New York Theatre Barn Welcomes New Board Members for 16th Season

New York Theatre Barn is celebrating its 16th season as an inclusive incubator for original culture shifting musicals. The company is welcoming new board members Ariel Estrada, Willie Fernandez, Cecilia Lin, and Gary Rosenberg to the company's board of directors, and board member Robin Gorman Newman has also been elected Vice President of the Board of Directors.

Ariel Estrada is an actor, singer, producer, and Founder/Producing Artistic Director of Leviathan Lab, a creative studio for Asian American performing artists. He was a member of the 2021-22 cohort of artEquity's BIPOC Leadership Circle. He has also been designated as a 2019 Emerging Arts Leader by New York Foundation for the Arts, and a 2017 Rising Leader of Color by Theatre Communications Group.

Willie Fernandez is a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award and Pulitzer Prize winner. A journalist turned theater producer, he has co-produced such critical Broadway hits as The Inheritance (Tony Award), Frankie and Johnny (Tony nominee), American Son, and Mrs. Doubtfire. In Miami, he was the executive producer of the city's longest-running hit, The Amparo Experience. He is also the recipient of three Emmy nominations.

Cecilia Lin is a producer, songwriter, and a four-time China Music Award winner for Best Composer of the Year. Beginning her professional career at age 15, Ms. Lin has written over a hundred pieces of pop music for various Asian pop stars, including JJ Lin, A-Mei, Gigi Leung, Kelly Chan, Twins, Eason Chan, etc. and twenty-one songs that reached #1 on Chinese Music Radio (Chinese Billboard). Since 2018, Cecilia has been living in New York and is a co-producer of Desperate Measures and Mrs. Doubtfire, and the composer of the new musical Noble Family.

Gary Rosenberg began designing and manufacturing canvas and nylon bags for the Promotional Products industry and has been a part of that industry for the past 45 years, and continues today. Gary has worked with The Actor's Institute in New York as both an investor in the business and as a student. He has performed his own cabaret act in NYC at Don't Tell Mama and The Duplex, and gets his theatre fix by following his son, Erich Bergen, who was on TV's Madam Secretary and Bull and on stage in Jersey Boys (plus the movie), Waitress and Chicago. In his spare time Gary loves playing golf and spending as much time as possible with his granddaughter.

Robin Gorman Newman is a Tony Award-nominated producer of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812 and is currently a proud co-producer on Parade, Fat Ham and the Museum of Broadway. Robin authored the popular books How to Meet a Mensch in New York and How to Marry a Mensch, serving as inspiration for a musical in early development. She has been published in TDF Stages and has conceived/moderated panels at BroadwayCon. Given her background in public relations and expertise in the women over 40 arena, Robin works regularly with theatrical marketing/social media firms to promote shows On and Off Broadway.

New York Theatre Barn has served as an inclusive home for original culture shifting musicals during incubation since 2007. The anti-racist, non-profit believes that there is no formula for musical theatre, except authenticity. For more information, visit New York Theatre Barn's website: www.nytheatrebarn.org.