With generous sponsorship from Tony Winning producer Merrie L. Davis and writer/producer Elizabeth Coplan, Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents their first live gala since 2019, the 2024 TRU Love Benefit: Passion…Pass It On! on Sunday, November 17, 2024, from 1pm to 5pm ET at Green Room 42, 570 10th Avenue (at 42nd Street), NYC. Tickets start at $165 and are discounted 20% for TRU members (email [email protected] for the discount code). Tickets can be purchased at https://truonline.org/events/tru-love-benefit-passion/

Join TRU for a celebration of theater now and tomorrow, featuring a VIP cocktail hour with hors d'oeuvres stations, a 3-course luncheon, performances celebrating two women who have enriched our theater community and inspired a generation of new theater lovers, and a video remembrance of a dear TRU friend. Writer, actor, director Jordan E. Cooper (Tony nominee and Obie winner for Ain’t No Mo’, Emmy-nominatee for The Ms. Pat Show), Lauren A. Marchand (2023 Roger Rees Awards Emerging Artist and 2023 Jimmy Awards Winner) and Isaiah Baston (2024 Roger Rees Awards Outstanding Performer Winner) will be joining the awards show along with Broadway star and Tony nominee Norm Lewis (Side Show, Les Miserables, The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess, Phantom of the Opera, Chicken and Biscuits) and pop legend Nona Hendryx of Labelle (“Lady Marmalade”, “I Sweat (Going through the Motions)”). Co-hosts for the event will be theater journalist and host of the Theatre World Awards Peter Filichia; and actress, activist and educator Dominique Sharpton. Jonathan S. Cerullo will be directing, with Lulu Picartas music director and Jim Semmelman as stage manager.

For this year’s gala, TRU honors Irene Gandy, publicist and producer, recipient of the TRU Spirit of Theater Award for being uncompromisingly authentic and igniting a passion for the arts in so many and Susan E. Lee, founder of Camp Broadway and the Broadway Education Alliance, recipient of the TRU Humanitarian Award for innovative thinking that has inspired generations of theater lovers past, present and future. TRU also honors the memory of producer Ron Simons, 2016 TRU Spirit of Theater Award recipient, 4-time Tony winning producer (The Gershwins’ Porgy & Bess, Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike, A Gentleman’s Guide..., Jitney revival; plus Thoughts of a Colored Man and for colored girls... revival) as well as an actor and film producer.

The prestigious Honoree Benefit Committee celebrating this year’s honorees and supporting this event includes Brian Curran, COO of Broadway Education Alliance; Tony-winning producer Merrie L. Davis; critic and theater historian Peter Filichia; producer Don Frantz of Town Square Productions; Theo Lencicki, artistic director of Camp Broadway; Broadway and TV star Phylicia Rashad; 8-time Tony Award winning producer Jeffrey Richards; legendary Harlem-born off-Broadway and Broadway producer Voza Rivers; actress. educator and activist Dominique Sharpton; press agent Keith Sherman; Aaliytha Stevens, founder of the Ashé Collective; Suzanne Toback, senior director of events at Serino Coyne; and 4-time Tony winning producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld.

The Benefit Committee includes: Chair Cheryl Davis; Producers Bob Ost, Janel C. Scarborough and Sharon Weiss; plus committee members Margot Astrachan, Jay Chacon, Merrie L. Davis, John Lant, Neal Rubinstein and Sandy Silverberg.

Irene Gandy, an icon of the theater community for decades, was a press agent and publicist who started in 1968 with the Negro Ensemble Company. She worked with Jeffrey Richards for decades representing hundreds of Broadway shows and is the only Black female member of ATPAM (Association of Theatrical Press Agents and Managers) on Broadway. She was the recipient of the 2024 Audra McDonald Legacy Black Women on Broadway Award, Key Women of America Award, and a Drama Desk Award for career achievement.

Co-producer with Voza Rivers of the national tour of South African musical Sarafina, in recent years she has been a producer for Purlie Victorious revival (Tony nomination), The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess (Tony Award), Lady Day at the Emerson Bar and Grill and the current revival of Our Town, to name a few. She was the recipient of the 2020 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theater, and in 2023 the Drama League renamed their assistant director program the Irene Gandy Assistant Directorship.

Gandy currently serves on the boards of City College for the Arts, HARLEM WEEK, and New Heritage Theater. She received the March on Washington Film Festival 2022 MARCH ON AWARD in recognition of leadership advancing Civil Rights and Social Justice and the 2023 Rev. Al Sharpton National Action Network President Award for Leadership and Transformative Service in the Arts at his 13th Annual Triumph Awards, honored as a producer of Purlie Victorious. In March 2020 her only child, renowned artist Mira Gandy, created in her honor The Gandy Art House (GAH) dedicated to making art accessible, fostering inclusivity, empowerment, and healing through the arts.

