Roster of Consultants
RYAN BOGNER is an independent producer and consultant with over 10 years of production and development experience and 15 years in the theater industry, he has produced shows on Broadway, at New World Stages, Williamstown Theater Festival, The Ohio Theater, 42West, The Zipper Factory, The Julia Miles Theater, Dixon Place, NYMF and NYCFringe, as well as developmental workshops, readings, concerts and one-off events. In addition to working as a producer, Ryan frequently works with intellectual property holders interested in theatrical exploitation of their libraries. From 2012-2016, Ryan served as the Director of Creative Development and Production at RKO Stage Productions, where he was responsible for the theatrical development and licensing of titles taken from the RKO Pictures film library. Ryan holds a BFA in Musical Theater and Directing from The Boston Conservatory, and an MFA in Theater Management and Producing from Columbia University. For more information www.ryanbogner.com. Contact Ryan at RyanBogner@gmail.com
TOM COASH is a new play consultant, playwright, director, producer, and professor. He has produced new play festivals worldwide, was the Director of New Play Development at Stageworks/Hudson, and worked in the Lit offices of such renowned theaters as the Manhattan Theatre Club and Actors Theatre of Louisville. His own plays have been produced around the world and won numerous awards. Coash is a new play specialist and consults regularly on new scripts at all levels and in all states of progress. He is also very experienced in the art of producing new play festivals, having co-founded several around the world and been involved as a participant in numerous others. Coash has an MFA in Playwriting from the University of California at Davis and currently teaches scriptwriting at the University of Southern Maine's Stonecoast MFA Writing Program. Please contact at: thomascoash@sbcglobal.net
JACK DePALMA is a creative consultant for both new musicals and plays as packager, dramaturg and developer. He is especially interested in working with owners of intellectual property. Currently he is a producer on the immersive theatrical experience, PopNation. He also helped develop The Band Wagon which played City Center in November 2014. He is the creative consultant for four other musicals currently in development. More recently, he was Play Development Director at the Old Globe where he helped plan the Globe's seasons. Among the productions were Matthew Lopez' The Whipping Man, Duncan Sheik’s Whisper House, Leslie Bricusse’s Sammy and the Broadway bound musicals The First Wives Club and Robin and the 7 Hoods. Prior to that, Jack was the Creative Director for the National Arts Management Company where he was involved in the productions of Chicago, Annie Get Your Gun, Seussical, Wonderful Town, Sweet Charity and This is Our Youth, in addition to helping in the development of musical adaptations of Clueless and The Opposite of Sex. Contact: Jackdepalma@me.com
Since 2000, AARON GRUNFIELD has advised and provided dramaturgy for innumerable shows, on and off-Broadway, in all stages of production. He earned his first playwrighting credit in 2001 by helping a producer adapt Kafka’s Trial for the stage. He’s also served as a literary manager for Manhattan Theatre Club (2004-2007) and associate artist at several other New York-based companies. He was awarded his MFA in Dramaturgy from SUNY Stony Brook. Over the last decade, Aaron has also worked as an arts journalist. He edited the theater coverage for Metromix NY, and has managed or contributed to other websites, including Playbill Online, Time Out NY, NYTheatre.com, and NY Theatre Review. Aaron’s proudest accomplishment is to be listed as dramaturg for Golda’s Balcony, earning a credit in Playbill shared by fewer than one hundred artists in Broadway’s long history. CONTACT: hotspur.drama@gmail.com | https://the-fifth-wall.blogspot.com.
CLIFFORD LEE JOHNSON III is a Theatrical Consultant and Producer who specializes in new plays and musicals. From 1993 to 2009 he was the Director of Musical Theater at Manhattan Theatre Club, and before that he was the Assistant Literary Manager at Actors Theatre of Louisville. He has been a critic for Backstage and has published articles in various publications. As a Theater Consultant, Mr. Johnson has worked as a Dramaturg/Mentor for the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony at Goodspeed, helped assemble the writing team for The Honeymooners, and served as an adviser during the creation of the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia. For more information and references, visit www.clj3.com.
