Presented in partnership with

Thursday, May 7 - networking at 6:30 pm, open forum starts at 7:00pm ET
Polaris North Studio, 245 W. 29th Street, 4th floor, NYC

Our return to our live monthly panels/discussions, with a simultaneous streaming for our friends outside of New York City.  When registering, please note there are options to buy either a live or a virtual ticket. Please let us know if you are attending live or virtually.

Co-hosts: JANE BERGERE, a multi Tony and Olivier Award winning producer for Broadway, London, Australia and Asia, currently represented on Broadway with Dog Day Afternoon staring  Jon Bernthal and Ebon Moss-Bachrach as well as Death of a Salesman, starring Nathan Lane; ELIVIA BOVENZI BLITZ, costume designer, educator; CHERYL L. DAVIS, Kleban, Larsen and Audelco award winning playwright/ librettist/ lyricist, award winning TV soap writer, general counsel for the Author's Guild and co-founder and vice president of TRU; LYNNIE GODFREY, actress, singer, dancer, director, producer, dramaturg/sensitivity consultant and former president of the League of Professional Theater Women. PATRICIA SNYDER, Emmy winner for Hizzoner! docudrama about Fiorello La Guardia, founding director of The Empire State Youth Theatre Institute, producer (regional theaters and Broadway; Raggedy Ann in Moscow, The Kennedy Center and Broadway; Sleeping Beauty Kabuki, A Tale of Cinderella and Narnia off Broadway). Moderated by Bob Ost of TRU and CYNTHIA STRAUS of LPTW. 

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  JANE BERGERE

  is a multi Tony and Olivier Award winning producer for Broadway, London, Australia and Asia, currently represented on Broadway with Dog Day Afternoon and Death of a Salesman. Previous Tony awards for Angels in America revival, Hello, Dolly! revival, Kinky Boots, Clybourne Park, War Horse, La Cage Aux Folles revival, Glengarry Glen Ross revival. Recent: Dead Outlaw, John Proctor is the Villain, All In, The Shark Is Broken, Funny Girl revival, Water for Elephants; the revival of The Crucible, Sylvia, It Shoulda Been You, Wolf Hall, You Can’t Take It With You, Rocky, Twelfth Night/King Richard III starring Mark Rylance, Annie, Driving Miss Daisy starring James Earl Jones and Vanessa Redgrave; A Little Night Music revival; All My Sons starring John Lithgow and Katie Holmes; Mark Twain’s Is He Dead?, Caroline, or Change by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Tony Kushner; and Mary Zimmerman’s Metamorphoses. Jane’s Off Broadway and regional productions include The Exonerated, Houdini The Musical and Capture Now. She also produced the national tour and London productions of The Exonerated. Prior to her work as a Broadway producer, Jane was the Artistic Director of Connecticut’s Broadway Theatre in Darien, CT where she produced over 50 musicals.
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  ELIVIA BOVENZI BLITZ

  is an accomplished costume designer and educator whose work brings a keen eye for character and period detail to the stages of New York City and beyond. She has built a versatile career that spans Broadway, Off-Broadway, regional theater, and film. Elivia’s artistic foundation was established at Russell Sage College, where she earned a BS in Musical Theatre, followed by a prestigious MFA in Design from the Yale School of Drama. This dual background in performance and design allows her to approach costumes with a deep understanding of the performer’s physical and emotional needs.  Her impressive professional credits include serving as an Associate or Assistant Costume Designer on recent high-profile Broadway productions such as The Lost Boys, The Great Gatsby, Moulin Rouge, Fiddler on The Roof, Tammy Faye, Real Women Have Curves: The Musical, and Lincoln Center’s revival of My Fair Lady. She has also contributed to numerous productions beyond Broadway, having worked at The Public Theater, The Guthrie, The Alliance Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Hartford Stage, Berkeley Rep, and Yale Repertory Theatre.  Elivia has earned widespread critical acclaim for her masterful use of vibrant palettes and intricate detailing to breathe life into both character and atmosphere. Frequently hailed by critics as "extraordinary," "dynamic," and a "feast for the eye," her lead designs for regional and Off-Broadway stages are celebrated for their visual impact. Notably, The New York Times has recognized her work for its profound ability to elevate theatrical narratives through sophisticated visual storytelling. 

