Theater Resources Unlimited June Panel via Zoom Life on Hold, and What We Do in the Meantime

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents the June Panel Life on Hold, and What We Do in the Meantime on Thursday, June 25, 2020 via Zoom. Networking begins at 7pm and the panel starts at 7:30pm. Reserve a spot on the event page at https://truonline.org/events/life-on-hold/ or by emailing TRUStaff1@gmail.com and you will be put on a list to receive the Zoom link.

A message from Bob Ost, executive director of TRU:
“Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all TRU live events are being rescheduled while we wait for the all clear. To help bridge the gap of social distancing, this panel will be held virtually via Zoom. Email TRUStaff1@gmail.com to be added to the invitation list and join our community. Stay positive, test negative, be safe!”

With guest speakers Jim Kierstead, producer (Hadestown, The Inheritance, Ain’t Too Proud, Mrs. Doubtfire, Tony Award winner Pippin revival, M. Butterfly, Indecent, Natasha Pierre…, Sunset Boulevard, Kinky Boots, Waitress; Off-Broadway Thrill Me, Yank!) and founder of Broadway Virtual; James Morgan, artistic director of The York Theater; and Markus Potter, director and producing artistic director of NewYorkRep, an Off-Broadway theatre company with the mission of developing and producing new plays and musicals that inspire and compel social change.

How are producers and theater companies spending their time now – are they looking for and reading new plays for the 22-23 season? How far out are they planning?  Are they using virtual platforms for development, and is that working? What will happen to the shows that have been put on hold, and how do you plan a season with so many unknown factors at play? What types of musicals/plays do they think the public will be hungry for once we can congregate again in a theater: new plays/musicals, old standbys, plays about the pandemic? Who will be in the audiences in the decade of the 20s – has virtual presentation possibly engaged new and younger theatergoers, and will they stay with us once we come back live?

Zoom room opens at 7:00pm for networking and roundtable introductions of attendees – come prepared with your best 20-second summary of who you are, and what you need. Panel starts at 7:30. Free for TRU members; pay what you can, everyone else – to keep TRU up and running (and yes, you may click the button for a free ticket). Please use the bright red reservation box on our web page, or email TRUStaff1@gmail.com to be put on the invite list. (Note: Zoom space is limited so RSVP early.)

JIM KIERSTEAD is a two-time 2013 Tony® Award-winning producer of the Broadway, touring, Toronto, and London productions of Kinky Boots and the revival of Pippin.  He also was involved with the international hit musical Matilda on Broadway and on tour and is a co-producer of the 2016 Broadway musicals Waitress and Natasha & Pierre and The Great Comet of 1812 starring Josh Groban.  He has been a co-producer of the Broadway productions of The Visit (Tony nominated), You Can’t Take It With You (Tony nominated), Side Show, It Shoulda Been You and Rocky.  Jim has worked in New York theatre since 2000 investing and raising money for shows including Something Rotten, The Glass Menagerie, the revival of Hair (Best Revival), American Idiot, The Addams Family, Catch Me If You Can, among others. Jim began his career by developing and producing the critically acclaimed Off-Broadway premiere of Thrill Me – The Leopold & Loeb Story (nominated for Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical in 2005) and produced its original New York production in 2003.  He founded his production company Kierstead Productions, Inc. in 2004.  In 2010, he produced the Off-Broadway premiere of Yank! – A World War II Love Story.  Jim has been an Executive Producer on the films Between Love and Goodbye, Kiss Me, Kill Me, and the upcoming Wakefield starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner. Currently, Jim is developing a new musical entitled Unexpected Joy with book & lyrics by Bill Russell (two-time Tony® nominated for Side Show), a play entitled Cover by Bill McMahon, and produced The Dodgers by Diana Amsterdam which had its World Premiere production at The Hudson Theatre in Los Angeles.  Jim is on the Board of Directors of The York Theatre Company and The New York Theatre Barn.

JAMES MORGAN is the Producing Artistic Director of the acclaimed York Theatre Company in Manhattan, now celebrating its 50th anniversary. It is the only theater in the city, and one of few in the world, with a commitment to producing both new and classic musicals. He is an award-winning scenic and graphic designer whose work has been seen on Broadway and off and in regional theaters around the country.

MARKUS POTTER is the Producing Artistic Director of NewYorkRep. This past season he served as Interim Artistic Director of Theatre Aspen. Recent directing includes Stalking the Bogeyman off-Broadway at New World Stages (Outer Critics Circle Award nomination, NYTimes  critics pick), London’s Southwark Playhouse (Off West End Award nomination for best production and direction), Red Speedo by Lucas Hnath at Center Rep, Lost Boy Found In Whole Foods by Tammy Ryan at The Portland Stage Company, Why You Beasting by David Don Miller (Best of FringeNYC – Time Out NY critic’s pick), Weston Playhouse, North Carolina Stage Company, and New Jersey Rep. As an actor: Guthrie Theatre, Long Wharf, Berkeley Rep, ACT, Denver Center, tour of Death of a Salesman with Christopher Lloyd. As producer: The Velocity of Autumn on Broadway (Estelle Parsons’s Tony Award nomination). Markus received his MFA from Columbia University, and is an Assistant Professor of Theatre at the University of Kansas.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-seven-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies.
 
TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, goods and productions; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through the TRU Vices Play Reading Series, Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition.
 
Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by the Montage Foundation and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation.
 
For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org.