Off Broadway Alliance Hosts 'Casting Off-Broadway: A How-To Guide' Panel Discussion, 9/9

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents and marketing firms, will hold another in its series of seminars focused on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway this Sunday, September 9th.

The seminar, titled “Casting Off Broadway: A How-to Guide” will feature Cindi Rush of Cindi Rush Casting (Jacques Brel, Freckleface Strawberry), Kaitlin Shaw of Tara Rubin Casting (Love, Loss, and What I Wore; A Minister’s Wife; A Little Night Music), Rich Affannato (Producer: SILENCE! The Musical; Peter and the Starcatcher) and Thomas Caruso (Director: Southern Comfort, Zombie, Shipwrecked). John Capo, President of John Capo Public Relations, will moderate the discussion.

“Casting Off Broadway: A How-to Guide” will be held at The Snapple Theater Center’s Jerry Orbach Theater. Doors will open at 11:30 for complimentary coffee and bagels. The panel will take place from Noon – 1:30pm with additional time allotted afterward for conversation with fellow attendees. The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50 Street (at Broadway).

Admission for the seminar is free, however reservations are a must. To RSVP for the event, visit www.castingpanel.eventbrite.com before September 8th. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they submit their reservation. Questions will be asked live at the seminar.

The Off Broadway Alliance is a non-profit corporation organized by theater professionals dedicated to supporting, promoting and encouraging the production of Off Broadway theatre 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 current 20at20 event is going on right now – from September 4th through September 23rd – and details are available at www.20at20.com. 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 a free Sunday Seminar Series focusing on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway featuring major players from the Off Broadway scene. 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.

Cindi Rush is the principal at Cindi Rush Casting, which is based in New York City. She has cast numerous productions in New York; her Broadway casting credits include Urinetown, Say Goodnight Gracie and Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks. Additional New York casting credits include Rated P, Soap Myth, The Fall to Earth, Any Given Monday, Freckleface Strawberry, Rooms, The Time of Mendel's Trouble, Peaceman, Jacques Brel, The Thing About Men, Showtune and I Sing. Cindi also casts for many regional theatres, including Triad Stage (Henrik Ibsen's Ghosts, Moliere's Tartuffe, or The Hypocrite and Eugene O'Neill's A Moon for the Misbegotten), Act II Playhouse, Arena Stage, The Goodman Theatre, Cape Cod Theatre Project, NOHO Arts Center (including Pest Control, Dorian and Ghost and Mrs. Muir), Penguin Rep and Actors Theatre of Louisville Humanafest. Apart from theatre, Cindi has also been a part of casting in numerous well-known films. Some of her notable film credits include Ghoul (Slamdance 2012), The Woman (Sundance 2011), In the Family (Independent Spirit Awards 2012), Offspring, Made for Each Other, Home Movie, Jack Ketchum’s: The Girl Next Door, Funny Valentine, and Headspace. Additional casting credits include Hats! The Red Hat Society Musical (Denver, New Orleans, Chicago). National Tour credits include Curious George and Kidz Bop. Cindi is a member of the Casting Society of America and is a consultant for the National Alliance for Musical Theatre as well as the NYU Graduate Program for Musical Theatre Writing.

Kaitlin Shaw: As a Casting Associate at Tara Rubin Casting, Kaitlin Shaw has worked closely on the Broadway productions of Ghost; Hugh Jackman: Back on Broadway; How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying; A Little Night Music; Promises, Promises; Mamma Mia; Shrek the Musical; The Phantom of the Opera and Mary Poppins, as well as the National Tour of Les Miserables: The 25th Anniversary Production and the Off-Broadway productions of Love, Loss, and What I Wore; A Minister's Wife and Happiness for Lincoln Center Theatre. She also works extensively on readings and workshops for many developing projects.

