Seth Rudetsky to Host Directory of Contemporary Theatre Writers' THE CONCERT, 1/21

David Sisco (Founder/Creator) and Lorene Phillips (Contributing Editor) will officially launch their now acclaimed DIRECTORY OF Contemporary Theatre WRITERS website with a musical event of remarkable proportions, on Monday, January 21 at Second Stage Theatre (305 West 43 Street - between Eighth & Ninth Avenues).

Appropriately entitled THE CONCERT, the event will highlight 19 songs by 26 of THE DIRECTORY'S writers, whose work will be sung by Broadway's most esteemed musical artists. (The line-up will be announced shortly.)

Seth Rudetsky will host THE CONCERT. Laura Josepher will direct THE CONCERT. Matt Castle will serve as Musical Director. THE CONCERT'S orchestra will proudly include a Baby Grand by Steinway & Sons' Concert & Artist Department.

A portion of the evening's proceeds will go to the Dramatists Guild Fund, the public charity arm of the Dramatists Guild of America. The funds will support DGF's mission to aid and nurture writers for the theater.

THE CONCERT will begin at 8:00pm. Tickets are $45. Reservations can be made by calling 212-246-4422 or at www.2st.com, or directly HERE.

Seth Rudetsky is the afternoon Broadway host on Sirius/XM radio. His talk show "Seth Speaks" is also featured on Sirius/XM. Seth's new web-based entertainment network, SETH TV premiered in June, 2012. Since the premiere, SethTV has featured stars like Patti LuPone, Gavin Creel, Megan Hilty, Patrick Wilson, Martin Short, Laura Osnes, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ana Gasteyer, and many others singing and saying things only Seth could get them to do! Entertainment Weekly named Seth TV to its "Must List" immediately upon launch. The network also features Seth's own reality show (Seth's Reality) which takes viewers behind the scenes of Rudetsky's funny, busy, tuneful life. Seth has appeared on the Emmy-Award-winning Kathy Griffin Show on Bravo and starred in THEY'RE PLAYING OUR SONG opposite Sutton Foster in a benefit for the Actor's Fund. Seth's first young adult novel My Awesome/Awful Popularity Plan was just published by Random House in 2012. As a musician, Seth has played piano for more than a dozen Broadway shows including RAGTIME, LES MIZ and PHANTOM and was the vocal coach for the LEGALLY BLONDE reality show on MTV. He was the Artistic Producer/Music Director for the first five annual Actors Fund Fall Concerts including DREAMGIRLS with Audra MacDonald (recorded on Nonesuch Records) and HAIR with Jennifer Hudson (recorded on Ghostlight Records, Grammy Nomination). As a comic, he won the title "Funniest Gay Male in NY" at Stand-Up NY, had a long-running show at Caroline's Comedy Club and spent two years as a comedy writer on THE Rosie O'Donnell SHOW (three Emmy nominations). As an actor, he played Arnold in the Gallery Players production of TORCH SONG TRILOGY, had roles on ALL MY CHILDREN and LAW AND ORDER: C.I. and made his Broadway acting debut in THE RITZ directed by Joe Mantello for The Roundabout Theater playing Sheldon Farenthold and singing "Magic To Do" in a (devastating) unitard. He's written the books THE Q GUIDE TO BROADWAY and BROADWAY NIGHTS, both in their fourth printing. BROADWAY NIGHTS was also released as an audio book on Audible.com featuring himself, Jonathan Groff, Andrea Martin and Kristin Chenoweth. He also recently starred as Jeff in [title of show] at the George Street Playhouse. Currently, he writes a weekly column at Playbill.com and tours his show, DECONSTRUCTING BROADWAY. For more info visit www.SethTV.com.

LAURA JOSEPHER (Director) most recently directed David Sisco's BAIT n' SWISH at Stage Left Studio, Tom Gualtieri and David Sisco's musical FALLING TO EARTH at Syracuse University, and she was Scott Schwartz's Associate Director for BACKWARDS IN HIGH HEELS, a new musical about Ginger Rogers. Other credits include DIRTY BLONDE, THE TURN OF THE SCREW and I LOVE YOU, YOU'RE PERFECT, NOW CHANGE at Stages Repertory Theatre in Houston, Garth Wingfield's DATING GAMES at the Theatre Row Studio Theatre, NY and The Elephant Theatre in L.A., ANNA CHRISTIE at Gallery Players, HUGHIE at Provincetown Rep. For Rattlestick Productions: WINNING and the award winning CAR POOL; and the operas LA BOHEME, COSI FAN TUTTE, HANSEL AND GRETEL, DIE FLEDERMAUS,and GIANNI SCHICCHI at Quisisana Resort in Maine. Assistant Director for Laurie Anderson's SONGS AND STORIES FROM MOBY DICK (co-directed by MS. Anderson and Anne Bogart). She is an Equity stage manager, a member of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, and a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers. She lives in New York City with her husband, Juan Brea, and two daughters, Chelsea & Sadie.

