THE MAGIC OF STAGED READINGS at Westport Country Playhouse

First In-Person Get-Together of the CT Chapter of the League of Professional Theatre Women will welcome panelists on Producing in the Age of Covid

By: Oct. 07, 2021
Enter Your Email to Unlock This Article

Plus, get the best of BroadwayWorld delivered to your inbox, and unlimited access to our editorial content across the globe.




Existing user? Just click login.

THE MAGIC OF STAGED READINGS at Westport Country Playhouse
Westport Country Playhouse
THE MAGIC OF STAGED READINGS at Westport Country Playhouse
Cheryl Weisenfeld
THE MAGIC OF STAGED READINGS at Westport Country Playhouse
Diana Muller
THE MAGIC OF STAGED READINGS at Westport Country Playhouse
Carole Schweid
The Magic of Staged Readings
Tired of Zoom readings? Ready to get back to live theater? Planning to get your project off the starting block in the development process?

Come to The CT Chapter's first event of the 2021-22 season. We'll network face-to-face (masked of course)* at the Westport Country Playhouse and enjoy the wisdom of three terrific guest panelists: Carole Schweid, artistic director, and Diana Muller, executive director, of Fairfield County's Play with Your Food, along with Cheryl Wiesenfeld, Tony award-winning producer, as they discuss the art of producing staged readings in the time of Covid.

FREE. RSVP is required. Click here to register.

Monday, Oct. 18
6-7 pm networking plus wine and appetizers
7-8 pm panel
Westport Country Playhouse

*Playhouse Covid protocols require that all attendees be vaccinated and wear masks (when not eating or drinking). Please refer to the Playhouse's health and safety guidelines for more information.

The Panelists:

Carole Schweid
Co-Founder and Artistic Director, Play With Your Food

Carole Schweid is former Broadway performer, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the popular lunchtime Connecticut play-reading series Play With Your Food, author of "Staged Reading Magic," (published 2017 by Smith and Kraus), a longtime Westporter and a fireworks fan. She has directed over 100 staged readings of short plays as artistic director of Play With Your Food. On stage performance highlights include Pippin (for Bob Fosse); Minnie's Boys; A Chorus Line (original Broadway cast); Caroline, or Change; Cabaret; Over the River and Through the Woods; Crossing Delancey; Ruthless!; and Agnes - a one woman play on the life and work of choreographer Agnes De Mille performed at the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery at theaters and colleges around the country. She studied theatre at Boston University, has her BFA from Juilliard in dance, and had the pleasure of directing two Booked for the Evenings (Jon Meacham and Nile Rogers) at the Westport Public Library. Learn more about Carole's book at www.stagedreadingmagic.com. Some will be available for purchase at our October event.

DIANA MULLER
Executive Producer, Play With Your Food

Diana Muller joined JIB Productions in 2014 as the Director of Marketing and Development and was named Producer one year later. She began her career in the advertising industry and has spent nearly 30 years in the not-for-profit arena as a marketing and fundraising professional, working for cultural organizations such as the Asian Cultural Council, The Brooklyn Museum and The Westport Arts Center. Always an active volunteer, Diana has worked on pro bono accounts while in advertising, served as President of Temple Israel in Westport, volunteered in the Weston school system and has held numerous positions for Brown University since receiving her undergraduate degree in 1982. Diana also holds an MBA from Columbia University Graduate School of Business.She considers JIB Productions to be the most perfect "job" she's ever had as it combines her business acumen and experience with her love and passion for theater. Diana is married to David and has three adult children.

Cheryl Wiesenfeld
Independent Producer, Broadway and Off-Broadway

Cheryl Wiesenfeld is a four-time Tony award winner for such groundbreaking shows as All the Way, starring Bryan Cranston, Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike, The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, and Elaine Stritch at Liberty. She has produced 19 Broadway and Off Broadway plays and musicals. Prophetically named after Cheryl Crawford, the legendary American theatre producer and director, Cheryl did not venture into the theatre in an official capacity until 1998. Always involved in creative endeavors, she started out as a photo editor and had a successful career in industrial show production before jumping into the fray on and Off Broadway. She loves igniting minds, transporting and moving people, shaping reality and giving her audiences theatre that makes them think --- connecting with something in them. Zeitgeist is important to Cheryl. She likes to do things that speak to larger issues that change worldviews. Her mission is "to change the world, one theatergoer at a time." Known as a compassionate straight shooter --- whose colleagues trust and know will give them good advice-Cheryl is a great collaborator of tremendous integrity and is a lot of fun to work with. She's a long-time advisor to Theatre Resources Unlimited, Long Wharf Theatre, TCG National Council and to Silver Hill Hospital. Cheryl is the curator of a theatre program at The Quick Center for the Arts at Fairfield University called "Theatre that Changes Our World." Some of her Broadway and Off-Broadway credits include Ain't Too Proud; The Heidi Chronicles; Rocky, A Steady Rain, starring Daniel Craig and Hugh Jackman; 'night, Mother; Legally Blonde; Dirty Rotten Scoundrels; Caroline, or Change; Hedda Gabler. She was the lead producer of the off-Broadway show, Play Dead, and other Off-Broadway credits include Into The Continuum, Shockheaded Peter, Talking Heads, The Exonerated and The Waverly Gallery.
This event is open to members and non-members of the CT Chapter of the LPTW.
FREE. RSVP is required. Click here to register.
Want more information about the chapter and how to become a member? CTChapterLPTW@gmail.com.


Videos