Tuesday, September 20th season opener
The Playroom Theater, 151 W. 46th Street, 8th floor
Meet the program directors and illustrious board members of Theater Resources Unlimited, including director of writer programs Diana Amsterdam (Practical Playwriting), casting director Carly J. Bauer (YPAC leader, co-producer of the TRU Audition), producer/board member Patrick Blake (The 39 Steps, Bedlam Theater's Hamlet/ St. Joan, Play Dead, The Exonerated, In the Continuum; artistic director Rhymes Over Beats; Practical Playwriting; head of TRU Voices selection committee), TRU literary manager Cate Cammarata (TRU Voices and How to Write a Musical That Works), actress/writer Christin Cato (co-chair of YPAC), producer/board member David Elliott (Broadway: Dames at Sea, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike; off-Broadway: Bedlam Theater's Hamlet/St. Joan, In the Continuum; director of our Producer Development program), attorney Eric Goldman, Esq. (offering free mediation services and counsel to TRU members), Gillien Goll (writer coach for Speed Date and Practical Playwriting), producer Jesse Langston (co-producer of the TRU Audition), producer/co-chair of YPAC Molly Morris (Come from Away, My Life Is a Musical, PopUpTheatrics), producer/board member Tom Polum (The Toxic Avenger, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, All Shook Up; How to Write a Musical That Works feedback panel; head of TRU Voices selection committee), producer-actress Jana Robbins (Ragtime, Little Women, Roof of the World; director of our Producer Development program), financial advisor/board member Bailie Slevin (offering free financial consultations to TRU members).
Learn about our programs, including our Producer Development & Mentorship Program, the TRU Voices Reading Series, Mediation workshop and other Producer Boot Camps, Speed Dates and Actor Workshops, Writer-Producer Speed Date, Director-Writer Communications Lab, our new How to Write a Musical That Works workshop and more. Meet our newly formed Young Patrons & Artists Circle (YPAC), and learn if you are eligible to join them. Come with questions. And let us know what we don't offer that you wish we did.
Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, roundtable introductions of everyone in the room will start at 7:30pm - come prepared with your best one-minute summary of who you are, and what you need. Free for TRU members;
usually $12 for non-members, but free for everyone for this season opener. Please call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 212/714-7628; or e-mail
TRUStaff1@gmail.com
Panelists
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DIANA AMSTERDAM
has had plays produced in New York, London, Berlin, Montreal, Los Angeles and many American cities and been reviewed by the New York Times and Washington Post. Full-lengths and one-acts are published by Samuel French, Broadway Play Publishing, Playscripts Inc. and Smith and Kraus. Her new play, The Dodgers, is slated to open at the Hudson Theater in LA on January 21, 2016, produced by AKA Studio Productions and directed by Dave Solomon. She is currently writing a commission for Mildred’s Umbrella Theater Company in Houston, TX.
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PATRICK BLAKE
is a writer/producer based in New York and San Francisco, and Founding Artistic Director of Rhymes Over Beats, a hip hop theater company. In New York theater, he is a producer of the off-Broadway revival of The 39 Steps, the off-Broadway transfer of Bedlam Theater Company's dual productions of Hamlet and Saint Joan, and is currently producing My Life Is a Musical (from the TRU Voices series) which had a debut production at Bay Street Theatre. He was one of the producers of Play Dead! at The Players Theatre, he has produced In the Continuum at Perry Street Theatre, Noah's Archive, Joe Fearless, The Exonerated (Lucille Lortel, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle and Court TV's Scales of Justice Award) and The Soap Myth at Southstreet Seaport. He also produced Dirty Works at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. He was Executive Producer for the short film, The Igloo, and the feature film Mr. Smith Gets a Hustler. Patrick is a proud board member of TRU.
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CATE CAMMARATA
is an Off-Broadway producer, director and dramaturg in NYC, dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals. She is the Founder and Executive Producer of CreateTheater's 2022 New Works Fest, the Associate Artistic Director for Rhymes Over Beats Hip Hop Theater Collective and has been the Literary Manager for Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) for ten years. Off-Broadway: The Assignment, My Father's Daughter. Regional: My Life Is a Musical (Bay Street Theater). Cate's company CreateTheater, has been helping writers develop and produce new work since 2016. During the shutdown of 2020-2022 CreateTheater developed and/or produced more than 70 shows with online readings, workshops and dramaturgical guidance. For this work Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) has honored her with the TRU Entrepreneur of the Year award in 2022. Cate holds an MFA in Dramaturgy from SUNY Stony Brook and is an Associate Professor of Theatre Arts at CUNY Baruch College. www.CateCammarata.com www.CreateTheater.com
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DAVID ELLIOTT
has worked in the New York theatre community for over 25 years, much of that time with Martin Platt as a principal in Perry Street Theatricals (PST). PST, founded by Platt and Elliott in 2004, is a multi-award-winning producing and general management company where they collectively produced and general managed over 25 productions. Their productions have been nominated for nearly every award in the theatre industry. Highlights include - London: Lend Me A Tenor The Musical; Broadway: Dames At Sea, Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike. Off Broadway: Georgie, Bedlam’s Hamlet And Saint Joan, In The Continuum, The Exonerated, An Oak Tree, and 7 shows as Producing Artistic Director at the Cape Playhouse. As General Manager: Bedlam’s Sense & Sensibility, The Saintliness of Margery Kempe and 3 tours with The Aquila Theatre Company. David recently served as Producing Artistic Director at the Cape Playhouse in Dennis, MA.