.jpg)
VICTORIA LANG has enjoyed an award-winning producing career in theatre, television and film. She has developed and produced Off-Broadway including FOUND (Atlantic Theatre Company), SILENCE! The Musical (Best Musical: Off Broadway Alliance Award, Top 5 Musicals: Time Magazine), SHOUT! The Mod Musical and MATT & BEN (Top 5 Plays: Time Magazine). Recent Broadway: TOOTSIE, THE CHER SHOW and SYLVIA. West End: FUNNY GIRL, BAT BOY and SHOUT! Television: Live With Regis & Kathie Lee (3 Emmy nominations), Specials for PBS and A&E. Film: Macbeth in Manhattan (Winner: S.Beach & LI Film Festivals), Perfect Lies, Dark Tides(Showtime) & more. She co-founded Off Broadway Touring and Plus Media & Entertainment. Victoria has consulted on theatrical projects for independent producers and TheaterMania; script development for WME; and television programming for distributors and Fortune 500 brands. She is a member of the Broadway League, the Off Broadway League, the Off Broadway Alliance and BAFTA. www.LangEntertainmentGroup.com
MICHAEL PALLER is a dramaturg, teacher, and writer. From 2005-18 he was dramaturg at the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco, where he dramaturged over 80 mainstage productions and workshops and taught in its acclaimed MFA Acting Program. Among the writers and directors he worked with there include Maria Aitkin, Byron Au Yong, Hal Brooks, Christopher Chen, Frank Galati, Philip Kan Gotanda, Loretta Greco, David Greenspan, John Guare, Bill Irwin, Anne Kauffman, Brian Kulick, Ron Lagomarsino, Sheryl Kaller, Mark Lamos, Carey Perloff, Ursula Rani Sarma, John Rando, Jose Rivera, Ken Rus Schmoll, Rebecca Taichman, Colm Toíbín, George F. Walker, Anne Washburn, and Timberlake Wertenbaker. He’s been a play reader and script consultant for Manhattan Theatre Club and the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, and a dramaturg at George Street Playhouse, Barrington Stage Company, Roundabout Theatre Company, and others. He has also taught at SUNY Purchase and Columbia University. Contact: michaelpaller18@gmail.com.
Point Zero 25 can partner with you to help you negotiate rights, theater deals, prepare business cases and investors documentation. We focus on musical productions. With its experience in producing large scale shows internationally, Point Zero 25 will support you in developing your strategy. Markets we cover include Broadway, West End, and international tours. You can refer to our website www.pointzero25.com for more information.
JAMIE RICHARDS is a New York-based director, producer and playwright consultant/coach. She has developed countless new plays for Off-Broadway, regional theater and internationally. As Executive Producer of Ensemble Studio Theatre (EST), she produced premieres by Arthur Miller, David Mamet, David Ives, and Cassandra Medley, among many others. She serves with Elizabeth Van Dyke as Co-Artistic Director and Producer for Going to the River, a Festival of New Plays by Women of Color, created in 1999. She has also served as Artistic Director for the Random Acts Festival at the New School for Drama; Artistic Director for 9th & Madison; Producing Artistic Director for the Oxnam Play Festival at Drew University; Artistic Director of Hell’s Kitchen Sink at EST; and Director of Lexington Center for the Arts. Jamie has worked as a director / dramaturge with many well-known American playwrights, and specializes in making new plays production-ready. Contact: jamievrichards@yahoo.com.