Rich Affannato is a Tony Award®-nominated producer whose most recent producing credits include Peter and the Starcatcher on Broadway (9 Tony nominations including Best Play, winning 5) and the critically-acclaimed New York production of SILENCE! The Musical (Winner-Off Broadway Alliance Award for Best Musical). He also produced the show's Original Cast Album (available on Sh-K-Boom/ Ghostlight Records), which debuted at # 12 on the Billboard Top Broadway Chart. He is currently the Executive Artistic Director at Nederlander Worldwide Events, developing brand new touring productions worldwide, including Broadway Rox (which he co-directed and produced) embarking on a national tour this fall. He was part of the management team for Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Obie, Outer Critics Circle Awards, Best Off-Broadway Musical), Gorey Details and the Broadway production of Epic Proportions with Kristen Chenoweth. Rich's directing credits include David Hasselhoff in Concert, Barbara Feldon's one-woman show Encounters, Opera Breve's New York mounting of Hansel and Gretel and many concert productions throughout the United States. His acting credits include the Broadway and national companies of Les Miserables, The Producers and Civil War, as well as the New York production of Forbidden Broadway-20th Anniversary Edition. His portrayal of the title character in Floyd Collins led to a Helen Hayes Award Nomination for Outstanding Leading Actor in a Musical.

Thomas Caruso was the Associate Director of the new Broadway musical Ghost. He was the Resident Director of Mamma Mia! in Las Vegas. On Broadway, Thomas was the Associate Director for Bombay Dreams and the revival of Follies. Recently, he directed the New York Times critically acclaimed new musical Southern Comfort by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis, starring Annette O’Toole & Jeff McCarthy (CAP21 Theatre), Shipwrecked by Donald Margulies (Penguin Rep), Alex Davis: Man of the Year (Orchard Project), Greetings by Tom Dudzick (Penguin Rep), Southern Comfort (Playwrights Horizons -reading); Abbie (Off-Broadway), Around The World In 80 Days (Penguin Rep), the world premiere musical The Chalks, An American Family In 3 Chords (Bay Street Theatre), Over the Tavern by Tom Dudzick (Penguin Rep) and Therapy Rocks (NYMF). Other directing credits include: a workshop of the Jonathan Larson award-winning musical, Sunfish (ASCAP); the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway production of Zombie by Bill Connington, adapted from the novella by Joyce Carol Oates; the musical Wood by Dan Collins and Julianne Wick Davis, starring Tony Award Winner Cady Huffman (NYMF); and Mimi Le Duck starring Eartha Kitt (Off-Broadway – New World Stages.

John Capo is the president of John Capo Public Relations, a NYC-based agency representing a broad spectrum of clients in the entertainment industry including Son of a Gun opening at Theatre Row in November 2012; Amigo Duende at El Museo del Barrio, Prospect Theater Company; Unsung Musicals Company; the digital series PZAZZ101 featuring Laura Osnes, Donna McKechnie and Beth Leavel; the world’s longest-running musical The Fantasticks; New York’s longest-running play Perfect Crime; the long-running spoof of the news NEWSical the Musical; the international blockbuster Fame; Cole Porter's Nymph Errant at Theatre Row; a site-specific production of Amelia on Governors Island; Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns at the West End Theatre; the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival productions of Flambe Dreams, Le Cabaret Grimm, Stuck, Trouble The Musical and Zapata! The Musical; the 2012 FringeNYC productions of Scarlett Fever and Pulp Shakespeare; Channeling Kevin Spacey at St. Luke’s Theater; Marcia Milgrom Dodge’s Venus Flytrap; Daily News reporter Robert Dominguez’s Midnight in Havana; Magnetic North starring Christian Campbell; a developmental reading of I Was A Teenage B-Movie King starring Alexander Gemignani and Will Swenson; the launch of Elaine and Jerry Orbach’s posthumous memoir Remember How I Love You; Follies star Ron Raines (Tony Nomination for Lead Actor) and cabaret artist Carole Demas. Member: Off Broadway Alliance, Writers Guild of America, Film Independent.