Matt Castle (Musical Director) is an accomplished actor, musical director, and orchestrator with performing and arranging credits in venues nationwide. He made his Broadway acting debut in the Tony Award-winning 2006 revival of Stephen Sondheim's Company, directed by John Doyle and starring Raúl Esparza. He was in the original off-Broadway casts of The Musical of Musicals, LingoLand, and Enter Laughing and has played roles in productions at Music Circus, Paper Mill, Cincinnati Playhouse, Cape Playhouse, TheatreZone, and Sacramento Theatre Company. As a musical director, Mr. Castle has helped create more than 75 new works since moving to New York in 2000. Favorite venues include the York Theatre (Blue Roses, Falling to Earth, Bookends, That Time of the Year), NYU (Only Children, I'll Be Damned, Yellow Wood, Carolina Breeze), Playwrights Horizons (Southern Comfort), New Dramatists (String), the O'Neill Center (When We Met...), the Triad (Amazing Sex), Signature Theatre (Queens Boulevard), Sundance and Weston Playhouse (Saint-Ex), CAP21 (The Giver), Barrington Stage (Pool Boy, Bill Nelson's All-Male Revue), and TheatreworksUSA (Duck for President, Skippyjon Jones, Martha Speaks). Other credits include a reconstruction of William Finn's Romance in Hard Times (starring Lillias White), as well as many concerts, cabarets, and regional productions. Mr. Castle's work as an arranger and orchestrator has been heard in theaters and concert halls around the country. His theatrical orchestrations can be heard on the original cast albums of Enter Laughing and LingoLand; his orchestral arrangements have been played by the Stockton and Omaha symphonies. A founding member of the Emerald Trio, he has played his chamber music at NYC venues including Trinity Church, St. Malachy's, and the 92nd Street Y. With Frank Galgano, he has orchestrated musicals performed at the Kennedy Center, George Street Playhouse, Sacramento Theatre Company, and on national tours. Mr. Castle graduated University of the Pacific with a degree in music education, and he holds a master's degree in music composition from Northern Illinois University. He is an advocate for arts education, community involvement, and individual achievement. He and Frank Galgano maintain a recording studio in their home in Astoria, Queens.

THE DIRECTORY OF Contemporary Theatre WRITERS is a first. It is an exhaustive resource for anyone interested in our current musical theatre's vast wealth of contemporary composers and lyricists. Vetted by respected veterans, vocal coaches, music professors and teachers, the DIRECTORY offers direct access to 150 composers and lyricists whose mostly unpublished or self-published songs are an incalculable treasure of opportunity for theatre professionals, voice teachers, students and anyone auditioning for a Broadway show who are interested in presenting themselves with a song written exactly for their needs. The DIRECTORY'S 150 writers have, to date, contributed over 360 songs that are catalogued into 25 different categories from light soprano, high belt, and dramatic up-tempo to pop/rock ballad, story song and comedic funk. This is a BANK OF CREATIVITY that will push the AUDITION PROCESS into the next millennium.

For a long time, Mr. Sisco and Ms. Phillips had been frustrated by the lack of published contemporary musical theatre songs available to them as voice teachers. If it wasn't yet on Broadway, it almost never got published. Living in New York, they knew there was so much more out there. For the past seven years, David has been a member of the prestigious BMI Musical Theatre Workshop, where he's been witness to some of the best new writers and songs. David brought the idea to Lorene: what if they created a directory of writers and songs to help other teachers find good material and get writers paid for their work? That question led to the development of THE DIRECTORY OF CONTEMPORARY MUSICAL THEATRE WRITERS. They began creating a database and interactive web platform, which currently holds over 150 writers and 360 songs (all searchable by voice and song type). Each page of the DIRECTORY features a writer or writing team's head shot, bio, contact information and five of their best songs with links to listen/view the songs and information on how to purchase them directly from the writers. The DIRECTORY was first presented as a poster paper at the 2012 NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) Convention in Orlando. It was wildly and enthusiastically received. The online DIRECTORY holds a host of other information beyond its ever-growing database such as range, tessitura and accompaniment difficulty. Keep track of what writers are up to by visiting the DIRECTORY'S regularly updated NEWS FEED and subscribing to writer's SOCIAL MEDIA PAGES.

An Annual Subscription to THE DIRECTORY OF Contemporary Theatre WRITERS costs $49.95. All songs are sold directly by the writers themselves. The DIRECTORY does not take a penny from the writer's sales. This is an unparalleled model of publishing, especially in the wake of COLONY and other sheet music stores closing.

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