BLAIR RUSSELL is an independent theatrical professional with a wide range of experience in commercial and non-profit theater, consulting, producing, and investing. As a producer, Blair is most proud of bringing Slave Play by Jeremy O. Harris to Broadway. Some of his other favorite credits include the critically acclaimed immersive Off-Broadway production of Sweeney Todd at the Barrow Street Theater and the West End productions of Gyspy with Imelda Staunton and Show Boat at the New London. At Jujamcyn Theaters, he oversaw the daily activities of the office of the President before joining the Theatre Operations department in managing five Broadway theaters. At Goodspeed Musicals, he assisted the producers in managing the Opera House and Norma Terris Theater seasons, line produced the annual Goodspeed Festival of New Musicals, and assisted with the Johnny Mercer Writers Colony. Blair is a graduate of Virginia Commonwealth University and the Commercial Theater Institute.
ERIC HENRY SANDERS is the author of dozens of plays, film scripts, and short stories that have been produced, screened, and published across the US and abroad. Highlights include RESERVOIR; MAYBE, PROBABLY; RECENTLY, LONG AGO; and THE HELIOPAUSE. His work has been recognized by the Goodman Theatre (Chicago), New Group (New York), the Palm Springs International Film Festival, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and Theatre89 (Berlin), among many others. Sanders has over twenty years of experience as a teacher and independent script consultant, and has been teaching narrative in all its forms at Hampshire College (Amherst, MA), since 2000. He is a Lark Playwrights Fellow and a Member of the Dramatists Guild.
.jpg)
JILL SANTORIELLO is the award-winning author of the Broadway musical A Tale of Two Cities (Outer Critics Circle nomination for Outstanding Broadway Musical) and It Happened in Key West (West End premiere 2018, U.S. premiere coming in 2022). She adapted and Executive Produced the PBS special A Tale of Two Cities - In Concert and the accompanying DVD and CD (available on iTunes and Amazon). Other projects include collaborating with Pulitzer/Tony/Oscar winner John Patrick Shanley on Over the Moon: Broadway Lullaby Project, composing the score for the short film Miles to Go, and consulting on, writing, and developing new musicals. She is a graduate of the Ohio University School of Journalism, a Florida and New Jersey fellowship grant winner, an alumna of the ASCAP and BMI workshops, Dramatists Guild member, and a former development executive at Showtime Networks. Website: www.JillSantoriello.com / Contact: jill.santoriello@gmail.com.
MATT SCHICKER advances musicals and plays through strategic creative and business developmental steps as a self-titled “Show Shepherd”. Selected current and past projects include the Human Rights New Works Festival (Birmingham, AL); Havana Music Hall; Mr. Holland’s Opus - The Musical (Ogunquit Playhouse); LMNOP (TUTS, Goodspeed Musicals, NYC Developmental Lab; dir. Joe Calarco); Bhangin’ It, Into the Wild, and Broadway Bounty Hunter (Rhinebeck Writers Retreat); Harriet (NYMF); among others. He co-produced Yank! Off-Broadway (Drama Desk, Lucille Lortel, and Outer Critics Circle Award noms), as well as workshops of the show with Roundabout and The Old Globe/NAMCO (dir. David Cromer), and the cast album on PS Classics. Previously producer for East of Doheny Productions (Radio Girl at Goodspeed Musicals, dir. Christopher Gattelli), and Membership Director of National Alliance for Musical Theatre (2005-2008), Matt is on the Board of Directors of New York Theatre Barn and the HAIR Tribes Foundation. Member, NAMT. www.shepherdingshows.com.
MICHELLE TATTENBAUM is a director and dramaturg. She was the Artistic Development Assistant at the Manhattan Theatre Club, where she scouted and developed new plays and musicals. She works extensively as a freelance script consultant for writers and has been a script reader for Focus Features, MTC, and the O'Neill Musical Theatre Conference. As a director, she directed the world premiere of the musical Nobody Loves You at the Old Globe (San Diego Theatre Critics Circle nomination: Best Director) and the NY premiere at Second Stage. In NJ, she has directed readings, workshops and productions at Passage Theatre, Shakespeare Theater of NJ, Luna Stage and Writers Theater of NJ. She also works extensively directing scripted podcasts for Gen-Z Media and the Panoply Podcast Network. www.michelletattenbaum.com for more info