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ERIC GOLDMAN
For over 25 years, Eric has provided legal services to Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award winning talent, and to technology and internet entrepreneurs. Recent projects include representing the writers of the Broadway smash hit Come from Away and the producers of the highly successful Off-Broadway musical parody of the television show Friends. Before launching his own firm in 2011, Eric worked for 15 years as a Senior Associate for entertainment attorney Mark Sendroff of Sendroff & Baruch LLP. Eric also served as in-house counsel for St. Martin’s Press and Hertz Computer. His first job out of law school was working as an associate for copyright guru Stanley Rothenberg. Eric is a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and New York University School of Law.
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GILLIEN GOLL
is an Acting Teacher & Coach, Director, and Artistic Director with a background in Casting, having worked in casting for TV pilots, indie film, and web series. As she has been on the other side of the table, she knows what does and doesn’t work. Her clients appear in every medium: Broadway, films, TV, webisodes. As a teacher and coach, she can help you connect emotionally & truthfully to your role. and guide you to an audition that is truly exceptional and unique in showcasing your strengths and talents. With an additional background in coaching presentation techniques, she can help you overcome stage fright and nerves. Gillien is also a produced playwright and is adept at cutting & pasting dialogue together to create original monologues. She has taught courses in monologues, acting technique, scene study & on-camera acting, and has taught and/or lectured at Fordham University, Barnard College, Wellesley College, and for ACTRA (the Canadian Actors Union), among others. She has been teaching at AMDA since 2001, and there has seen thousands of hours of actors’ presentations. An actor herself, she is best recognized for crying in the Self-Help Aisle in “Sex & the City.” You can check out her other credits at her website, www.gilliengoll.com
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TOM POLUM
Founding member of Streaming Musicals, producing the films of Emma, Marry Harry, No One Called Ahead, Pride and Prejudice. www.StreamingMusicals.com. Author of Mambo Italiano which had it's world premiere last August at the Westchester Broadway Theatre. Outer Critic's winner Best Off broadway musical for The Toxic Avenger; produced the Houston production of The Toxic Avenger, following the off-Broadway New York premiere of about the first superhero from New Jersey by Joe DiPietro (I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change) and David Bryan (keyboardist and founding member of Bon Jovi) and directed by Tony Award-winner John Rando. He also co-produced Last Call, a musical documentary by Broadway director Christopher Ashley (Xanadu, Rocky Horror Show, All Shook Up) and is developing the musical comedies Mambo Italiano (based on the Canadian film starring Paul Sorvino) and Zombie Honeymoon, as well as other musicals, including Heloise and Abelard, The Toxic Avenger Christmas Chaos and Finding Frida Kahlo. Past credits include the tour of Broadway’s Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Tony nomination for Best Musical).
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JANA ROBBINS
is the recipient of the 2017 TRU “Spirit of Theater Award” and is both a Broadway actor and producer having played leading roles on Broadway in Good News, I Love My Wife, Crimes of the Heart, Gypsy (playing the “bump it with the trumpet" stripper Mazzeppa while covering Tyne Daly as Mama Rose) and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife (covering both Linda Lavin and Michele Lee and starring opposite Valerie Harper in the National Tour). Jana founded Better World Productions in order to “present theater that not only entertains, but also educates; and inspires us to create a Better World." She made her Broadway producing debut with Little Women. Other Broadway producing credits include the revival of Ragtime and a financial stake in War Horse and Something Rotten (currently on National Tour). Off-Broadway productions include I Love You Because, Through The Night and White’s Lies. She was also a producer on Marianne Elliot’s Heisenberg and Company in London as well as the Broadway revival. Shows in development include: The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit (developed at The Workshop Theater) and The Jazz Age (World Premiere at 59e59) slated for a London production. For more info: www.janarobbins.com
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BAILIE SLEVIN
is the founder of Financial Wellness Companion, Entertaining Finance, and is the current Sales Trainer at MediaRadar. She has made a study of language and how people communicate value, be it screenwriting, playwriting, sculpting, performing, painting, or commercial sales. Bailie helps to translate the creator’s passions to others in a business setting. With her15 years in the personal financial planning industry, Bailie developed a niche in the arts and freelance communities, specializing in working with people with an uneven income. She has also spent significant time in the theatre industry as a stage manager, general manager, and producer. She is a Life Purpose Life Coach and a New York Mental Health Peer Specialist. She lives in New York City with her rescue pup, Lorelai.
