on developing writers in theater, film and television. Though I tend to produce more musicals, I am interested in writers in all genres with a strong voice who write the stories they are uniquely meant to tell."

· Stephanie L. Rosenberg, producer (Tony Award winner for Moulin Rouge!, Anastasia, Matilda, On The Town; tour of Santa's Sing-A-Long);

· Blair Russell, a Tony Award nominated producer, developer whose experience ranges from fringe festivals to Broadway shows (Slave Play, Sweeney Todd off-Broadway);

· Kim Vasquez, Grey Lady Entertainment (Without You, The Kite Runner, Be More Chill, Broadway Bounty Hunter);

· Gayle Waxenberg, founding executive director of NewYorkRep, producer (Bitter Pill, Stalking the Bogeymen in London, award winning film Influence);

· Anita Waxman, producer (Marie the Musical, Slave Play, Escape to Margaritaville, 1984, Hello Dolly!, Doctor Zhivago, Rocky, Bombay Dreams, Enron).

· Coaches: Diana Calderazzo, Gillien Goll, Chelsey Shannon

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a thirty-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-Producing Artists as well as career producers and theater companies.

TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, opportunities and productions; presents weekly Community Gatherings; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through the TRU Voices Play Reading Series, Writer-Producer Speed Date, Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by the Montage Foundation, The Storyline Project and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit truonline.org.