  Beyond the stage, Elivia has served as a dedicated mentor to the next generation of designers. She has taught Fashion History as an Adjunct Professor at the Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT), as well as Costume & Theater Design courses at CUNY Queens College. Her academic contributions ensure that the craft of theatrical design continues to evolve through rigorous technical training and creative exploration. www.eliviabovenzi.com

   
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  CHERYL L. DAVIS

  received the Kleban Award as a librettist for her musical Barnstormer, (written with Douglas J. Cohen) about Bessie Coleman, the first Black woman flyer. The show received a Jonathan Larson Award through the Lark Play Development Center. Her play Maid’s Door received great reviews, won seven Audelco Awards, and was a finalist for the Francesca Primus Prize. Her play The Color of Justice (commissioned by Theatreworks/USA), received excellent reviews in the New York Times and Daily News, and tours regularly. Her musical Bridges, which was commissioned by the Berkeley Playhouse, received its world premiere in February 2016 to great reviews and three award nominations from the San Francisco Bay Area Theatre Critics Circle. She received a Writers’ Guild Award for her work on “As the World Turns”, and was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award. Her work has been read and performed internationally, including at the Cleveland Play House, the Actors Theatre of Louisville, and the Kennedy Center.  She is the General Counsel of the Authors Guild.
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  LYNNIE GODFREY

  is a multifaceted talent, with experience as a performer, director, and producer. She trained under Broadway luminary Lloyd Richards (renowned for directing A Raisin in the Sun) and Carnegie Hall's Dr. Chauncey Northern Sr. She was honored with the Scrimshaw Distinguished Visiting Artist Fund. Notable achievements include a drama desk nomination for her Broadway debut in Eubie! and receiving the Tyrone Guthrie Award for directing excellence. She’s also earned NAACP recognition for producing. Further accolades include Dramalogue and NAACP Awards for Supporting Actor, and an AUDELCO Award for her performance in Shuffle Along. Her recording of “Snow Queen” garnered both the Audio Earphone and Benjamin Franklin Awards, while her CD's received Grammy nods. Actively engaged in the arts community she serves on board such as the New York board of the League of Professional Theatre Women and Artsquest’s E.D.I.A. Council, among others. As president and CEO of GodLee Entertainment, Inc., and the Artistic Director of Essence of Acting Inc., she's a driving force in both business and nonprofit spheres. Her radio /podcast program “Lynnie Godfrey Straight No Chaser,” explores the arts’ societal impact. Notable performance productions like Charles White’s Unentitled and readings of new works such as Celeste Bedford Walker’s Greenwood: An American Dream Destroyed. In television and film, she appeared in Norman Lear’s 704 Hauser, 227, Amen, and LA Law, among others. She is an active member of various professional organizations and is currently President of The League of Professional Theatre Women and is the author of Lynnie Godfrey, Sharing Lessons Learned While Seeking the Spotlight. www.lynniegodfrey.com
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  PATRICIA SNYDER

