Theater Resources Unlimited & The Playroom Theatre to Host March TRU Panel on Music Licensing, 3/15

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), and The Playroom Theatre, present the March panel, Music Licensing: It's Not Just for Musicals, on Tuesday, March 15, 2016 at 7:30pm at The Playroom Theater, 151 W. 46th Street, 8th floor, NYC 10036. Doors open at 7pm for networking and refreshments; roundtable introductions of everyone in the room will start at 7:30pm. For more details visit http://truonline.org/events/licensing/.

Panelists will include Ryan Bogner, Director of Creative Development and Production for RKO Stage; Joey Monda, General Manager, Off-Broadway: Disaster!, Unbroken Circle, COAL (Confessions of a Liar), Producer, Broadway's Allegiance; and Barbara Zimmerman, President of BZ/Rights & Permissions, regularly clearing music for Broadway shows and regional theaters.

"Licensing" is a word that is bandied about in both the music and theater worlds, but it means dramatically different things in different contexts. We will clarify the distinctions between licensing a show and optioning a work for production, as well as obtaining underlying rights to a property you want to bring to the stage. Do you want to use existing music in a play? What are the costs, pluses and minuses of licensing a catalog of music and creating a Jersey Boys? Is a catalog or "jukebox" musical more cost effective than a show with an original score? What are some smart strategies to use when negotiating all of this? Can your character sing a snippet of that pop tune? What about film clips and images, or even a copyrighted furniture design in your production? Did you clear the walk-in music you pipe through the theater to set the mood? We'll also talk briefly about public domain - what is it? (It can save you a bundle!) And we will discuss licensing product from one media to another, film to stage, book to play and address any other questions that attendees may have about licensing.

Doors open at 7pm for networking and refreshments, roundtable introductions of everyone in the room will start at 7:30pm - come prepared with your best thirty-second summary of who you are, and what you need. Free for TRU members, $12 for non-members! Please call at least a day in advance (or way sooner) for reservations: 212/714-7628; or e-mail TRUStaff1@gmail.com

The Playroom Theater, a small theater with a purpose on West 46th Street. Created by longtime theatrical producer Eric Krebs, The Playroom Theater features a 62-seat boutique theater, appropriate for rehearsals, readings, auditions, producers' presentations and workshop productions. Conceived of as an artists' workspace for writers, directors, composers, actors, producers and others committed to the professional theater arts and its industry. "The idea of The Playroom has grown out of my desire to create a small and financially manageable space in the heart of the theater district," commented Krebs. "I want this to be a place where industry professionals can pop over for a reading, a backer's audition or a small production of a work in progress." For more information on The Playroom Theater, call Frankie Dailey, General Manager, at 212-967-8278.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is a twenty-three year old 501c3 nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of theater. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies.

TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, goods and productions; presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and Annual New Musicals Reading Series, two new works series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new shows as well as new producers for theater; TRU offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York Theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition and quarterly Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as free actor workshops.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, 9th district Council Member Inez Dickens; and with support from the Montage Foundation and the Friars National Association Foundation.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visitwww.truonline.orgor call (212) 714-7628.

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