Two Sides to the Producing Story: Commercial versus Not-for-Profit October 17, 2012

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) continues its fall season of monthly networking panels with Two Sides to the Producing Story: Commercial versus Not-for-Profit (Which Side Are You On?), on Wednesday, October 17, 2012 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre’s Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre, 3rd floor, 115 MacDougal Street, NYC. Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, panel starts promptly at 7:30pm.

This panel will explore the differences and similarities of producing in the not-for-profit and commercial sectors. Are there different skill sets that separate the successful commercial producer from the artistic director of a not-for-profit theater company? Do they speak different languages, have different goals, approach their work in a different way? Or do they have more in common than it might appear? What does it take to be successful in each? And why does someone choose one area over the other in their career? More and more commercial producers and not-for-profit theaters are partnering. If this is indeed the new normal, then it may be more important than ever for the players to understand both sides of producing.

Panelists include Patrick Blake, commercial producer (The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Play Dead); David Elliott, co-director of Perry Street Theatricals (The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Obie Award winning An Oak Tree); James Morgan, artistic director of the York Theatre Company (Closer Than Ever, Enter Laughing); Cheryl Wiesenfeld, commercial producer (The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Legally Blonde, A Steady Rain).

Admission is $12 (free for TRU members). Please RSVP by email to TRUStaff1@gmail.com or by phone at (212) 714-7628 at least a day in advance.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is a twenty-year-old 501c3 nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of theater. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies.

TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, goods and productions; presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and Annual New Musicals Reading Series, two new works series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new shows as well as new producers for theater; TRU offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York Theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include an Annual Combined Audition and quarterly Resource Nights and “Speed Dating” as well as free monthly actor workshops, in partnership with Weist-Barron Studios.

TRU’s monthly panels have been a core program of TRU since its inception, and in recent years executive director Ost has partnered with Back Stage to generate topics of interest to both TRU members and Back Stage readers. Founded in 1960, Back Stage is the world’s most trusted name in casting, auditions, and entertainment-industry opportunities. “Through TRU, Back Stage is able to reach beyond its actor base to a wider theater community,” said Ost, “and we get more visibility through the Back Stage connection.” For information about Back Stage, visit http://www.backstage.com

Built in 1907 and converted into a theatre in the late 1940’s, the Players Theatre, host of the monthly TRU panels, has been a jewel in the midst of beautiful Greenwich Village, serving as a magnet for performing artists and their audiences. The mainstage theatre has been home to such long run productions as An Evening with Quentin Crisp, Psycho Beach Party and Ruthless starring an 8 year old Brittany Spears, Natalie Portman and Legally Blonde the Musical’s Laura Bell Bundy. The Steve & Marie Sgouros Theatre, a 60-seat loft space on the 3rd floor offers an intimate home for TRU’s panels, as well as a range of new works. For more information, please visit www.theplayerstheatre.com.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) and the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, as well as generous support from the Friar’s National Foundation Association.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call (212) 714-7628.