fbpx
Event Details
  • Theater in a Changing World
    October 22, 2019
    7:00 pm - 9:45 pm
We're sorry, but all tickets sales have ended because the event is expired.
Theater in a Changing World: Time to Get Off the Blocks?
Tuesday, October 22nd
Doors open 7:00pm, panel starts 7:30
Polaris North Theater, 245 W. 29th Street
 

Panel to include Teresa Eyring, executive director of Theater Communications Group (TCG); legendary press agent Irene Gandy of Jeffrey Richards Associates (The Great Society, American Son, The Heidi Chronicles and You Can't Take It with You revivals, Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill, The Realistic Joneses, All the Way); and Kat Mustatea, playwright/poet, TED resident ("the meaning of art in an age of machines").

Is theater hamstrung by tradition, or is it evolving and keeping up with the changes in our culture? Speakers from the commercial, regional and indie worlds will consider the need to stay relevant in this age of technology ... how to attract young audiences as well as diverse audiences ... the trend to rethink classics for new audiences and how far we should go with revisionism rather than create new works ... other trends, healthy or un- ... the degree to which theater can be a force for change ... the need for greater diversity within the business itself. And a look at the shifting emphases in press and marketing.  
 
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 half-minute summary of who you are, and what you need. Free for TRU members; $13.00 for non-members ($16 at the door). Please use the bright red reservation box on this page, or call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 833-506-5550, or e-mail  TRUStaff1@gmail.com 

Panelists
  • TERESA EYRING

    joined TCG as executive director in March 2007. Ms. Eyring has been an executive in theatres around the U.S. for over twenty years. Prior to joining TCG, she served as managing director of the Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) in Minneapolis since 1999. Eyring began her theatre career as director of development for the Woolly Mammoth Theater Company in Washington, D.C. in 1983. She completed an MFA in theater administration at the Yale School of Drama between 1986 and 1989. From 1989-1993, she was assistant executive director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, where she handled artist contracts, play commissions, and oversaw a $5 million theater renovation project . From 1994-99, she was managing director of the Wilma Theater in Philadelphia, where she spearheaded completion of an $8 million capital campaign and oversaw the construction and transition to a new 24,000 square foot theater facility on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. She was named a ‘Woman to Watch” by the Twin Cities Business Journal in July 2005. Eyring’s past affiliations include service as chairwoman of the Theatre Alliance of Greater Philadelphia, board member of WYBE-TV, executive committee member of the League of Resident Theaters; board member and Treasurer of Minnesota Citizens for the Arts; and board member of Intermedia Arts. She currently serves on the boards of the Performing Arts Alliance and The Actor's Fund. Eyring holds a BA from Stanford University and an MFA from Yale School of Drama.

  • IRENE GANDY

    is the only Black female member of ATPAM (Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers) on Broadway. She has been a press agent works with Jeffrey Richards Associates. She is a Tony-Award winning producer on Broadway for The Gershwin’s' Porgy and Bess and was a producer for Lady Day At Emerson Bar and Grill starring Audra MacDonald. She was also co -producer with Voza Rivers of the National tour of the South-African musical  Serafina. Gandy’s recent productions include  American Son starring Kerry Washington China Doll starring Al Pacino, Fiddler on the Roof ,You Can't Take It With You, starring James Earl Jones and  Sylvia starring Matthew Broderick.  Gandy began her career in 1968 as a publicist with Douglas Turner Ward and Robert Hooks’ Negro Ensemble Company. Since then, she has worked on over 100 Broadway shows including , Glengarry Glen Ross, Radio Golf, Bubbling Brown Sugar, Smokey Joe’s Care, Lena Horne: The Lady and her Music, Patti LaBelle on Broadway, The Wiz. In addition to her work in theatre, she was Associate Director of Special Markets for CBS Records, working with such artists as Earth, Wind and Fire, The Jacksons, Patti Labelle, The Isley Brothers, and many others. Gandy was the Press Consultant for the National Black Arts Festival in Atlanta and the 30th Anniversary of Harlem Week. Gandy is the recipient of the 1997 National Action Network’s “Woman of Excellence Award” the 2007 Vanguard Award from Black to Broadway Productions, the 2004 Black Public Relations Society Award, 2013 “Inspire in New York” Award, 2015 Pioneer Award for BLACK PRIDE NYC and the 2015 Café Mocha “Salute Her” “Media Legend Award.” In 2017,  She was  the received  the "Project 1 Voice Lifetime Achievement";  "HARLEM WEEK Vivian Robinson Arts and Culture; and "Life Changers" presented by WNBA for inspiring, transforming and empowering others.  In 2018  she  was honored with Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO  "Pioneer Award"; and in 2019  she was honored with the NAACP-LGBQT David Weaver Prize for Excellance in the Arts. She currently serves on the board of   City College for the Arts, HARLEM WEEK and The New Heritage Theatre.  In 2008, she became the first female press agent to be immortalized with a Sardis caricature. Gandy recently launched the Irene Gandy Fur Collection designed by Mr. Pete and was featured in the 2015 August issue of Vogue Magazine.

  • KAT MUSTATEA

    is a playwright and technologist whose works for the stage explore hybridity and transformation. She has written plays in which people turn into lizards, a woman has a sexual relationship with a swan, and a one-eyed cyclops tries to fit into Manhattan society by getting a second eye surgically implanted in his head. Her TED talk originates a wholly new thesis about the meaning of machines making art as society shifts radically toward autonomous, algorithmic systems. She studied philosophy at Columbia University and sculpture at Pratt Institute, worked as a software engineer and product manager, and founded a theater company in Berlin. Over the last decade, she has developed cross-disciplinary works for the stage that combine music, dance, and highly emotional theater. Her plays have been performed in New York, Chicago, Berlin, and Oslo. Currently a member of NEW INC, the art and tech incubator at The New Museum in New York City, she is writing a book about live arts in the digital age. Her essays appear in Forbes, The Week, and Hyperallergic.
SHARE THIS: