The White Plains Performing Arts Center announces
Jack W. Batman as new Executive Producer
By the New York Theatre Wire staff
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| Jack W. Batman. Photo by Deborah Jean Templin |
Jack W. Batman returned to the professional theatre in 2003 after a brief hiatus as one of a small team that founded and developed New York City's sports and entertainment playground, Chelsea Piers, and now comes to White Plains to reinvigorate this City's premier theatrical venue. His Broadway producing debut came with the romantic comedy Enchanted April, starring Elizabeth Ashley and Molly Ringwald, which received 2 Tony Nominations including Best Play and was the recipient of 2 Outer Critics Circle Awards. For Off-Broadway, he then produced the widely acclaimed Brian Dykstra: Cornered & Alone and the highly regarded environmental comedy Clean Alternatives, which also played the Edinburgh Festival (Scotland) this past summer and won the top prize, the Fringe First Award.
''I am thrilled to be asked to lead this company and take it in a new direction, both with our produced shows and our presented events,'' said Mr. Batman. ''The remarkable renaissance of this splendid city begs for a professional theatre that provides bold, well-rounded programming and more extensive community outreach to serve all of this diverse and demanding market. We are presently putting together a new management team and a calendar of creative programming that will delight, educate and entertain our audiences. We will be announcing our 2007-2008 season in June, and I guarantee that the White Plains community will be as excited as we are when it hears some of what we've planned for the new season.''
Mr. Batman's other recent New York City productions include Evensong (Broad Horizons Theatre Company), Will the Circle Be Unbroken (Access Theater), 12 ice shows starring Olympic and World figure skating champions, and workshops of The School for Trophy Wives, a new play by Freyda Thomas (starring Anne Hathaway) and Joe Hortua's Burning (co-produced with Kyra Sedgwick). Presently in development are Glyn O'Malley's dangerous new play, Good Night, Mr. Jefferson; Barnstormer, a new musical by Cheryl L. Davis and Douglas J. Cohen; and Tom Dudzik's latest play, Hail Mary! In addition, Jack is producing Gayfest NYC which will be bringing five new plays to Off-Broadway this spring (www.gayfestnyc.com).
Born in New Jersey and educated at LaSalle University in Philadelphia, Jack W. Batman began his New York career as a theatre agent at the William Morris Agency, Inc., starting in the legendary mailroom then shortly graduating to the film department where his concentration was new film properties and film casting. He subsequently cast films for Columbia Pictures, Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures then founded Theatrical Consultants, Ltd. and worked as casting director for over 200 different Equity productions for Broadway, National tours and regional theatres. He was also New York representative for ten different out-of-town theatres including the 7,800 seat Kansas City Starlight and The Walnut Street Theatre Company in Philadelphia, for which he cast 26 different productions.
Looking for a career challenge, Jack joined Silver Screen Management, Inc., an entertainment investment company which produced over 75 motion pictures (at a cost of over $1 billion) for HBO, Walt Disney Studios and Touchstone Pictures, including ''Beauty and the Beast,'' ''The Little Mermaid,'' ''Pretty Woman,'' ''Gandhi'' and ''The Killing Fields.'' When the Silver Screen team took up a new project, the Chelsea Piers Sports and Entertainment Complex (a 30-acre waterfront sports and entertainment village along New York City's Hudson River), Jack went along as Vice President and Director of Public Relations, where he was responsible for all press coverage and public events. While there, in addition to day-to-day press and publicity efforts, he produced and founded Global Ice, the figure skating performance series at Sky Rink, edited the Chelsea Piers newspaper, On the Piers (circulation 75,000) and produced 46 different major public events attended by over 400,000 people.
Jack is a Trustee of The Barrow Group, the Drama Desk Award-winning
theatre company and school, executive director of Theatrical
Consultants, Ltd. and a graduate of the Commercial Theater Institute.
The White Plains Performing Arts Center is a professional, not-for-profit,
producing and presenting theatre company that continues
to bring innovative, eclectic and always-entertaining new plays and musicals
to its beautiful new facility. With a new management team in
place, the theatre will be announcing its 2007-2008 season in June. The theatre,
a 410-seat, $6 million facility, also hosts local, national and international
performing artists whose work reflects Westchester's diverse population.
For more information or tickets please call 914-328-1600 or log onto www.wppac.com.
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