Susan E. Lee, for 30 years has been an innovator and an industry leader working with many theatrical producing companies and non-profit arts organizations. She introduced Camp Broadway LLC in 1995 and has since managed the brand, business and program development. In addition to her role as founder and managing member of the company, she served as Chief Marketing Officer for The Nederlander Producing Company of America, where she oversaw new business partnerships and marketing. During her time with the company, she successfully developed and launched Audience Rewards, now the official loyalty program for Broadway; The National High School Musical Theatre Awards aka The Jimmy Awards, named in honor of James M. Nederlander; and InTheatre Network, which is now operating across all Broadway theaters.

Prior to joining The Nederlander Organization, Susan oversaw the development of new business strategies and marketing services for Serino Coyne, Inc., the largest full-service agency in the live entertainment industry. Under her leadership, the agency expanded services to include Internet marketing, sponsorship sales, media promotions and cultural tourism. Susan has also represented a portfolio of theatrical properties for sponsorship and product placement. She developed and implemented the marketing partnership between Visa and the Tony® Award-winning musical Movin’ Out on Broadway. Following a successful partnership in New York, Visa became the title sponsor of the national tour of Movin’ Out, which was supported by the largest integrated marketing campaign in theatrical history. While at Serino Coyne, Susan also launched Tuesdays at 7 and Season of Savings, Broadway's largest industry-wide cooperative consumer outreach initiative, which has generated over 50 million dollars in ticket sales since 2000.

Working in partnership with Sound Associates, Susan also successfully introduced ShowTrans® on Broadway in 1996. ShowTrans is an assistive technology that provides multilingual audio commentary for non-English speaking audiences. ShowTrans is operating at The Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, Mamma Mia and others. Susan helped introduce sponsorship marketing to Broadway during her tenure as Director of Marketing at The League of American Theatres and Producers, where she launched Broadway on Broadway, The Broadway Line and, most notably, Celebrate Broadway: The 100th Anniversary of Broadway in Times Square. Prior to joining The League, Susan was the national press representative for Yul Brynner’s Farewell Tour of The King and I, Arsenic and Old Lace starring Jean Stapleton, and Macbeth starring Glenda Jackson and Christopher Plummer. She is a member of The Association of Press Agents and Managers.

Dr. Ron Simons was a prolific four-time Tony Award-winning producer, the most awarded African American producer of all time. For over 20 years of his legendary career, he focused on reshaping the stories that are told on Broadway, bringing the narrative diversity of people of color, LGBTQIA, senior and other underrepresented communities to the stage; while enthusiastically inspiring and opening doors for more minority groups to work as producers and invest in creative productions. 

Ron produced the Broadway productions of A Gentleman’s Guide to Love & Murder (Tony Award for Best Musical), Ain't Too Proud: The Life and Times of The Temptations (12 Tony nominations including Best Musical), Jitney (produced with John Legend, won the Tony for Best Play Revival), the revival of for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf (7 Tony nominations), Thoughts of a Colored Man (awarded Outstanding Broadway Production at the 2022 GLAAD Media Awards), The Gershwins' Porgy & Bess (Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical), Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike (Tony Award for Best Play, Drama Desk, New Drama Critics and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Play, Drama League Award for Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play), and A Streetcar Named Desire (AEA’s Extraordinary Excellence in Diversity on Broadway Award). 

He received the Emerging Producer of the Year Award at the 2017 National Black Theatre Festival, as well as the Presidential Pathfinder Award from the Black Theatre Network. He was also awarded the Key to Detroit for his groundbreaking accomplishments in artistic leadership, directing and producing. He earned a BA from Columbia College, an MBA from Columbia Business School, an MFA from the University of Washington’s Professional Actor Training Program and he was presented with an honorary Doctorate of the Arts from the University of Washington.

Dr. Simons was a member of The Broadway League and the Screen Actors Guild. He proudly held a membership with the elite Producers Guild of America (PGA), a non-profit trade group that represents, protects, and promotes the interests of all members of the producing team in film, television and new media.

As CEO/President of SimonSays Entertainment, Ron led the strategic planning and development of theatre and film projects including the critically acclaimed films Night Catches Us, Gun Hill Road, Blue Caprice and Mother of George (all of which premiered at Sundance). His first documentary 25 to Life premiered at the American Black Film Festival where it won Best Documentary. As a four-time (and three-time Grand Jury nominee) Sundance Film Festival selected producer and actor of stage, film and television, his work has been screened at prestigious festivals all over the world, including Sundance, New Directors/New Films, the MoMA (Museum of Modern Arts) and many others.

His latest produced documentary project VIVA VERDI! recently premiered at the Woodstock Film Festival.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a thirty-one-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies. TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, opportunities and productions; presents weekly Community Gatherings; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through the TRU Voices Play Reading Series, TRUSpeak: Hear Our Voices evening of short plays, Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab. Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by the Montage Foundation, The Storyline Project and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation; and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature. For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org.
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  November 17, 2024
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