  first experienced the power of live theatre as a child/teen. After receiving her BA, she taught high school English and Theatre, later performing and designing costumes at Syracuse Stage while earning her Masters. In 1967 she joined SUNY/Albany’s Theatre Dept.to establish a children’s theatre.  In 1972, Patricia coordinated the ASSITEJ Congress that engaged 500 delegates from 45 countries in a festival of professional theatre for young audiences. In 1974, her production of The Wizard of Oz was the first American theater for children presented in the USSR. Upon the return the NYS Legislature with Governor Rockefeller’s support created The Empire State Youth Theatre Institute, a professional theatre for young people with associated educational programs. For 37 years The Empire State Theatre Institute (later named NYSTI) produced more than 200 productions, including A Tale of Cinderella which was produced by Warner Home Video and broadcast on PBS nationwide for 3 years. In 1985, the USA State Department selected the Institute as the first American company to travel to Moscow to perform Rag Dolly under the resumed Cultural Accords followed by performances at the Kennedy Center. Patricia led cultural exchanges with 11 countries to build peaceful bridges between cultures.  The Institute performed at The Egg in Albany, in schools in all 62 counties, at Sage Colleges, Lincoln Center, The Kennedy Center, Ford’s Theatre, on and off Broadway, serving more than nine million young people who benefitted from live theater. She is a Ph. D from NYU in Arts Professions. She received an Honorary Doctor’s Degree, The Corey Medallion for lifetime achievement from the Children’s theatre Foundation of America, Citations from the Kennedy Center, and an Emmy as Producing Director for Hizzoner!, a PBS docudrama about Fiorello La Guardia, and she is the author of Most of It Was Beautiful, a personal history of the first State created theater for young people.
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  CYNTHIA STRAUS

  is a film and theater professional (AEA, SAG-AFTRA). She has served on The Board of Directors for both The League of Professional Theater Women, and New Mexico Women In Film, as well as Young Artists United New York Chapter. Her body of stage and film work consistently contain themes of female empowerment. Born in Chicago her mother, a visual artist, worked in both The Civil Rights Movement and The Feminist Movement. She included Cynthia in “Women’s Lib” groups from a young age. Cynthia moved to New York at the age of 12. She attended St. Ann’s, a progressive private school known for putting creative, independent thinking ahead of facts and figures. She attended Oberlin College, The Neighborhood Playhouse, and was handpicked by Patsy Rodenburg for her inaugural class of The Patsy Rodenburg Associate Teachers Programme (PRA), a certification she has held since 2017. Cynthia worked for and was mentored by Tony Award Winning Broadway Producer Louise Westergaard (Sophisticated Ladies, Say Goodnight Gracie). Cynthia has appeared in several feature films, (Swing Vote, Hamlet 2, Love N’ Dancing). She has played Eleonora Duse in DUET, by Otho Eskin across two continents, among other notable roles. Learn more about Cynthia at www.cynthiastraus.com

   
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  BOB OST

  While still a senior at U. of Pa., his one-act Beast was produced by Bob Moss in the first season of Playwrights Horizons. He went on to write book, music and lyrics for the off-Broadway revue Everybody’s Gettin’ into the Act at the Actor’s Playhouse, and Finale!, Grand Prize winner in the 1990 American Musical Theater Festival Competition (presented at NAMT) and the 1992 New American Musical Writers Competition, and a finalist at the O’Neill Music Conference in 1989. More recently his musical Angel in My Heart won Best Musical in the Fresh Fruit Festival. He won the New Works of Merit Playwriting Competition for his play Breeders, previously a finalist at the O'Neill, as well as a selection of the TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series. The Necessary Disposal was a finalist in the Maxim Mazumdar New Play Competition at the Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo, has been a finalist in three other national competitions, and was part of the Shotgun Productions New Play Reading Series and the Oberon Theatre Reading Series, both in NYC; his one-act A Glass of Water was part of the Lovecreek Festival, HomoGenius Festival, Downtown Urban Arts Festival; other one-acts have been showcased all over New York. He won a 2004 OOBR Award for the review "Songs Are Like Friends", and is a 3-time MAC nominee. While he was producing his own musical revues at cabarets around Manhattan he discovered he could combine his artistic talent with the business skills he was picking up in the advertising world. The idea of Theater Resources Unlimited was born, with the help of co-founders (and  fellow writers) Gary Hughes and Cheryl Davis in 1992. He has gone on to produce musicals Civil War Voices and Rip in the Midtown International Theater Festival, and the classic Chinese musical, Romance of the Western Chamber.