Tuesday May 21st, 7:30pm
How to Be a Singular Sensation: What Makes a Successful Solo Show?

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RECENT MEETINGS/EVENTS

Tuesday April 23rd, 7:30pm
Above, left to right: Jeffrey Chrzczon, producer, general manager and company manager (Mike Tyson: Undisputed Truth directed by Spike Lee, The Lyons, Kathy Griffin Wants a Tony, Saturday Night Fever, Jekyll & Hyde); Tiffani Gavin, producer/general manager, formerly with American Repertory Theater, Theatrical Rights Worldwide; Erach Screwvala, entertainment attorney; Michael Barra, VP licensing & business development for Daryl Roth Theatrical Licensing; Darnetha Lincoln M'Baye, owner of Ibis Eye Consulting, former VP at EMI Music Publishing; Dorothy Marcic, writer (Respect: A Musical Journey of Women, Sistas); TRU president Bob Ost. All photos by Junenoire Mitchell, Studio 7.

"Licensing" is a word that is used a lot in both the music and theater worlds, but it means different things in different contexts. Consider the dramatic difference between licensing a show and optioning a work for production. When it is part of subsidiary rights, licensing extends the life of a show, potentially benefitting both writers and producers. And then there are the costs, pluses and minuses of licensing music: is a "jukebox musical" easier to produce than a show with an original score? We'll look at dramatic and grand rights, performance rights and other permutations to consider when incorporating music into a presentation, as well as the ins and outs of licensing still and video images for production and marketing purposes.

The Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street

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Tuesday March 19, 7:30pm
New Trends in Marketing for Theater:
How to Use Them. And Understand Them.

Above left to right: Damian Bazadona, President of Situation Interactive; Kate Koch, Senior Broadway Account Executive at Theatermania; Bill Hofstetter, Hofstetter + Partners/Agency212; TRU's Bob Ost.

What exactly IS digital marketing? How do you use it, and how do you read those complex backend reports you can get? What other new trends are helping theater keep pace in a difficult economy? And what do other industries do that theater could learn from?

The Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street,

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Tuesday February 19th, 7:30pm
Singing a New Tune:
Let's Revitalize the Musical Theater Development Process!

Above, left to right: Eric Goldman, entertainment attorney; Joe Calarco, director/adaptor (Shakespeare's R&J, director Sarah Plain and Tall, In Transit), co-artistic director Breaking Bread Theatre Company; Jamibeth Margolis, artistic director of musicals for Midtown International Theatre Festival; Frank Ventura, producing artistic director of CAP 21; Eliza Venture, artistic director of CAP 21; John Chatteron, producing artistic diurector Midtown Internationasl Theatre Festival; Tiffani Gavin, producer/general manager, formerly with American Repertory Theater (Porgy & Bess), Theatrical Rights Worldwide, Martian Entertainment; TRU president Bob Ost.

To many, the American musical theatre industry appears to be in crisis, as there are very few original works from new authors being developed. We are seeing a lot of movies being turned into musicals, and we’re seeing production budgets skyrocket. New voices and "less commercial" properties are simply being squeezed out of the market. So how do we revitalize the musical theater development process? Should we place a greater value on the development work that theatres do – the Labs, the Showcases? To start to view those presentations as being a valuable element in the development of new works, and to ask producers and writers who benefit from that developmental process to contribute to the development of future works from new writers by committing a small portion of income from successfully developed works?

The Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street,

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Tuesday January 22nd, 7:30pm (networking at 7pm)
Projecting the Future:
When and How to Use New Theater Technology

Bove, left to right: Lorca Peress, artistic director Multistages multidisciplinary, multi-cultural theatre (The Island of No Tomorrows, Temple of the Souls); Jan Hartley, projection designer (Wagner's Ring Cycle at San Francisco opera, My Kinsman for Bruce Saylor Opera Queens College, The Island of No Tomorrows and Hell and High Water for MultiStages); Stafford Arima, director (Bare the Musical, Carrie revival featuring Marin Mazzie, The Tin Pan Alley Rag, Altar Boyz, The Secret Garden featuring Laura Benanti, Steven Pasquale, Celia Keenan-Bolger & Will Chase, My Mother's Lesbian Jewish Wiccan Wedding, Allegiance); Sven Ortel, projection designer (Broadway: Jumpers, Faith Healer, Deuce, The Little Mermaid, Woman On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, Wonderland and Newsies; off-Broadway: Carrie revival); TRU president Bob Ost; Karen Eterovich, self-producing actor (Cheer from Chawton, Love Arm'd); Richard DiBella, production and video designer (Broadway: The Performers; Off-Broadway: Silence! The Musical, Forever Dusty: The Dusty Springfield Musical, Now. Here. This.);

Many producers think that projections are a cost-effective substitute for a set design, but that may not always be the case. Projections can be expensive, and may not work equally well in all venues. And they often are better used as an enhancement to a set, rather than a subsititute, so two designers may be needed, as well as a lighting designer who can work well with both. The use of video, projections and other technology as part of a production should be a carefully considered artistic decision as well as a budgetary one. When does technology enhance and support a concept, and when does it become intrusive or distracting? Should more directors consider technology when they develop a visual approach to a piece, and should more producers plan for it in their budgets? How do a director, set designer, lighting designer and projection designer work together and maintain artristic integrity to create a unified production concept? What advances have been made in recent years to make technology more effective?

The Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street, 3rd floor Loft

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Tuesday November 27th, 7:30pm (networking at 7pm)
So Where's the Money and How Do I Get Some?
Funding Strategies for Indie and Not-for-Profit Producers

Above, left to right: Andrew Frank, former Director of the Cultural Institutions Unit at the NY Department of Cultural Affairs, founding Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatresource; Gigi Bolt, theater and musical theatre program and philanthropy consultant, former Interim Executive Director of Theatre Communications Group, Director of Theater and Musical Theater at the National Endowment for the Arts, Director of the Theater Program at the New York State Council on the Arts;Stacey McMath, arts program specialist for NY Department of Cultural Affairs.

Navigating the City: are you eligible for DCA and City Council money, and how do you go about applying? What are funders looking for, and how do you convince them you have it? ... Individual Givers: finding them and cultivating them through cultivation events and other strategies.... Now that we're well into the 21st century, how important are crowdsourcing sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo and Rockethub? Is one better than the others? How do you fit them into an overall fundraising strategy? How do you maximize your online impact? ... How do you get the attention of private foundations? How do you find them? Which ones are open to unsolicited proposals? And are there really corporations still out there?

The Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street - Mainstage Theatre, 1st floor

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Wednesday October 17th, 7:30pm (networking at 7pm)
Two Sides to the Producing Story:
Commercial versus Not-for-Profit. (Which Side Are YOU On?)

Above, left to right: Lou Moreno, artistic director of INTAR Theatre; James Morgan, artistic director of the York Theatre Company (Closer Than Ever, Enter Laughing); Cheryl Wiesenfeld, commercial producer (The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty, The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Legally Blonde, A Steady Rain); David Elliott, co-director of Perry Street Theatricals (The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Obie Award winning An Oak Tree); Patrick Blake, commercial producer (The Exonerated, In the Continuum, Play Dead); TRU presideent Bob Ost.
ALL PHOTOS BY PAUL GRECO.

	Are there different skill sets that separate the successful commercial producer from the artistic director of a not-for-profit theater company? Do they speak different languages, have different goals, approach their work in a different way? Or do they have more in common than it might appear? What does it take to be successful in each? And why does someone choose one area over the other in their career? More and more commercial producers and not-for-profit theaters are partnering. If this is indeed the new normal, then it may be more important than ever for the players to understand both sides of producing.

The Players Theatre, 115 Macdougal Street, Mainstage