May Issue - Stage Directions Magazine

industry news
New Music Licensing Agency Opens
After several decades of experience
in management positions at Music
Theatre International, the William Morris
Agency and Rodgers and Hammerstein
Theatricals, Steve Spiegel recently
launched Theatrical Rights Worldwide, a
new musical theatre licensing company.
In its first few months of operation,
the NYC-based agency has acquired a
number of well-known titles, including
All Shook Up, Forbidden Broadway, I Love
You Because, Ring of Fire and Zanna Don’t.
They also have an exclusive relationship
with Nickelodeon to develop and license
live stage adaptations of their properties,
starting with Blue’s Clues.
“We’ve learned from our customers
what they need to produce the best
possible shows for their audiences,
and we have applied those lessons to
making licensing a musical from TRW as
easy and rewarding as possible,” explains
Spiegel. For example, customers keep
all materials — scripts and scores; they
can be used, marked and personalized
to their wishes. Also, all scripts and
scores are available in large, clear print,
prepared in Microsoft Word and Finale
software, designed for ease-of-use both
by directors and performers.
Steve Spiegel
To find out more, visit the Web site at
www.theatricalrights.com.
Courtesy of TRW
Montreal Staging Co. Names New Bigwig
Courtesy of Scene Ethique
Ron Morissette
Scene Ethique, a Montrealbased
scenic design and
fabrication company, recently
appointed Ron Morissette to
corporate development. There he
will oversee standard staging and
grandstand products that have
evolved from Scene Ethique’s
custom fabrication products.
Martin Ouellet, president of
Scene Ethique, says, “Ron will
allow us to use the technology
that we have developed with our
custom designs for international
tours and apply it to standard
products that can be used in a
wide range of live performance
applications from staging, to
turntables, to grandstands.”
Morissette, who is a past
president of the Canadian Institute
of Theatre Technology (CITT ) and is
currently vice-president external for
CITT, has been involved in design,
sales and consulting for more than
25 years. Most recently, he served
as vice-president of operations for
the Montreal company Realisations,
where he worked closely with
its founder and president, Roger
Parent (who helped bring Cirque du
Soleil to international audiences),
on projects in Las Vegas, Honolulu
and Detroit.
PRG Partners Up
Production Resource Group,
LLC (PRG), a top equipment rental
and services company in the
entertainment technology industry, is
expanding with its latest acquisition:
High Performance Images (HPI), a
Chicago-based video operation.
“HPI’s resources and expertise in
high-end video staging solutions
adds depth and breadth to our
video division and gives us a greatly
enhanced presence in the Chicago
video market,” says Kevin Baxley, PRG’s
co-president and chief operating
officer. “It will greatly enhance our
ability to offer our clients the complete
package of PRG equipment and
services — video, lighting, audio and
scenic — as well as the start-to-finish
production management that so many
customers are looking for today.”
HPI founder and president, Adam
Benjamin, who has been named
general manager of PRG Video in
Chicago, is enthusiastic about this
milestone change: “I am delighted
to be able to offer PRG’s full range of
products and services to my customers.
I look forward to helping grow PRG’s
video division into one of the leading
professional video resources in the
United States.”
Known as a fully integrated
equipment rental and services
company, the expanded PRG has a
global presence, with major operations
in New York, Chicago, Detroit, Nashville,
Toronto, Orlando, Las Vegas, Los
Angeles, London and Tokyo.
12 May 2007 • www.stage-directions.com