TRU Panel: Fifth Wheel or Engine? February 16, 2011

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU), The Players Theatre and Back Stage present the industry panel Fifth Wheel or Engine? The Role of a Producer in Early Development of New Work on Wednesday, February 16, 2011 at 7:30pm at The Players Theatre, 3rd Floor Loft Theatre, 115 MacDougal Street (below W. 3rd Street), NYC.

The panel will look at the logical time in the development process for a producer to attach himself to a work, how an agent functions in getting early productions, whether a writer benefits more from having an agent or producer involved early on (or both), how agent and producer can work together for the success of a property, what a producer's role is before an option, how a producer can be compensated for his work, standard deals that an agent negotiates on behalf of writers. The evening will focus on opportunities outside of New York, and how to access them, and address the challenge of regional theaters that only want to do world premieres, and where that leaves a promising new work after that single premiere.

The panel will include Beth Blickers, literary agent Abrams Artists Agency; Peter Flynn, artistic director of the Hangar Theater in Ithaca, NY; Jayson Raitt, producer, "Murder for Two", "A Killer Musical"; Truman Capote’s "A Christmas Memory"; "Vanities", "A New Musical"; "Make Me a Song: The Music of William Finn" Off-Broadway & London; "Being Alive", an all-Black Sondheim musical; NAMT Festival of New Musicals; and Pasadena Playhouse; and Greg Schaffert, producer, "All Shook Up"; "Burn the Floor"; "Bat Boy the Musical" off-Broadway and London; "How to Save the World and Find True Love…"; Brian Dykstra’s "Cornered & Alone and Forsaking All Others"; William Donnelly’s "Magnetic North" in NYC and "Painted Alice" in Washington DC.

Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, panel starts promptly at 7:30pm. FREE for TRU members; $12 for non-members. Please call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 212/714-7628; or e-mail [email protected]