Hear from writers, directors, producers, and promoters about reopening Broadway after shows were dark for 18 months. Panelists share how they navigated this challenging time, and where the opportunities are for young people who’d like to break in.
Presented with the Mayor's Office of Media and Entertainment and SVA Theatre
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
The Center's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
Please note: We encourage attendees to be up-to-date with vaccination for COVID-19 and wear an acceptable face covering over their nose and mouth while indoors. Please click here for SVA Theatre's current COVID protocols
ANNIE MACRAE, ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, ATLANTIC THEATER COMPANY
Annie MacRae has been Atlantic Theater Company’s Associate Artistic Director since 2014. Annie previously worked in Manhattan Theatre Club’s literary department as a literary intern, play development assistant, play development associate and literary manager and Sloan project manager. Annie used to run MTC's reading series and partnership with the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. She has taught The First Draft and The Second Draft playwriting classes at Primary Stages' ESPA and has dramaturged at the O'Neill Playwrights Conference multiple times. She also used to serve on the board of Space on Ryder Farm. She is the mother of three sons.
AMANDA PEKOE, OWNER & FOUNDER, THE PEKOE GROUP
Amanda Pekoe founded The Pekoe Group in 2009 before the age of 30 and it has since grown into one of the top advertising agencies on Broadway and Off. The Pekoe Group is the only certified woman-owned ad agency in the Broadway space. Current and Past clients include SIX, Here Lies Love, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, Rock of Ages, Oh, Hello On Broadway, SpongeBob SquarePants On Broadway, Eclipsed, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Avenue Q, The Play That Goes Wrong, and Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish.
In addition to running her own company, Amanda teaches Advertising For Theatre for the Columbia University MFA Theatre Management and Producing program and is a regular speaker for the Commercial Theatre Institute. She is also Co-Vice Chair of the Lincoln Center Theater Angels.
CYNTHIA J. TONG, ASSOCIATE PRODUCER, TOM KIRDAHY PRODUCTIONS (GREY HOUSE, NEW YORK, NEW YORK); CO-FOUNDING MEMBER, THE INDUSTRY STANDARD GROUP
Cynthia J. Tong (she/her) is an Asian-American creative producer working on and off Broadway.
Currently, she is the Associate Producer at Tom Kirdahy Productions (Grey House; New York, New York; The Piano Lesson; The Inheritance [Tony Award, Best Play]; Little Shop of Horrors [Drama Desk Award]) and a founding member of The Industry Standard Group, a BIPOC-led organization innovating Broadway by creating new pathways to investment and producing. Co-producing credits include The Piano Lesson, and the Hadestown National Tour.
Highlights from past independent producing projects include the Drama League-nominated A Thousand Ways by 600 Highwaymen (presented across 29 venues internationally and nationally), NYCLU’s Sing Out for Freedom benefit (2020 & 2021), Playbill’s Women in Theatre Concert (Virtual, 2020), LORDES (New Ohio Theatre, 2019), and Noah Wise (independent feature film). She is an Artist Ambassador for the NYCLU, a member of the Broadway League’s Rising Stars class of 2022, and a Fellow of WP Theater’s 2020-2022 Lab. She was a former founding co-chair of Just Inked, a patron-initiative at Signature Theatre in NYC.
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Prior to landing in theatre, Cynthia worked in retail, childcare, education, fundraising, and pharmaceutical advertising. She's a proud alum of Wesleyan University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa with honors in Sociology. Her familial roots originate in Taiwan and Hong Kong, and her artistic roots are in dance, having spent the first 22 years of her life in the studio. Rich collaborations with artists feed her soul, where process matters as much as product.
Cynthia is originally from a laid-back, sunny beach town called Rancho Palos Verdes in the suburbs of Los Angeles. She now lives in a place much better suited to her anxieties: New York City.
MODERATOR: ADAM NATALE, DIRECTOR, SVA THEATRE
Adam Natale (Director, SVA Theatre) has been at the helm of the School of Visual Arts’ SVA Theatre since late 2012. During his tenure, he has worked with the majority of Hollywood’s major film and animation studios and many of New York’s top film festivals. He founded and annually produces both SVA’s alumni film festival, After School Special, and their student film festival in Los Angeles, SVA Premieres. He has been a guest speaker at many events and conferences, including for SXSW, Sundance Film Festival, Americans for the Arts, NewFest, Theatre Communications Group, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Dance/USA, and the National Performing Arts Convention, among others.
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Prior to SVA, Adam worked with the national arts nonprofit Fractured Atlas and for the National Endowment for the Arts. He is a former chair of Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leader Council and was awarded the American Express Emerging Leader Award in 2012. Adam has served as an awards panelist for the NEA, Alternate ROOTS, The Playwrights’ Center, and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. He was an Associate Producer with the New York Musical Theatre Festival and has directed several off-off-Broadway plays and musicals. He is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC) and serves on the Board of Directors of NewFest, NYC’s leading LGBTQ+ film and media organization. He previously served on the boards of off-Broadway's Red Bull Theater and the Association of Teaching Artists. Originally from Philadelphia, Adam holds a BA in Directing for Theatre and Film from American University and an MA in Artistic Producing, Presenting, and Curation from Goddard College.