NEWS RELEASE — WEST COAST-BASED VP OF MARKETING STRATEGY JOSEPH YOSHITOMI JOINS THEATERMANIA

JOSEPH YOSHITOMI
WEST COAST-BASED VP OF MARKETING STRATEGY JOINS THEATERMANIA

NEW POSITION WILL FURTHER THE COMPANY’S
NATIONWIDE MISSION TO CONNECT THEATERS TO AUDIENCES
THROUGH EXPANDING EDITORIAL COVERAGE, OVATIONTIX, AND MORE

TheaterMania, the New York-based media and technology company, has tapped Joseph Yoshitomi, a senior marketer based in Los Angeles, to lead the company’s business and consumer outreach across the country. The privately held company also plans to open a West Coast office to better serve an expanding list of advertising and OvationTix partners. TheaterMania.com and its associated social channels are the leading source for consumers to access information and tickets to live theater performances in local markets across the nation. In addition, TheaterMania provides sophisticated online, box office, call center ticketing, fundraising, and customer relationship management services through its cloud-based technology platform, OvationTix.

Said TheaterMania CEO Gretchen Shugart, “We enjoy strong market share with audiences and theaters alike on Broadway and Off-Broadway, and we have a growing footprint across the United States. Joseph’s experience in regional theater — especially a place as prolific and diverse as Los Angeles — provides opportunity for us to gain a stronger foothold in cities around the country.” She continued, “Joseph, along with our planned expansion in research, development, sales, and service, will benefit our partners across the country for years to come.”

Joseph Yoshitomi joins the company as Vice President of Marketing Strategy bringing 15 years of arts administration experience to the newly created position. He most recently served as Director of Marketing & Communications for Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles where he oversaw marketing during the not-for-profit theater’s largest sustained expansion of artistic programming and earned revenue since its founding 20 years ago. In addition to his six years at that organization, Yoshitomi has consulted for symphony, touring productions, and presenting venue clients. He is a speaker at national conferences such as INTIX and those organized by Americans for the Arts and Theatre Communications Group. His marketing and communications methods have been reported as innovations in the Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, and American Theatre Magazine. He serves on the board of LA STAGE Alliance, has independently produced theater, and began his career as a Los Angeles County/J. Paul Getty Arts Administration intern.

TheaterMania.com, Inc. is a leading media and technology company focused on providing products and services to the live entertainment industry. Founded in 1999, the company owns and operates www.theatermania.com, for information and tickets to theater across the U.S., and www.whatsonstage.com, for information and tickets to theater across the U.K., as well as related apps and social media properties. In addition, the company owns and operates OvationTix™, web-based technology used by hundreds of theaters across the U.S. to manage ticket sales, fundraising, marketing and customer information. TheaterMania presents the annual Drama Desk Awards show at New York’s Town Hall, and WhatsonStage presents the annual Theatregoers’ Awards in London.

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01-21-16

NEWS RELEASE — COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS “VIEUX CARRÉ” BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS

CLICK HERE FOR REVIEWS

COEURAGE THEATRE COMPANY
LA’S PAY WHAT YOU WANT THEATRE COMPANY
PRESENTS
VIEUX CARRÉ
BY TENNESSEE WILLIAMS
DIRECTED BY JEREMY LELLIOTT

OPENS SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13
AT THE HISTORIC LANKERSHIM ARTS CENTER

Coeurage Theatre Company, LA’s Pay What You Want Company, has announced the first production of its 2016 season, Tennessee Williams’ Vieux Carré. Directed by Jeremy Lelliott, there will be one preview performance on February 12 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, February 13 at 8pm. Vieux Carré will play through March 12 at the Historic Lankershim Arts Center.

The cast will feature (in alphabetical order) Tony Brown, Melinda deKay, Dieterich Gray, Leontine Guilliard, Graham Kurtz, Jay Lee, Carryl Lynn, Sandy Mansson, Jonathan Kells Phillips, Sammi Smith, and Shaun Taylor-Corbett. Scenic design is by JR Bruce, lighting design is by Brandon Baruch, costume design is by Magdalena Guillen, foley design is by Jeff Gardner, and fight choreography is by TJ Marchbank. The stage manager is Megan Laughlin.

