TRU Hosts Fifth Wheel or Engine? The Role of a Producer in Early Development

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), The Players Theatre and Back Stage present the industry panel Fifth Wheel or Engine? The Role of a Producer in Early Development of New Work on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre, 3rd Floor Loft Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street (below W. 3rd Street), NYC.

The panel will look at the logical time in the development process for a producer to attach himself to a work, how an agent functions in getting early productions, whether a writer benefits more from having an agent or producer involved early on (or both), how agent and producer can work together for the success of a property, what a producer's role is before an option, how a producer can be compensated for his work, standard deals that an agent negotiates on behalf of writers. The evening will focus on opportunities outside of New York, and how to access them, and address the challenge of regional theaters that only want to do world premieres, and where that leaves a promising new work after that single premiere.

The panel will include Beth Blickers, literary agent Abrams Artists Agency; Peter Flynn, artistic director of the Hangar Theater in Ithaca, NY; Jayson Raitt, producer, Murder for Two, A Killer Musical; Truman Capote's A Christmas Memory; Vanities, A New Musical; Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn Off-Broadway & London; Being Alive, an all-Black Sondheim musical; NAMT Festival of New Musicals; and Pasadena Playhouse; and Greg Schaffert, producer, All Shook Up; Burn the Floor; Bat Boy the Musical off-Broadway and London; How to Save the World and Find True Love...; Brian Dykstra's Cornered & Alone and Forsaking All Others; William Donnelly's Magnetic North in NYC and Painted Alice in Washington DC.

Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, panel starts promptly at 7:30pm. FREE for TRU members; $12 for non-members. Please call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 212/714-7628; or e-mail TRUnltd@aol.com

TRU was founded in 1992 to promote a spirit of cooperation and support within the general theater community by providing information and a variety of entertainment-related services and resources that strengthen the business capability of producing organizations, individual producers, self-Producing Artists and other theater professionals. The company holds monthly seminars on a wide range of subjects important to theatrical producers and artistic directors conducted by panels of experts from both the commercial and not-for-profit segments of Broadway, Off-Broadway and the motion picture industry. These educational forums 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 membership and Back Stage readers. "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."

TRU also publishes a monthly email community newsletter of services, goods and productions. In addition, TRU presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and the TRU VOICES Annual New Musicals Reading Series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new works and new producers for theater. In 2001, TRU began giving annual scholarships to The Commercial Theater Institute, to encourage the development of aspiring producers, created a Producer Development Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. The next Boot Camp will be "Weekend Intensive for Showcase Producing" on Saturday and Sunday 2/26 and 2/27.

In March '08, TRU was associate producer of its first Equity showcase, Missives at 59E59 Theatre, a play that was developed in the 2006 TRU reading series. TRU programs for actors include an Annual Audition Event currently scheduled for April 2nd and 3rd 2011, Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" (next one will be 2/25) as well as free monthly actor events, including workshops like the upcoming "The Art of the Solo Show" with Gretchen Cryer, Kathryn Rossetter and Cheryl King on Sunday 1/30; TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date (next one will be 2/13), a Practical Playwriting Workshop and a new Director-Writer Communications Lab (next one will be 2/19).

The historic Players Theatre is a landmark theater on MacDougal Street, a space for New York performances and rehearsals and a home to TRU. The building includes, a main stage 184 seat Off Broadway theatre, currently the home to the hit thriller/magic show Play Dead by Teller (of Penn and Teller); a 50 seat Off Off Broadway black box theatre; four rehearsal studios; an office suite for arts organizations; and the famous Cafe Wha?, which has been a Greenwich Village mainstay since the 1960's. Built in 1907 and converted into a theatre in the late 1940's, The Players Theatre has been a jewel in the midst of beautiful Greenwich Village, serving as a magnet for performing artists and their audiences. The 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 Britney Spears, Natalie Portman and Legally Blonde, the Musical's Laura Bell Bundy.

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.