Off Broadway Alliance to Host 'MAKING IT WORK' Seminar on Sharing Theaters

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing firms, will hold the next event in its Seminars series focused on the Off Broadway Producing Process on Saturday May 20th, 2017.

The seminar, titled "Making It Work: Tales From Successful Shows Who Shared a Theater" will feature producer David Carpenter (Puffs, Hands on a Hard Body), Theater operator and producer Edmund Gaynes (Black Angels Over Tuskegee, Zero Hour), director, writer and composer Marshall Pailet (Baghdaddy, Triassic Parq, Caudio Quest) and Anthony Wilkinson (The My Big Gay Italian trilogy ... Wedding, Funeral and Midlife Crisis). Hugh Hysell (producer of Six Degrees of Separation, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike) will moderate the discussion curated from questions submitted by attendees.

The seminar will discuss the many benefits and challenges of creating and producing new work in the Off Broadway arena while sharing a theater with other shows. This seminar will feature a panel of industry professionals who are currently running shows in a shared Off Broadway theater.

"Making It Work: Tales From Successful Shows Who Shared a Theater" will be held on the 3rd floor of The Theater Center (210 West 50th Street). Doors will open at 10:30am for complimentary coffee and bagels. The panel discussion will take place from 11am to 12:30pm with additional time allotted afterward for conversation with fellow attendees.

Admission for the seminar is $5 (to partially cover the costs of presenting the seminar), and pre-registration is a must. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they submit their reservations. Questions will be asked live at the seminar. Register (first come first served) at www.SharedTheaterSeminar.eventbrite.com.

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 OBA 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. For more, go to www.OffBroadwayAlliance.com.

ABOUT THE PANELISTS:

David Carpenter is currently a Managing Partner of Tilted Windmills Theatricals, an entertainment Production Company based in New York City. He and John Pinckard are currently producing the hit off-Broadway play Puffs or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic and Magic by Matthew Cox. Tilted Windmills is also developing a new off Broadway immersive / interactive play Joe's NYC Bar scheduled to premiere in the fall of 2017, a new interactive play by Matt Cox The Mysterious Revengers being developed in conjunction with the University of Florida at Gainesville and a Broadway production of the cult hit Reefer Madness the Musical. Previous positions include the Head of Sales at DreamWorks Theatrical, the Director of Sales and Marketing for Group Sales Box Office ,the Manager of Ticket Center Operations for The Broadway League and the Sales and Marketing Associate for Dodger Touring, Ltd. He graduated from Bucknell University with a double major in English and Theatre and a minor in Dance. He has lectured on producing at Bucknell University, The University of New Mexico and the University of Florida at Gainesville.

Edmund Gaynes As a theatre producer, Mr. Gaynes' Off-Broadway productions include the current hit Black Angels Over Tuskegee (7 years), as well as long-running productions of Zero Hour (Drama Desk Award), The Devil's Music: The Life and Blues of Bessie Smith (Drama Desk and Lortel nominations), Danny and Sylvia: The Danny Kaye Musical, The Rise of Dorothy Hale, The Big Voice: God or Merman?, Cougar The Musical, Picon Pie, Emily Mann's Annulla, A Brush With Georgia O'Keeffe, Trolls, Panache, Chaim's Love Song, Matty: An Evening with Christy Mathewson and Bein' With Behan, which was nominated for an Outer Critics Circle Award. He produced the West Coast premieres of Marry Me a Little and Starting Here, Starting Now and was nominated for four Ovation Awards, for his productions of The Taffetas and Songs the Girls Sang. Mr. Gaynes produced the National Tour of Gilligan's Island: The Musical. He currently operates two Off-Broadway theatres in New York City: St. Luke's Theatre and Actors Temple Theatre, as well as four theatres in Los Angeles. In 2014, Mr. Gaynes was presented with a "Legend of Off-Broadway" honor by the Off-Broadway Alliance at Sardi's in New York City.

Marshall Pailet is a director, writer and composer for musical theater, plays, animated films. He directed, composed, and co-wrote the Off Broadway musicals Baghdaddy (currently playing, New York Times Critics' Pick) and the now internationally licensed Triassic Parq (Chance Theater '13; Ovation Award, Best Musical; Ovation Nom; Best Director). Other Theater: Claudio Quest (winner of six 2015 NYMF Awards for Excellence); Loch Ness (Chance Theater '15; Best Musical, OC Weekly); Shrek the Halls (DreamWorks Theatricals); The Chocolate Tree (NAMT). Film: VeggieTales: Noah's Ark starring Wayne Brady (Original Songs). As Director Only: Nikola Tesla Drops the Beat (Adirondack Theater Festival); Wonderland (Atlantic Theater Company - OBA Nom '17); Eudaemonia; Uncle Pirate; Stuck; The 49 Project; Thursday; With Kings in the Back; Bat Boy; Escape Artists; One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. He is also on faculty at Molly College and the Broadway Dreams Foundation. Graduate Yale University. www.marshallpailet.com.

Anthony Wilkinson began his career as an Intern Writer at ABC Daytime's One Life To Live in 1996 and during his fourteen years there he worked his way up to the position of Associate Director. While in that position he earned three Daytime Emmy Awards, seven nominations and was a two-time recipient of the Directors Guild of America Award. Anthony's original production of My Big Gay Italian Wedding started his other passion in the theatre world, when it opened Off-Broadway in 2003 at the Actor's Playhouse and later moved to Theatre Four in the spring of 2004. In 2006, Anthony wrote and starred as "Rio La Rocca" in the Off-Broadway production of Boys Just Wanna Have Fun. Anthony restaged My Big Gay Italian Wedding in September of 2009 at the St. George Theatre. Rave reviews prompted a revival on Restaurant Row with a full Equity cast in 2010. The run was expected to last six weeks, and extended 14 times in the same location. Aside from NYC, the show has already played in multiple cities in the US as well as Edinburgh, London, Vancouver, Hong Kong and parts of France. In 2013 Anthony opened the sequel to My Big Gay Italian Wedding, My Big Gay Italian Funeral which ran for over two years at St. Luke's Theater, and has also been licensed by Samuel French. Wilkinson's final chapter to the trilogy, My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis opened at the Theater Center in 2015. Anthony originated the role of Anthony Pinnunziato, a spin off of his real life persona and played the role for the entire run. My Big Gay Italian Midlife Crisis has also been published and licensed.

Hugh Hysell (Moderator) is a Tony Award winning Broadway producer, award winning marketer and performer. His Broadway producing projects include this spring's revival of Six Degrees of Separation (Tony Award Nomination for Best Revival of a Play), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award and Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Play), Peter and the Starcatcher (winner of 5 Tonys) and Impressionism. Off Broadway, Hugh runs Hysell Marketing has served as marketing director of over 200 Broadway and Off Broadway shows including Phantom of the Opera, Les Miserables, Monty Python's Spamalot, Miss Saigon, Gazillion Bubble Show, Altar Boyz, Cirkopolis, My Big Gay Italian Wedding, Funeral and Midlife Crisis and others. He won the Globes Award for "Best Small Budget in the World" for creating Spamalot's Guinness World Record setting "The Largest Coconut Orchestra In the World" promotion. In addition to current marketing clients, Hugh also performs Off Broadway as the cross dressing, loony psychiatric patient in the 30th Anniversary cast of Perfect Crime and recently appeared on HBO's Divorce. Like every other actor, Hugh has appeared on Law and Order. He is a founding member of The Off Broadway Alliance and currently serves as a nominator for the Off Broadway Alliance Awards. @hughhysell www.HysellMarketing.com

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