Michael Barra to Lead The Araca Group's Media & Entertainment Division

Leading Broadway producing company The Araca Group (Urinetown, SpongeBob SquarePants) has today announced they they've extended their arrangement with producer Michael Barra to lead their Media & Entertainment division.

Araca Media & Entertainment (AME) is the in-house content studio for Araca, and specializes in adapting Hollywood intellectual property for the live-stage. Founded by the Araca partners and former Disney executive Barra in October of 2015, AME has since developed and released stage adaptations of the 1985 film Clue under license from Paramount and Hasbro, Family Ties under license from CBS as well as the original jukebox musical One Hit Wonder, featuring hit songs licensed from music publishers such as BMG, Sony/ATV, and Warner Chappell, among others. The division has also established distribution partnerships for their current and future projects with leading play publishers and licensing agencies Dramatists Play Service, Rodgers & Hammerstein, and Broadway Licensing/Playscripts, with others nearing completion. AME will continue to report directly to Production CEO Matthew Rego.

"We are thrilled the Media & Entertainment division continues to evolve in new and inspiring ways. Drawing on inspirations from some of the most iconic and exciting intellectual properties, we are committed to creating artistically sound as well as economically producible theatre." said Matthew Rego. "We couldn't be happier to continue our partnership with Michael to build on the success of this exciting division of The Araca Group."

"Working with the entire Araca team has been an absolute pleasure over the past two years, and I'm very proud of what we've built together in such a short period. I am looking forward to continuing to build the AME content catalog in the future, and am also very grateful to the Araca partners for providing Lively McCabe Entertainment with a home-base for its own ambitious slate of programming," said Barra.

As part of the agreement, Barra and wife/producing partner Katie Dietz, will set up a production shingle at Araca with a first-look deal for new stage adaptations, and will partner with Araca on select television projects in development. Together, Araca and Lively McCabe will actively package and develop adaptations of theater properties for TV and film. Barra and Lively McCabe Entertainment are represented by Abrams Artists Agency and Levine Plotkin & Menin LLP.

The Araca Group was founded in 1997 by partners Matthew Rego, Michael Rego and Hank Unger, and the company has since become a leading Broadway production and brand activation company with over 250 dedicated employees and offices in New York, Los Angeles, Las Vegas, London, and Sydney.

Araca's producing ventures have garnered Tony, Pulitzer, Grammy, Drama Desk, Outer Critics, Drama League, Olivier and Obie Awards. Broadway producing credits include Urinetown, Disgraced, Wicked, The Wedding Singer, A View From The Bridge, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune, Lend Me a Tenor, Match, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella and SpongeBob SquarePants. Araca's Media & Entertainment division partners with marquee Media Companies and Consumer Brands to develop and manage branded entertainment portfolios of meticulously crafted adaptations, reboots, and brand integrations for film, television, digital and live stage.