Vieux Carré will take audiences through the doors of 722 Rue Toulouse, a boarding house in the heart of New Orleans, and into the most personal memories of American playwriting master Tennessee Williams. A lifelong effort and Williams’ most autobiographical work, The New York Times said, “Vieux Carré is a crazy quilt of beauty and squalor, eloquence and vulgarity, comedy and pathos — a ready-made aesthetic mashup that presents Williams at his most poetic in one scene, and his most frankly sexual in another.”

There will be one preview performance on Friday, February 12 at 8pm and opening is set for Saturday, February 13 at 8pm. The regular running schedule is Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 8pm through March 12. All seats are available on a Pay What You Want basis and may be reserved online at www.coeurage.org/vieuxcarre or by calling (323) 944-2165.

The Historic Lankershim Arts Center is located at 5108 Lankershim Boulevard in North Hollywood, 91601.

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01-20-16

**The Coeurage PAY WHAT YOU WANT Policy**
Pay What You Can is based on a person’s ability to pay.
Pay What You Want is based on a patron’s desire.
It is a value placement as well as an economic decision, designed to eliminate cost as a factor
in attending theatre. Each patron decides what a theatre experience is worth to him or her, and some decide it is worth more than they initially paid.
For that reason, the box office is kept open during intermission and after performances.

NEWS RELEASE — THE BLANK THEATRE’S 24th ANNUAL YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL NOW ACCEPTING SUBMISSIONS

SUBMISSIONS NOW BEING ACCEPTED
THE BLANK THEATRE’S
24th ANNUAL NATIONWIDE
YOUNG PLAYWRIGHTS FESTIVAL

The Blank Theatre’s 24th Annual Young Playwrights Festival is now seeking submissions nationwide from playwrights 19 years of age and younger. The submission deadline is March 15, 2016. Winning plays will be presented by professional actors and directors from June 2—26, 2016 at the Stella Adler Theatre in Hollywood, CA.

The Blank Theatre’s Young Playwrights Festival is a nationwide competition that produces the work of 12 young writers each year. Since 1993, the festival has produced 272 plays by playwrights 19 and younger from 27 states.

Each winning play will have four performances in a weekend run. The productions are made possible in part by grants from The Plum Foundation, The Rosenthal Family Foundation, Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, Hollywood Fringe Festival, Ralph M. Parsons Foundation, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, and City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

The rules for the festival competition are as follows: playwrights must be 19 years of age or younger on March 15, 2016; original plays and musicals can be any length, on any subject. Scripts must be legible and pages must be numbered and unbound. Submissions may be made online at theblank.submittable.com or hard copies mailed to YPF, c/o The Blank Theatre, PO Box 1094, Los Angeles, CA, 90078 (and must be postmarked or emailed by March 15, 2016). There is a limit of three (3) plays per playwright. All plays must include a cover sheet with the play’s title, playwright’s name, date of birth, school (if any), mailing address, contact phone number, e-mail address and the play’s production history (if any).

Each playwright whose work is accepted will be assigned a mentor: professionals who will help the youngsters hone their work for performance. Past mentors have included Tony Award-winning playwright Terrence McNally, Tony Award-nominated composer Michael John LaChiusa, writer Jeff Greenstein (Will & Grace), producer Todd Milliner (Hot in Cleveland, Grimm), writer Irene Mecchi (The Lion King, Brave), Tony Award-winning director Michael Mayer (Spring Awakening), television and film director Garry Marshall, and many others. The playwrights then experience the thrill of seeing their plays performed by industry professionals in fully staged productions.

Said Noah Wyle (star of television’s ER and Falling Skies), Artistic Producer at The Blank, “Each Spring for the past 23 years, The Blank has found the freshest, most original voices in the American theatre, invited them to Los Angeles, and promoted their work during a month-long festival in June. This thought provoking work, performed and directed by seasoned professionals, has entertained thousands of audience members over the years. While these authors are often as different as the states from which they come and the subjects with which they deal, they share something truly improbable. They’re teenagers.” Wyle continued, “These are not only the voices of today’s theatre — they are the voices of tomorrow’s as well.”

For more information, visit the Festival’s website at www.ypf.theblank.com or The Blank Theatre’s website at www.TheBlank.com.

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01-11-16