Off Broadway Alliance Hosts 'Producing Readings, Staged Readings and Workshops' Panel, Today

The Off Broadway Alliance, the organization of Off Broadway producers, theaters, general managers, press agents, and marketing firms, will hold another in its series of seminars focused on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway today, Sunday, December 2nd.

The seminar, titled “Producing Readings, Staged Readings and Workshops” will feature Joe Trentacosta, Vice President of Springer Associates PR (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gazillion Bubble Show), producer Donna Trinkoff (The Other Josh Cohen; Triassic Parq, Shout!; Zanna, Don’t!) and producer/general manager Liz Ulmer (The Independents, Flambe Dreams, Twilight: A Musical Parody). John Capo, President of John Capo Public Relations, will moderate the discussion.

“Producing Readings, Staged Readings and Workshops” will be held at The Snapple Theater Center’s Jerry Orbach Theater. Doors will open at 11:30 for complimentary coffee and bagels. The panel will take place from Noon – 1:30pm with additional time allotted afterward for conversation with fellow attendees. The Snapple Theater Center is located at 210 West 50th Street (at Broadway).

Admission for the seminar is free, however reservations are a must. To RSVP for the event, visit www.producingreadings.eventbrite.com before December 1st. Attendees are encouraged to pre-submit questions for the panelists when they submit their reservation. Questions will be asked live at the seminar.

The Off Broadway Alliance is a non-profit corporation organized by theater professionals dedicated to supporting, promoting and encouraging the production of Off Broadway theatre and to making live theater increasingly accessible to new and diverse audiences. The Alliance holds monthly meetings and membership is open to everyone in the Off Broadway theater community.

Among its initiatives, The Off Broadway Alliance sponsors 20at20, the event that runs twice a year for 20 days and lets theatergoers purchase $20 tickets to dozens of Off Broadway shows 20 minutes before curtain.

The Alliance also presents the Off Broadway Alliance Awards, including an annual tribute to the Legends of Off Broadway and inductees to the Off Broadway Hall of Fame. It also produces a free Sunday Seminar Series focusing on the culture, business and history of Off Broadway featuring major players from the Off Broadway scene. And the Alliance created the Off Broadway Economic Impact Report, which outlines Off Broadway's over $500 million annual impact on the economy of the City of New York.

Joe Trentacosta is Vice President of Springer Associates PR – a full service entertainment PR firm. He has been a publicist for over a decade and has handled projects on Broadway, Off-Broadway, films in release and film festivals and many special events. Highlights have included the first multiracial production on Broadway of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and A Streetcar Named Desire, Tony Randall’s National Actors Theatre star-studded production of The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui and the Off-Broadway long-running hit The Gazillion Bubble Show, as well as the press representative for the Drama Desk Awards. Over the years he has worked with names such as James Earl Jones, Terrence Howard, Tom Cruise, Will Smith, John Travolta, Al Pacino, Debbie Allen, Steve Buscemi and many more. He has booked his clients on such shows as the “Today” Show, “GMA,” “The Early Show,” “David Letterman,” “The View” and “Oprah.”

Donna Trinkoff, at the helm of Amas Musical Theatre since 1994, has produced The Other Josh Cohen; Triassic Parq; Aesop & Co.; Me and Miss Monroe; Signs of Life; Wanda’s World; Shout! The Mod Musical; Sheba; Magpie; DogMusic; Lone Star Love; Texas; Stormy Weather: The Lena Horne Story; Zanna, Don’t!; Starmites 2001; Latin Heat; From My Hometown; Langston Hughes's Little Ham; 4 Guys Named José; Rollin’ on the T.O.B.A.; (partial list) and over 70 musicals for the Amas Six O’Clock Lab. Donna is an Associate Artistic Director of the Cabaret and Performance Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Center in CT and works with Aruba Productions on new and upcoming musicals. She holds a BA in English and Theatre from SUNY Binghamton, is a graduate of The National Theatre Institute and Drama Studio in London. A member of the League for Professional Theatre Women, she received the New York Municipal Art Society 1998 Award of Merit and the 2003 Galaxy Award from the NY Women’s Association.

Liz Ulmer is a Producer, General and Company Manager, specializing in developing new works. She has helmed numerous NYMF and Fringe productions, as well as various workshops and benefit concerts around NYC. Recent projects include Independents at Soho Playhouse (NY Times Critics' Pick), Baby Case (NYMF Best of Festival), Flambe Dreams (NYMF Excellence in Music, Lyrics and Direction), Twilight: a Musical Parody at New World Stages, Date of a Lifetime (NYMF Best Book and Lyrics) and I Got Fired: A Revenge Musical (NYC and Daegu International Music Festival). Liz has worked as a dramaturg for NYC Opera, Ithaca College Theatre Arts, Cornell University and NYMF as well as numerous writers and directors. She has served as Associate Producer for NYMF and is a member of the Off Broadway Alliance. As an actor, Liz has appeared with NY Stage and Film and The Actors Studio. She is a graduate of Ithaca College.

John Capo is the president of John Capo Public Relations, a NYC-based agency representing a broad spectrum of clients in the entertainment industry. Current/recent clients include Son of a Gun at Theatre Row, Amigo Duende at El Museo del Barrio, Prospect Theater Company, Unsung Musicals Company, the digital series PZAZZ101 featuring Laura Osnes, Donna McKechnie and Beth Leavel, the world’s longest-running musical The Fantasticks, New York’s longest-running play Perfect Crime, the long-running spoof of the news NEWSical the Musical, the international blockbuster Fame, Cole Porter's Nymph Errant at Theatre Row, a site-specific production of Amelia on Governors Island, Adam Guettel’s Myths and Hymns at the West End Theatre, the 2012 New York Musical Theatre Festival productions of Flambe Dreams, Le Cabaret Grimm, Stuck, Trouble The Musical and Zapata! The Musical, the 2012 FringeNYC productions of Have I Got a Girl for You, Scarlett Fever, Pulp Shakespeare, Channeling Kevin Spacey at St. Luke’s Theater, Marcia Milgrom Dodge’s Venus Flytrap, Daily News reporter Robert Dominguez’s Midnight in Havana, Magnetic North starring Christian Campbell, a developmental reading of I Was a Teenage B-Movie King starring Alexander Gemignani and Will Swenson, the launch of Elaine and Jerry Orbach’s posthumous memoir Remember How I Love You, Follies star Ron Raines (Tony nomination for Lead Actor) and Carole Demas. Member: Off Broadway Alliance, Writers Guild of America, Film Independent.