Our curriculum and instructors are as follows:

11am-12:00 How to Write a Play that a Producer Wants to Produce - dramaturgical principles taught by Diana Amsterdam

12:00-12:30 How to Tackle the Business of Playwriting - taught by Diana Amsterdam
Getting an agent, submitting work, the difference between nonprofit and commercial venues, unusual ways to get your work noticed.

12:30-1:30pm Practical Considerations: What Things Cost, What Producers Look For - practical guidelines taught by Patrick Blake

1:30-2:30 Lunch Break

2:30-3:45 Getting to the Essence: A Good Synopsis and How to Pitch It - taught by Bob Ost and Gary Hughes, working with each writer individually to discover the compelling essence of your work

3:45-4:30 Practicing Your Pitch - taught by Gillien Goll
              Reducing Stress, Increasing Confidence
              Physical Ed: Body Language, Focus, Eye Contact
              Pitching with Passion

4:30-4:45 Break

4:45-5:30 Identifying Your Market - an inter-active "pitch" session with feedback from producers Pat Addiss, Margot Astrachan and Patricia Klausner.

Participants receive the Practical Playwright's Guide: A Take-Home Handout -- including exercises in Play Structure and Story Truths, Examples of Query Letters, Loglines, and Synopses; Costs of Various Components of a Production including Actors' Fees, Costumes, Sets and More; a list of great New York theaters for rent; Invaluable Websites for Playwrights, and a list of Playwright Workshops.

Cost: $150
Early bird discount $125.00 (before 8/8)
- addt'l $25 off for all current paid TRU members -

CLICK HERE for Application as Word doc
CLICK HERE for Application as PDF

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  PAT FLICKER ADDISS

  is a producer, most recently of Eclipsed (6 Tony noms). Other Broadway productions include A Christmas Story the Musical, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, Promises, Promises, The 39 Steps, Bridge & Tunnel, Passing Strange, Spring Awakening, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life and Little Women. Off-Broadway: Buyer and Cellar, Shout the Mod Musical and Housewives of Mannheim. She has produced several readings for the TRU Voices Series including Sparks, Cheese, and the musical At the Back of the North Wind. Ms. Addiss served for many years on the board of Theater Resources Unlimited, and was the 2010 recipient of the TRU Spirit of Theater Award. Ms. Addiss is a member of The Broadway League. On the board of NJ Rep and the League of Professional Theatre Women, at present she is working on Vox Lumiere Phantom of the Opera off-Broadway, Loves of Picasso in London, and the solo show Top Drawer, and the hottest off Broadway show Desperate Measures at the York, and now at New World Stages. Her new venture is speaking to Women's Groups "How to Reinvent Yourself." 

   
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  MARGOT ASTRACHAN

  is a Tony Award winning commercial theatrical producer based in New York. Broadway: Diana, A New Musical, The Prom, Tony Award winning A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder, The Realistic Joneses, Nice Work If You Can Get It, the revival of On a Clear Day You Can See Forever; Bonnie & Clyde; Busker Alley, Ghost the Musical National Tour, and the only staging of Stephen Sondheim’s Evening Primrose. She also produced The Sting starring Harry Connick Jr. at The Papermill Playhouse. Margot wrote, produced and performed five one-woman cabaret shows.  New York: Danny’s Skylight Room, Judy’s, The Plaza Hotel, The Oak Room of The Algonquin Hotel, the Triad, The National Arts Club, and Don’t Tell Mama’s, among others. With dancer/choreographer Carmen de Lavallade, she wrote the book of a new Jazz musical, which has been read at Lincoln Center and at The York Theater. Margot was the American Artistic Director of the Jermyn Street Theatre in London and The Kings Head Theatre in London, and has had over 30 years’ experience producing special events for Arts Organizations such as The York Theatre Company, The Theatre Museum, and Brit-Arts of The St. George’s Society, which with Jim Dale, featured British and American theatre professionals in readings and panels in New York. She was the Vice Chair of The New York Musical Theatre Festival (NYMF), and is a board member of The Alumni & Friends of The LaGuardia High School for the Arts, Chair of the Theater Advisory Committee of the Library For the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, a Board Member of The Transport Group and Co-Chair of the Rachel Crothers Award of the League of Professional Theatre Women. She is a graduate of CTI (The Commercial Theatre Institute) and is a member of The Association of Performing Arts Presenters, The National Alliance For Musical Theatre, The Broadway League, The Dramatists Guild, the Advisory Board of TRU, British American Business, Inc. and BAFTA East Coast. She is the past chair of The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. Her latest project is Radio Galaxy by Michele Aldin Kushner (found in the TRU Voices series). Upcoming: The Outsiders, Broadway, Spring 2024. She is a graduate of CTI (The Commercial Theatre Institute) and is a member of The Association of Performing Arts Presenters, The National Alliance For Musical Theatre, The Broadway League, The Dramatists Guild, the Advisory Board of TRU, British American Business, Inc. and BAFTA East Coast. She is the past chair and current board member of Theater Resources Unlimited and The American Friends of the London Philharmonic Orchestra. 
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  PATRICIA R. KLAUSNER

  Ms. Klausner has produced, written and assistant directed theater since 1990. While she has invested in many Broadway shows, she is credited as a Co-Producer on The Band's Visit (Tony, Best Musical), Pippin (Tony, Best Revival), Trip to Bountiful, Stick Fly and The Scottsboro Boys; National Tours: The Band's Visit, Pippin; and in London:  The Scottsboro Boys.  She is the Co-Executive Producer of the film Wakefield starring Bryan Cranston and Jennifer Garner.  Other theatrical and business credits include Managing Director of Shotgun Productions/Global Arts Initiative since 1995, Managing Director of the Steps Beyond Foundation, General Manager of The Donald Byrd Dance Foundation (1996-1999), conceiver of the multimedia piece The Tides of Intolerance (The Asia Society, NYC, 1996), Director of Marketing for Steps on Broadway (2001-2018), editor of a weekly financial trade publication, and consultant for various cable television companies and arts businesses. She currently holds the position of Director of Investor Relations for a theatrical fund and is working with the lead producer on the new musical by Ahrens & Flaherty, Marie: Dancing Still.  She sat on the Board of Directors and is a past Vice President of Media Audit International and served as a Co-Director of Theater Resources Unlimited's Producers Development Mentorship Program. Ms. Klausner has a Ph.D. in sociology and has taught women's studies, race relations, and criminology at the University of Delaware and Montclair State College. She currently sits on the Marymount Manhattan College Dance Advisory Board, and is a graduate of CTI.
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  FRANK ZUBACK

  was the Lead Producer for Moolah, a new comedy by Arje Shaw (The Gathering). Currently he is helping develop three new works: Taking Leave, American Soldier and Roof of the World. Frank has also had the great privilege of working on a number of shows and projects with the late director Tom O’Horgan (Jesus Christ Superstar, Hair). In addition, he has worked on over twenty musicals and was involved for thirty years on the Tony Awards. Also involved in the music and entertainment industry, Frank has worked with luminaries as Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, conducted the Count Basie Orchestra, and the Honolulu Symphony Orchestra and consulted on nine Super Bowl half-time shows. Mr. Zuback founded Frank Zuback Productions, which provides a wide range of services in the music and entertainment industry. Website - http://fzpi.com