Director of Shrek The Musical, Jason Moore has directed such Broadway shows as Avenue Q and Steel Magnolias. Moore also directed Jerry Springer: The Opera at Carnegie Hall and Off-Broadway credits include: Speech and Debate, Avenue Q, Guardians, and The Crumple Zone. Moore was Associate director of Les Misérables (Broadway, national tour), and Ragtime (Vancouver) and wrote The Floatplane Notebooks (Charlotte Repertory Theatre). Moore also directed TV episodes of "Dawson's Creek," "Everwood," "One Tree Hill" and "Brothers and Sisters." Moore has a BS in performance studies from Northwestern University.
Caro Newling is the Producer of Shrek The Musical and co-founder of Neal Street Productions, formed in 2003 with Sam Mendes and Pippa Harris to produce film and theatre. Broadway credits include: The Vertical Hour and West End/Broadway transfers include: Sunday in the Park With George (Menier Chocolate Factory), and Mary Stuart (Donmar Warehouse). Neal Street Production's film credits include: Stuart: A Life Backwards, Starter for Ten, Things We Lost in the Fire, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road. Forthcoming productions include: The Bridge Project with Brooklyn Academy Of Music/Old Vic Theatre, and the West End premiere of Three Days of Rain. Mendes and Newling established and ran the Donmar Warehouse Theatre, London, 1992 to 2002, originating some 70 productions including, on Broadway including: The Blue Room, Electra, True West and Tony Award winners Cabaret, The Real Thing, and Take Me Out.
Jeanine Tesori is the composer for Shrek The Musical. She has also written three Tony-nominated scores for Broadway: Twelfth Night (Lincoln Center); Thoroughly Modern Millie (lyrics, Dick Scanlan); and Caroline, or Change (lyrics, Tony Kushner; director, George C. Wolfe). The National Theatre production of Caroline, or Change in London received the Olivier Award for Best New Musical. Her first musical, Violet, written with Brian Crawley, received the NY Drama Critics Circle Award. She has received Drama Desk and Obie Awards, and was cited by ASCAP as the first woman composer to have "two new musicals running concurrently on Broadway." She composed the music for the New York Shakespeare Festival's Mother Courage, directed by George C. Wolfe and translated by Tony Kushner. Film scores include Nights in Rodanthe, Winds of Change, Show Business and Wrestling With Angels. She composed songs for the movie Shrek the Third and for the Disney DVD releases Mulan II, Lilo and Stitch II and The Little Mermaid III. Ms. Tesori is a member of the Dramatists Guild. She is a graduate of Barnard College and lives in Manhattan with her husband, Michael Rafter, and daughter, Siena.
The program is moderated by Entertainment reporter, Melissa Rose Bernardo.
The ATW "Working in the Theatre" panels bring together theatre's best-known performers, producers, playwrights, directors, choreographers, composers, agents and others for peer-to-peer conversation about the art, the craft and the business of theatre.
CUNY TV is a cable channel serving the five boroughs of New York City with educational, cultural and public affairs programs. As part of The City University of New York, CUNY TV operates as a non-commercial station. Its mission is to extend the academic and intellectual richness of the University beyond the campuses and to offer New York City residents a haven for lifelong learning experiences through television.
The American Theatre Wing is best known as the creator of the Antoinette Perry "Tony" Awards®, which it presents annually with The Broadway League. The Wing's other activities, dedicated to recognizing excellence and supporting education in theatre, include "Working in the Theatre," now in its 30th year of telecasts on CUNY TV in New York and on other national cable outlets; "Downstage Center," an hour-long weekly interview program on XM Satellite Radio; "Guides to Careers in the Theatre," a video series developed for schools and libraries; a grants and scholarship program to New York City schools and not-for-profit theatre companies, which has granted nearly $3 million since its inception; the Theatre Intern Group, a career development program for young professionals; and SpringboardNYC, a two-week college-to-career boot camp for young performers moving to NYC; and the Jonathan Larson® Grants, recognizing and supporting emerging writers of musical theatre. Visitors to Americantheatrewing.org can view or download an archive of "Working in the Theatre" and the career guides and listen to "Downstage Center", all as free, on-demand streaming audio and podcast. Theodore S. Chapin is Chairman of the Board of Directors of the American Theatre Wing and Howard Sherman is Executive Director.
