Name: Where Do You Start: Do Different Countries Offer Different Paths of Development?
Start: 2025-08-15T17:00:00-04:00
End: 2025-08-15T18:30:00-04:00
Location: ZOOM Room

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August 15, 2025
5:00 pm - 6:30 pm

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Where Do You Start: Do Different Countries Offer Different Paths of Development?

Friday 08/15/25, doors open at 5:00pm ET, interview starts at 5:30. Come early so we can meet you!

Community Gathering on Zoom - register with the bright red reservation box to receive the Zoom link. These gatherings are a service for the theater community and are offered free for TRU members; we ask that non-members help keep us running by buying a ticket, making a donation or joining as a member.

8/15 - Where Do You Start: Do Different Countries Offer Different Paths of Development? In the room: Australian producer Neil Gooding (Broadway: Sunset Boulevard, Gypsy, Operation Mincemeat, Harmony; Back to the Future in London and New York, Holding The Man in London, UK productions of What's New Pussycat and Little Voice; Australian premieres of Sunset Boulevard, Gypsy, Harmony, Operation Mincemeat, Gutenberg! The Musical!, Dogfight and 33 Variations and New York productions of Islander, Church and State, Handle with Care, The 39 Steps); UK producer Chris Grady, director at CGO Institute, fellow of the Royal Society for the Arts; US producer Martin Platt of Perry Street Theatricals general management (Tony winner for Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike; also Dames at Sea revival, Bedlam's Hamlet/St. Joan, off-Broadway award winning In the Continuum and an oak tree; Lend Me a Tenor and 4 other productions on the West End, 16 touring productions in the UK); and UK general manager James Steel who specializes in new musicals, and international product. We'll talk about financing strategies in early stages of development, differing approaches to front money from country to country, comparative costs including the costs involved in bringing works into the UK. Plus the challenges and potential opportunities in different markets, with a focus on US, UK and Australia. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

Panelists

NEIL GOODING

As a director, Neil was nominated for a 2009 Helpmann Award and a 2009 Green Room Award for the Australian premiere of Gutenberg! The Musical!. He has also been nominated for a Sydney Theatre Critics Award for his direction of the Australian premiere of Dogfight. Directing highlights include the Australian premieres of Stalking The Bogeyman and The Bridges Of Madison County and the World Premiere of Paris (in concert), The Red Tree and Becoming Bill. Other highlights include the New York Production of Church And State (Asst. Director), Passion, The Hatpin (Asst. Director). Neil was also assistant director to Gale Edwards for the launch concert of Kookaburra Music Theatre Company. As Producer / Director Neil has created many productions including Sing on Through Tomorrow (a song revue of the music of Matthew Robinson); LOVEBiTES by Peter Rutherford and James Millar; Love Letters (starring Ian Stenlake and Rachael Beck), Truth Beauty And A Picture Of You and High Fidelity (Hayes Theatre Co); the national tour of Thank You for Being A Friend; as well as Side by Side by Sondheim and Diciasette (starring Mark Vincent). His producing work internationally includes the New York productions of Church and State, Handle with Care; The 39 Steps; Alan Cumming’s one-man version of Macbeth on Broadway; as well as being a financial investor in It’s Only A Play and The Ferryman. In London’s West End, NGP has produced the hit Australian play, Holding the Man, Cyrano and the upcoming Back to the Future.
CHRIS GRADY

is a facilitator, workshop leader and trainer specialising in the support of the next generation of creative producers and practitioners. He is a qualified life support coach working with sole traders and small businesses across the arts and the wellness industries. He works nationally and internationally. Over the last 40 years, Chris has run, built, marketed, and created numerous theatres and festivals. He has worked in senior marketing and management roles at Bristol Hippodrome (Assistant Theatre Manager); Plymouth Theatre Royal (Head of Marketing); Edinburgh International Festival and Traverse Theatres (Head of Marketing); Highland Hospice (Appeal Coordinator); and Buxton Opera House (CEO and Programmer/Founding Director of the Festival of Musicals). He also produced London’s Vivian Ellis Prize and the Society of London Theatre’s (SOLT) Stagefair and Window on the West End (Event & Exhibition Producer) at venues including Drury Lane Theatre, London Palladium. Chris’s other work has included: New Musicals Alliance (Founder), Musical Theatre Network (Founder), Cardiff BBC Wales (Musicals Festival/Voice of Musical Theatre Project Developer), Keswick Theatre by The Lake (Co-project Build Coordinator), Bury St Edmunds Theatre Royal (Head of Marketing and Development). He also worked internationally as Head of Licensing for Cameron Mackintosh working on Miss Saigon, Les Miserables and Witches of Eastwick in variously Mexico City, Tokyo, Seoul, Prague, Moscow, Sao Paolo and Berlin.
MARTIN PLATT

has worked together with David Elliott for nearly 20 years. Martin is a producer, director, and general manager, and a principal in Perry Street Theatricals (PST), and in Pemberley Perry, a collaboration between PST and Pemberley Productions. 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. Selected credits collective and separate, include: London: Nixon's Nixon, Lend Me A Tenor The Musical Broadway: Dames At Sea, Vanya And Sonia And Masha And Spike, Off Broadway: The Woman In Black, Islander, Georgie; General Manager: The Last Ship starring Sting (Ahmanson), The Secret Garden (Ahmanson), Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (CTG Los Angeles), Richard Nelson's The Michaels Abroad.
JAMES STEEL

James Steel Productions is a general management and executive producing company specialising in new musical theatre. Based in the UK and working internationally, the company supports overseas producers bringing work to the UK and offers end-to-end delivery across budgeting, contracting, licensing, scheduling, compliance, and stakeholder management. Alongside consultancy and general management services, they also originate and produce new musicals independently and in collaboration with other creatives. We work across subsidized and commercial models with a focus on financial clarity, creative rigour, and strategic execution. Productions general managed and executively produced are Daniel’s Husband (Marylebone Theatre), Fly More Than You Fall (Southwark Playhouse) Starring Keala Settle, Breaking The Quill (The Other Palace). Alongside general management services, they produce original work independently and in partnership with other producers. Projects include USHERS: The Front of House Musical (Arts Theatre, West End, Charing Cross Theatre, The Other Palace, The Hope Theatre and Edinburgh Fringe).

NEIL GOODING

CHRIS GRADY

MARTIN PLATT

JAMES STEEL