Stockard Channing, Kenny Leon & More Join American Theatre Wing's Advisory Committee

By: Jul. 15, 2015
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The American Theatre Wing has just announced new appointments to its Board of Trustees and Advisory Committee, BroadwayWorld has learned.

Joining the Advisory Committee are Jess Cagle, Stockard Channing, Jennifer Daly, Lisa Fung, Jim Glaub, Kenny Leon, Bernie Telsey, and Randi Zuckerberg.

Joining the Board of Trustees are Dale Cendali, Natasha Katz, and Emilio Sosa.

Click here for a complete list of the American Theatre Wing's Board of Trustees.

The American Theatre Wing Board of Trustees is the governing body responsible for oversight of all of the Wing's activities and its overall well-being.

The American Theatre Wing Advisory Committee provides support and guidance to the Board and staff of the Wing as they implement the Organization's goals and objectives.

"These appointments are a reflection of our commitment to building an unparalleled support team around the American Theatre Wing and its efforts," said William Ivey Long, Chairman, Board of Trustees, and Heather Hitchens, President, in a joint statement. "Each of our new board members brings expertise and passion in equal measure, and I know their contributions to our organization will yield incredible dividends for the entire theatrical community."

Dale Cendali is a partner in Kirkland & Ellis LLP's New York office and the head of the firm's Copyright, Trademark, Internet and Advertising practice. Dale is a nationally recognized leader in the field of intellectual property litigation, having successfully litigated and tried numerous high-profile cases and argued before the U.S. Supreme Court. She has particular expertise in film, television, publishing and theatrical disputes. Managing Intellectual Property named her well-publicized trial victory for J.K. Rowling as the "Copyright Trial of the Year." She has been repeatedly ranked as a "top tier" lawyer by Chambers Global and Chambers USA, which describe her as "one of the best lawyers in the country" in her field. They praise Dale as a "superb litigator" who combines "intellectual acuity" with a "tough, hard-working attitude," and who "thinks quickly on her feet and vigorously defends her clients." Dale was named one of the 100 Most Influential Lawyers in America by the National Law Journal. She is a summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Yale College, where she was president of the Yale Dramatic Association. Dale also is a graduate of the Harvard Law School, where she is now an adjunct professor, teaching a class on Copyright and Trademark Litigation.

Natasha Katz (Lighting Design). Broadway includes An American in Paris (Tony), The Glass Menagerie (Tony), Collected Stories at MTC, The Addams Family, Impressionism, Hedda Gabler, The Little Mermaid, The Coast of Utopia: Salvage (Tony), A Chorus Line revival, ...Spelling Bee, Tarzan, Aida (Tony), Sweet Smell of Success, Twelfth Night, Dance of Death, Beauty and the Beast, The Capeman, Gypsy. Other: Sister Act (London), Buried Child (National Theatre, London), Cyrano (Metropolitan Opera), Tryst (Royal Ballet), Carnival of the Animals (NYC Ballet), Don Quixote (American Ballet Theatre). She has designed extensively Off-Broadway and for American regional theatres.

Emilio Sosa hails from Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic and has been working as a costume designer for years. He realized his passion for design when he was merely 14 years old, continuing to work towards that goal until he achieved it. A fan of Charles James, he's had plenty of experience in the world of fashion and has even won several awards. Emilio Sosa has received TDF/Irene Sharaff Young Master Award in 2006 and was named Design Virtuoso by American Theater Magazine in 2003. He admits that he's been inspired by historical events, which he incorporates into his design aesthetic. He certainly brings his creativity to the stage, but is now ready to take it to the catwalk. A driven designer, Emilio Sosa decided to take on the challenge of a reality TV competition. He soon found himself as a contestant on the seventh season of the "Project Runway," set in New York. He became known as one of the 16 designers vying for the top prize and the chance to launch their careers in the fashion industry. He won several challenges throughout the competition, leading him to take second place that season. Since the show ended, he has continued to promote esosa designs, a line he co-created with his brothers. In 2012, Sosa joined the cast of "Project Runway All Stars" season 2. Sosa was the costume designer for Topdog/Underdog, Gershwins' Porgy and Bess (Tony nomination), Motown the Musical, and Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill.

Jess Cagle was named Editorial Director of People and Entertainment Weekly in January 2014. He is responsible for the print and digital editorial leadership of the two brands, with a day-to-day focus on PEOPLE, the world's most popular celebrity weekly. Prior, Cagle served for five years as Editor of Entertainment Weekly (2009-2014), where he increased EW's audience and presence in Hollywood, transformed EW.com into a 24/7 breaking news site, and launched the Entertainment Weekly Radio channel on SiriusXM, where he continues to make regular appearances. Frequent television appearances on Good Morning America, TODAY, CBS This Morning, and every major entertainment program has made Cagle one of the most recognizable entertainment journalists in the country. In addition, he has co-hosted the official ABC Academy Awards red carpet pre-show five times in the past six years. Over the span of his career, Cagle has interviewed Hollywood's biggest celebrities including Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Sandra Bullock, Jennifer Aniston, George Clooney, and Elizabeth Taylor. Cagle joined Time Inc. in 1987 as a reporter for PEOPLE. In 1990, he helped launch Entertainment Weekly, where he played a key role in defining the brand's voice. He covered the entertainment industry as a Senior Editor at TIME from 2000-2002, and returned to PEOPLE as Entertainment Editor, where he broke some of the biggest celebrity stories. Jess Cagle was born and raised in Texas and is a graduate of Baylor University. He lives in New York City.

Stockard Channing is a respected theater, film and TV actress. New York-born Stockard Channing first caught critics' eyes as a ditzy heiress in Mike Nichols' 1975 comedy The Fortune starring opposite screen heavyweights Jack Nicholson and Warren Beatty. The film was largely ignored by the public but three years later Channing was fully embraced by audiences when she appeared as tough-talking Betty Rizzo in Grease. Channing returned to her theatrical roots appearing on Broadway in Neil Simon's They're Playing Our Song, and she won a Tony award in the pitch-black comedy A Day in the Death of Joe Egg in 1985. She then collaborated with playwright John Guare on two smashes: The House of Blue Leaves and Six Degrees of Separation. The latter was turned into a successful 1993 movie that nabbed Channing her first Oscar nod. More stage and screen roles followed, but she found her biggest success in the early 2000s when she became the First Lady on The West Wing. After winning an Emmy for the role, Stockard again tried her hand at sitcoms, with the short-lived Out of Practice. She has recently returned to Broadway in Pal Joey, Other Desert Cities (Tony nomination), and It's Only a Play.

Jennifer Daly is the Chief Operating Officer at Hunter Peak Investments. In 2014 she joined Avenue Capital Group, one of the largest money management hedge funds in the United States. She was one of the leaders of Prime Accounts at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. Prior to that, she was an attorney and partner at King & Spalding and Davis, Polk & Wardell. She is a graduate of Fordham Law and Georgetown University.

Lisa Fung was the founding editor of Culture Monster, the first newspaper blog dedicated solely to arts and culture coverage. She spent more than a decade as Arts & Culture Editor at The Los Angeles Times, where she oversaw coverage of theater, visual arts, architecture, classical music and dance. During her tenure, she created the Playwrights on Writing series, essays about the writing process by such playwrights as David Hare, David Mamet, Lynne Nottage, Neil LaBute, Theresa Rebeck and Donald Margulies. Several Playwrights essays were republished, with permission, in TCG publications and elsewhere. Fung also served as the first Executive Editor of The Wrap, an online entertainment industry news organization. She has been invited to speak about theater for several organizations, including American Theatre Wing, LA Stage Alliance and TCG, as well as arts conferences in Pittsburgh, Portland, New York and Los Angeles. Fung currently serves on the board of the Jenesse Center in Los Angeles. She now serves as a consultant to several arts originations.

Jim Glaub is a recognized leader in innovative marketing, social media, web design, and video production for the theatre. He is currently the Creative Director of Interactive at SERINO/COYNE, the nation's longest-running live-entertainment advertising agency. Before his time with SERINO/COYNE, he founded ART MEETS COMMERCE (AMC), a boutique theatrical ad and marketing agency specializing in digital strategy for Broadway, off-Broadway and Special Events. After a monumental three years and working on some of the most prestigious theatrical properties, Jim and his partners sold AMC to Omnicom and integrated the company with SERINO/COYNE to provide the award-winning digital arm of the agency. Before moving to New York ten years ago, Jim was very active in the Chicago theatre scene working on pre-Broadway engagements with Broadway In Chicago as well as production work at The Second City and The League of Chicago Theatres. In his spare time, he started a theatre company (Greta Mae Productions) where he took a role as producer. Currently, he is leading the digital campaigns for The Tony Awards (Webby Award Honoree for the Second Screen Experience), The Phantom of the Opera, An American In Paris, It Shoulda Been You, Disgraced, You Can't Take It With You, and the popular fashion blog Last Night at the Met. Previous shows: The Cripple of Inishmaan, The Realistic Joneses, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, I'll Eat You Last, Peter and the Starcatcher, Nice Work If You Can Get It, Clybourne Park, Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf?, Follies, The Heiress, How To Succeed..., Lombardi, Fela!, The Normal Heart, Promises, Promises, A Little Night Music and dozens of other Broadway and Off-Broadway shows. Jim is a regular speaker at New York University's continuing education program 'Marketing for the Arts,' The International Academy of Web Television, on the Board of the Woodshed Collective and volunteers for Circle in the Square's "Teens on Broadway" initiative. He's the founder of 'The Digital War Room' at the Broadway League's annual Spring Road Conference, an immersive, one-on-one "mini-conference" that offers a deep-dive into digital initiatives and best practices.

