"After last year's Festival, my staff and I took a good look at our situation and realized there were several areas that we wanted to improve," said MITF executive producer John Chatterton. Among those areas will be the development and attraction of new musicals, as well as a new commercial division for the festival.
Keith Levenson joins the festival team as the head of the Festival Commercial Division. Levenson's arrival marks the Midtown International Theatre Festival's first endeavor to present works actively seeking a commercial life beyond their festival runs.
No more than five productions will take part in MITF's commercial division, which presents productions in a 99-seat theatre and provides the benefits of extra rehearsal time, more storage space and an extra week of performances (four, as opposed to the MITF standard of three).
MITF will also seek to attract more new musicals as part of the annual theatre offering, with Cori Silberman and Jamibeth Margolis named the artistic directors of new musicals. The latest additions to the MITF team align themselves with current artistic directors, Susan Rankus (artistic director of international shows) and Glory Bowen (artistic director for plays).
Founded in 2000 by John Chatterton, the mission of the Midtown International Theatre Festival is to present an eclectic array of works that otherwise might not be seen by the general public. The 2007 festival also inaugurated the first annual MITF Awards, honoring excellence among festival participants. The 2008 festival, which anticipates new and larger venues, will continue with the awards tradition. Exact dates and venues are still being coordinated; however, the intended launch date of the ninth annual Midtown International Theatre Festival is set for July 14-Aug. 10, 2008.
Among the works included in the 2007 festival were WEBEIME, Take Me America, A Line in the Sand, I'm In Love With Your Wife, Twist, Nosferatu: The Morning of My Death, Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, The House of Blue Leaves, and La Tosca.
For further information visit www.midtownfestival.org.
