by Camilo Almonacid
directed by Emily Joy Weiner
With Erick Betancourt, Karen Kandel** and Ian Eaton**
** actors appearing courtesy of Actors; Equity Association
Soho Playhouse
15 Vandam St. NYC, NY 10013
16th annual series of new plays by TRU writers produced by TRU producers, followed by reception and our "Dollars and Sense" panels on producing featuring prominent commercial producers, artistic directors and general managers.
"Dollars and Sense" panel to include:
- Pat Blake, producer (The 39 Steps, Bedlam Theatre's Hamlet/St. Joan, Play Dead, My Life Is a Musical, The Exonerated), founding artistic director of Rhymes Over Beats;
- R Erin Craig, producer (Stalking the Bogeyman; Liberty A Monumental New Musical; Mr Rickey Calls A Meeting; 26 Pebbles; Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice);
- Van Dean, producer (The Gershwin's Porgy & Bess, Cinderella, The Velocity of Autumn, Matilda, revivals of Evita, The Best Man);
- Ric Wanetik, producer (Marlene, Jolson & Company, Twilight: Los Angeles 1992, television: The Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show);
- Cheryl Wiesenfeld, producer (All the Way, Rocky, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, Porgy & Bess, Play Dead, A Steady Rain, Legally Blonde, Caroline or Change, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Exonerated, Elaine Stritch: At Liberty).
Panelists
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VAN DEAN
is a Tony® Award and Grammy® Award-winning producer of 13 Broadway musicals and plays (including Jagged Little Pill, Anastasia, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella, The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess, Big Fish, Catch Me If You Can, Evita, The Best Man, The Velocity of Autumn), 250+ musical theater-related recordings (including Matilda, The Color Purple, Anastasia, My Fair Lady, If The Fates Allow: Hadestown Holiday Album, The Lightning Thief), as well as numerous Broadway/National Tours, Off-Broadway musicals, concert events, a West End production, and a documentary film. Van is President and Co-Founder of Broadway Records and his philanthropic work includes being a producer of “Broadway For Orlando: What The World Needs Now is Love”, Broadway United’s “We Are The World”, “Broadway Kids Against Bullying: I Have a Voice”, “From Broadway With Love” benefit concerts for Sandy Hook, Orlando (Emmy Award winner for sound design) and Parkland as well his work with NewArts in Sandy Hook/Newtown, CT.
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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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RIC WANETIK
President of Ricochet Group LLC, a strategic planning and communications advisory. Known for his onboarding of leadership at major theaters here and in England, Ric is a frequent advisor to several regional theaters and is an active producer, investor and production supervisor. He is the Senior Advisor for America to the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), currently represented on Broadway with Matilda the Musical. He is also the President of RSC America, a US entity supporting the work of the Royal Shakespeare Company here and around the world. An investor in over 35 Broadway and Off- Broadway productions, Ric was the lead producer and Tony nominated for Anna Deveare Smith’s Twilight Los Angeles: 1992. In 1999, he was the lead producer for Broadway’s Marlene, and was the sole producer of Off-Broadway’s Jolson and Company. For eight years Ric was the supervising producer for the Victoria Secret’s Fashion Show on CBS-TV and has produced several TV Specials for cable, PBS and universities including: Segment Producer, Great Performances Anniversary Special; Executive Producer, A Tribute to Comden and Green directed by Patricia Birch; Producer for Ohio TV Network and CBS, What Ohio Kids Need. He is a frequent speaker and lecturer on theatre management and marketing.
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CHERYL WIESENFELD
Following a career in publishing, Cheryl began her theatre producing career in 1998. Broadway: The Great Society, The Heidi Chronicles, All The Way, Rocky, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, A Steady Rain, Legally Blonde, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, ‘night Mother, Caroline or Change, Elaine Stritch At Liberty, and Hedda Gabler. Off Broadway: 10th Anniversary Exonerated, Play Dead, In The Continuum, Shockheaded Peter, Talking Heads, The Exonerated, The Waverly Gallery. Film: Elaine Stritch: Shoot Me. Current: Ain’t Too Proud- The Temptations musical. Upcoming: The Harder They Come. Cheryl has produced shows that have spawned national and international tours and sit down productions, regional productions, and London engagements which have grossed hundreds of millions of dollars. Cheryl has won numerous awards for her productions including the Drama League, Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, New York Drama Critics Awards and 4 Tony Awards. She has been honored by Theater Resources Unlimited with “The Spirit of Theater” award in 2007, and The Houses on The Moon Amplify 2015 Award for her support in championing the unheard voice. Her board commitments: Theater Resource Unlimited where she co-founded the TRU mentorship program. The program to date has mentored over 200 commercial producers and self producing artists. Cheryl is on the board of Silver Hill Hospital in New Canaan, Connecticut, and is on the Honorary Council of Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven Connecticut. Cheryl continues her mentoring work and speaks at universities, on panels and for different organizations. She is in her second year of curating a theatre program with the title - Theatre that changes OUR World- at The Quick Center at Fairfield University.