Drama Desk Holds Panel on 'Building Future Audiences,' March 20

The unique challenges that confront not-for-profit subscription and membership theater companies in New York City will be the focus of the Drama Desk's second panel discussion/buffet dinner of the 2005/2006 theater season on Monday, March 20, 2006, 5:00 to 7:30 PM at Tony's Di Napoli Restaurant (147 West 43rd Street) in Times Square.

Entitled "Building Future Audiences: Subscription and Membership Theatre," the panel will include: Andrew D. Hamingson, Managing Director, Atlantic Theater Company; Jeffrey Horowitz, Artistic Director, Theatre for a New Audience; Jim Houghton, Artistic Director, Signature Theater; Andrew Leynse, Artistic Director, Primary Stages; and James Morgan, Producing Artistic Director, The York Theatre Company.

The co-moderators will be Margaret Croyden, www.nytheatre-wire.com and author of Conversations with Peter Brook, 1970 - 2000 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), and William Wolf, wolfentertainmentguide.com, and Drama Desk President. The evening will begin at 5:00 PM with a buffet dinner. The Panel discussion will get underway at 6:15 PM and continue through 7:30 PM.

"Some of the best new theater productions, as well as important dramatic and musical revivals, are presented each year by New York's many subscription and membership theater companies," said Wolf. "In many ways they are the backbone of New York theater since they showcase talented new performers and writers, and offer revivals of important stage works from the past."

The Drama Desk is a non-profit organization of professional writers, critics and editors who regularly cover all areas of the New York theater scene, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway and not-for-profit theater. Each year, the organization celebrates excellence in the theater at its annual awards ceremony. This year, the 51st Annual Drama Desk Awards will take place on May 21, at 9:00 PM at the LaGuardia Concert Hall at Lincoln Center. The ceremony, featuring many stage luminaries, will be broadcast on PBS television stations nationwide, including Thirteen/WNET and NYC 25 -TV in the tri-state area.

The cost for the discussion is $24 for Drama Desk members and $35 for guests (cash or check). RSVP now to wolf@wolfentertainmentguide.com.