Theater Press Agent David Gersten Passes Away at 67

David Gersten, Vice-President of ATPAM, the Association of Theatrical Press Agents & Managers (IATSE Local 18032), died Monday, April 6 after a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. A member since 1997 and Board member since 2001, Gersten also served as Pension Fund Trustee and Off-Broadway Steward. David worked as press representative, marketing consultant, and producer on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and across the country, for over thirty years. His full-service boutique firm, David Gersten & Associates, provided publicity and marketing for a diverse range of clients since 2000.

David worked with and learn from some of Broadway's finest producers, including both Alexander H. Cohen and David Merrick. Among his favorite Broadway productions are the American premieres of Noel Coward's Waiting in the Wings (starring Lauren Bacall and Rosemary Harris), the Royal Shakespeare Company's The Herbal Bed, and Taking Sides starring Ed Harris & Daniel Massey; Linda Ronstadt in Canciones de Mi Padre, Avery Brooks as Paul Robeson, Kenny Loggins: On Broadway, the Georgian State Dance Company, Stardust (the last show to play the Biltmore Theatre, now home to MTC), Late Nite Comic (the last show to play the Ritz Theatre - now the Walter Kerr), and the gala 6,000th performance of A Chorus Line.

From world premiere plays and musicals from some of our best emerging writers, to acclaimed revivals of classics of world theater as well as great contemporary works and solo pieces featuring beloved actors like Len Cariou, Nancy Giles, Jackie Hoffman, Jackie Mason, Kate Mulgrew, Jean Stapleton, and Liliane Montevecchi, David publicized and promoted hundreds of shows Off-Broadway, too numerous to name. Some favorite past productions include Altar Boyz (five years Off-Broadway); Birds of Paradise by Winnie Holtzman (Wicked) directed by Arthur Laurents (Gypsy, West Side Story); the New York premieres of Shear Madness, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein starring & choreographed by Robert Fairchild, and the international hit Potted Potter - The Unauthorized Harry Experience - A Parody; revivals of Jonathan Larson’s tick, tick... BOOM!, Stephen Sondheim’s Marry Me A Little, Blues in the Night starring Carol Woods, Godspell directed by its original star Don Scardino, and Carl Reiner’s Enter Laughing: The Musical; Romance/Romance (winner of 4 Outer Critics’ Circle Awards); Late Nite Catechism (eight years Off-Broadway!); Roulette starring Anna Paquin by Paul Weitz (American Pie); Mademoiselle Colombe starring Tammy Grimes; Naked Boys Singing!; and the long running hit Tony n' Tina's Wedding (24 years!), among many others. Numerous National Tours represented include The Music Man starring Patrick Cassidy & Shirley Jones, Saturday Night Fever, Man of La Mancha, and Sophisticated Ladies (first Russian-American co-production).

A champion for not-for-profit theater companies, some of the many he represented included En Garde Arts (the premiere of JP Morgan Saves the Nation by Rent’s Jonathan Larson), Ensemble Studio Theatre (twelve years), INTAR (twelve years), Keen Company (twelve years), Mint Theater (29 years!), NAATCO The National Asian American Theatre Co (13 years), Woodie King’s New Federal Theater, Red Bull Theater (18 years), Michael Imperioli’s Studio Dante, and Summer Shorts Festival (eight years, featuring World Premieres from Christopher Durang, Marian Fontana, Nancy Giles, Lucas Hnath, Tina Howe, William Inge, Albert Innaurato, Neil LaBute, Warren Leight, Terrence McNally, José Rivera, Paul Rudnick, Will Scheffer, Paul Weitz, and Alan Zweibel, among others), among many others. A founding member Manhattan Association of Clubs & Cabarets, some of the many clubs and cabarets represented include Windows on the World (launching its reopening after the 1993 bombing until its tragic end on 9-11-2001), Rainbow & Stars and the Rainbow Room, Michael’s Pub (over twenty years), Café Carlyle & Bemelmans Bar, the Oak Room at the Algonquin, The Ballroom, Freddy’s, and Roseland, working with some of the greatest names in pop music, jazz, R&B, comedy, and Broadway, including Mel Tormé (16 years), Rosemary Clooney (12 years), Peggy Lee, Sid Caesar & Imogene Coca (The 40th Anniversary of “Your Show of Shows”), Kaye Ballard, Laurie Beechman & Sam Harris, Ruth Brown, Betty Buckley, David Carroll, Nell Carter, Vic Damone, Tony Danza, Christine Ebersole, Marianne Faithful, Savion Glover, Lesley Gore, Ellen Greene, Rupert Holmes, Jack Jones, Larry Kert & Carol Lawrence, Darlene Love, Patti LuPone, Maureen McGovern, Lonette McKee, Mark Murphy, Anthony Newley, Anita O’Day, Helen Reddy, Joan Rivers, Mickey Rooney, Helen Schneider, Sylvia Syms, Tommy Tune & the Manhattan Rhythm Kings, Leslie Uggams, Margaret Whiting, Julie Wilson, and for over 20 years, Woody Allen with the Eddy Davis New Orleans Jazz Band.

Gersten has also provided publicity and strategic consulting for such diverse clients as The Actors Studio, David Merrick Arts Foundation, the Frank Loesser Family (Jo Sullivan Loesser, Hannah Loesser, Emily Loesser & Don Stephenson), League of Off-Broadway Theatres & Producers’ annual Lortel Awards (ten years), Lucille Lortel Foundation, as well as art exhibitions by Hilary Knight, Francesco Scavullo, Patrick McMullen, and Rosie O’Donnell, among others.
 
As a producer, David presented the New York premieres of Tea at Five starring Kate Mulgrew as Katharine Hepburn (NYC, West Palm Beach, San Francisco), Dr. Sex, Bash’d - the gay rap opera, Shear Madness, My First Time, as well as the New Cast Recording of Stephen Sondheim’s Marry Me A Little (Ghostlight Records). He was also involved in the Broadway productions of 13 the Musical; David Mamet's A Life in the Theatre starring Patrick Stewart and T.R. Knight; The Addams Family starring Nathan Lane and Bebe Neuwirth; Blithe Spirit starring Angela Lansbury, Christine Ebersole, and Rupert Everett; Impressionism starring Joan Allen, Jeremy Irons, and Marsha Mason; It’s Only a Play starring Matthew Broderick, Stockard Channing, Nathan Lane, and Megan Mullally; the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Kinky Boots (Broadway, National Tour, Australia); Speed-the-Plow with Jeremy Piven, Raúl Esparza and Elisabeth Moss; Will Ferrell’s You're Welcome America - A Final Night with George W Bush; and Altar Boyz (NYMF, Off-Broadway - 5 years, two National Tours). For the not-for-profit world, he produced numerous benefits and galas for the such organizations as National Alzheimer’s Foundation (Rita Hayworth Gala), God’s Love We Deliver, People with AIDS Coalition, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Actors Fund, and the Hetrick-Martin Institute.

He was a longtime member of the Off-Broadway League and founding member/Vice-President of the Off-Broadway Alliance. David recently became one of the owners of the newly renovated Ninth Avenue Saloon, a theater district mainstay serving the community for over 40 years, and one of the oldest LGBTQ+ bars in New York City. A native New Yorker, he was also a volunteer firefighter, holding the rank of lieutenant, on Fire Island, where he maintained a summer home. A graduate of New York University, he also studied labor law at the University of Wisconsin - Madison School for Workers.

Donations will be greatly appreciated to any of the organizations David supported, including the Cherry Grove Fire Dept, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, the Entertainment Community Fund, or not-for-profit theaters.