Kenny Leon is an American director notable for his work on Broadway and in regional theater. He won the Best Director of a Play Tony for 2014's A Raisin in the Sun. He gained prominence in 1988 when he became one of the few African Americans to head a notable nonprofit theater company as the artistic director of Atlanta's Alliance Theatre Company. During Leon's tenure, the company staged premieres of Pearl Cleage's Blues for an Alabama Sky, Alfred Uhry's The Last Night of Ballyhoo, and Elton John and Tim Rice's musical Aida, which went on to Broadway. The Alliance's endowment also rose from $1 to $5 million during his time there. Leon resigned from the Alliance in 2000 to take on other projects. These included being the co-founder and artistic director of True Colors Theater Company, a group based in both Atlanta and Washington, D.C. He also took his talents to Broadway. In the spring of 2004 he directed a revival of Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs (in his Broadway debut), Phylicia Rash?d and Audra McDonald. At the end of that year, he directed the Broadway premiere of August Wilson's Gem of the Ocean. In spring 2007, he directed August Wilson's Radio Golf. All three plays were nominated for Tony awards, and Leon was a Drama Desk Award nominee for A Raisin in the Sun. He also directed the television version of A Raisin in the Sun, which aired on ABC in February 2008. Leon was nominated for a Tony Award in 2010 for Best Director for his work on August Wilson's Fences, starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis, earning them both nominations and wins for Best Performance for Male and Female in a Play. In November 2010, Leon directed Phylicia Rash?d in the world premiere stage play Every Tongue Confess written by Marcus Gardley, running at the Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. Leon has also directed plays at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, the Huntington Theater Company in Boston, the New York Shakespeare Festival, and the Goodman Theater in Chicago among many others. In January 2012, he completed a Lifetime Original Lifetime Television remake of Steel Magnolias. Other projects include a staged adaptation of the 1967 film Guess Who's Coming to Dinner; and a musical inspired by the work of rapper Tupac Shakur.

Bernie Telsey is a casting director and co-founder of MCC Theater. In the 1980s, he began working for Simon & Kumin Casting as an assistant, then a casting director at Risa Bramon & Billy Hopkins Casting. Shows his company has cast include (Broadway) Rent, Wicked, In the Heights, South Pacific, Hairspray, Equus, Legally Blonde, A Catered Affair, The Homecoming, Talk Radio, November, Grey Gardens, The Color Purple, The Rocky Horror Show, All Shook Up, Tarzan, and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, (Off-Broadway) reasons to be pretty, 50 Words, Almost an Evening, and De La Guarda. He has cast for several theatre companies including the Atlantic Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Westport Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, Drama Dept, ACT in San Francisco, La Jolla Playhouse, McCarter Theatre, Long Wharf Theatre, Hartford Stage, and Goodman Theatre. Films cast include Rachel Getting Married, Sex and the City, Margin Call, Across the Universe, Dan in Real Life, Pieces of April, Rent. Rent established Telsey as someone who casts unconventional shows, which got him assigned to cast The Capeman. He is notable for discovering Taye Diggs, Idina Menzel, Anthony Rapp, and Jesse L. Martin. Telsey has also served for seven years as the New York Vice-President of the Casting Society of America.

Randi Zuckerberg is a New York Times Bestselling Author, the founder and CEO of Zuckerberg Media and Editor-in-Chief of Dot Complicated and host of "Dot Complicated with Randi Zuckerberg" on SiriusXM's business radio. Randi recently released her first books with Harper Collins, The New York Times Best Seller, Dot Complicated and a children's picture book, titled Dot. As an early executive at Facebook, Randi created and ran the social media pioneer's marketing programs and was nominated for an Emmy Award in 2011 for her innovative coverage of the 2010 mid-term elections. Since starting Zuckerberg Media, Randi has produced shows and digital content for PayPal, the Clinton Global Initiative, Cirque du Soleil, the United Nations, Bravo and Conde Nast, with many other projects in the works. Randi made her Broadway debut in March 2014, guest starring as Regina in the hit musical Rock of Ages.



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