Final Day to RSVP for Sunday's Free Off Broadway Alliance Seminar

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing firms, will hold another in its Sunday Seminars series, focused on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway this Sunday, June 1st.

The seminar, titled "Casting for Off Broadway" will feature Cindi Rush (Silence!, Urinetown, Under My Skin), Michael Cassara (Forbidden Broadway, Fat Camp, I Love Lucy Live on Stage) and general manager Scott Newsome (Triassic Parq, Handle With Care, The Two-Character Play). Hugh Hysell, producer of Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike and Peter and the Starcatcher, will moderate the discussion.

The seminar will discuss the process of casting a show from the early development stage of readings and workshops up to production in the Off Broadway arena.

"Casting for Off Broadway" will be held on the 4th floor of The Snapple. Doors will open at 11:30am for complimentary coffee and bagels. The panel will take place from Noon - 1:30pm with additional time allotted afterward for conversation with fellow attendees. The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50th Street (between Broadway & Eighth Ave.)

Admission for the seminar is free, however reservations are a must. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they make their reservations online no later than May 31st at castingoffbroadway.eventbrite.com. Questions will be asked live at the seminar.

About The Off Broadway Alliance: The Off Broadway Alliance is a non-profit corporation organized by theater professionals dedicated to supporting, promoting and encouraging the production of Off Broadway theater and to making live theater increasingly accessible to new and diverse audiences. The Alliance holds monthly meetings and membership is open to everyone in the Off Broadway theater community.

Among its initiatives, The Off Broadway Alliance sponsors 20at20, the event that runs twice a year for 20 days and lets theatergoers purchase $20 tickets to dozens of Off Broadway shows 20 minutes before curtain.

The Alliance also presents the Off Broadway Alliance Awards, including an annual tribute to the Legends of Off Broadway and inductees to the Off Broadway Hall of Fame. It also produces the free Sunday Seminar Series focusing on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway featuring major players from the Off Broadway scene. The Alliance operates the OBA Mentorship Program, which provides new producers with guidance and direction from Off Broadway veterans. And the Alliance created the Off Broadway Economic Impact Report, which outlines Off Broadway's over $500 million annual impact on the economy of the City of New York.

About The Panelists:

CINDI RUSH, CSA is the principal at Cindi Rush Casting. Casting credits include NY: Under My Skin, Silence!, Anthem, Homo, Legacy Falls, Mother Wife, God's Country, Bonnie and Clyde, Foreverman , My Mother's Jewish Lesbian Wiccan Wedding, Rooms, Jacques Brel, Urinetown. Upcoming: Academia Nuts, Disenchanted, Ernest Shackleton Loves Me, Serrano, Freed, Madam, Galactic Cigarettes. Many Regional Theaters including Triad Stage, Hudson Stage Company, Penguin Rep, Pittsburgh Public, Charleston Stage Co. Film: The Woman (Sundance 2012), Ghoul, Theresa is a Mother, Jugface (Slamdance 2013), In The Family (Independent Spirit 2012) The Grief of Others. Consultant for NYU Graduate Musical Theatre Writing Program (1999-Present).

MICHAEL CASSARA, CSA is a casting director, educator, and producer working on theatre and film projects in New York City. Recent credits include Forbidden Broadway: Alive & Kicking! (Off-Broadway and cast recording), Bubble Boy: The Musical (world premiere), Fat Camp (Off-Broadway and regional), the national tour of I Love Lucy Live On Stage and the international tour of Barbie Live! for Mattel, Inc. Regional theatre credits include Gulfshore Playhouse, San Jose Rep, The Old Globe, Infinity Theatre Company, Olney, Mercury Theater Chicago, Great Lakes Theater, Idaho Shakespeare Festival and many others. Resident Casting Director for the New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF) since 2007, where he has cast over 60 new musicals since the festival's inception in 2004. Additionally, in 2013 he began serving as the Resident Casting Director for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre (NAMT). Film credits include The Hyperglot (dir. Michael Urie), Paper Dreams, Contest, and Grantham and Rose (dir. Kristin Hanggi, starring Marla Gibbs and Jake T. Austin). Native Clevelander. Member of the Casting Society of America.

SCOTT NEWSOME has been working in theatrical management for 15 years and along with his business partner formed Brierpatch Productions. Off-Broadway credits include Handle With Care (Westside Theatre), Grounded (Walkerspace), Tennessee Williams' The Two-Character Play (New World Stages), and Triassic Parq (Soho Playhouse). Prior to Brierpatch, Scott worked as a company manager on shows including Menopause the Musical; I Love You Because; My Mother's Italian, My Father's Jewish and I'm in Therapy; and Fuerzabruta.

HUGH HYSELL is a Tony Award winning Broadway producer and award winning marketer. His Broadway producing projects include Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (2013 Tony Award and Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play), Peter and the Starcatcher (winner of 5 Tony Awards), and Impressionism. Off Broadway, he has produced, conceived and directed The All-Male Importance of Being Earnest, Y-2-Gay The Musical and Seamen The Sailor Musical. Hugh ran HHC MARKETING where he has served as marketing director of over 200 Broadway and Off Broadway shows, and served as Director of Marketing and Development for NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts. He serves on the Metropolitan Museum of Art's Multicultural Diversity Action Committee and is an Associate Professor at Columbia University. He is currently playing "Maurizio" in the Off Broadway companies of My Big Gay Italian Wedding/Funeral. He has provided pro bono services to Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids, HRC, GLAAD, QSAC and The Commercial Theatre Institute. He is a founding member of The Off Broadway Alliance and currently serves as a Nominator for the Off Broadway Alliance Awards.

For more information, visit www.OffBroadwayAlliance.com.

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