Shaffer and business partner Bill Coyle will close their self-named publicity agency on April 30.

In the transfer, Shaffer brings along such clients as the current Off-Broadway engagements of Be, the newest creation from the international performance troupe Mayumana; Gretchen Cryer and Nancy Ford's new musical adaptation of Anne of Green Gables; Sessions, a new musical by Albert M. Tapper; and the U.S. premiere of the Chinese production of I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, presented by Broadway Asia Entertainment.

On an ongoing basis, Shaffer also represents TheatreworksUSA, The Drama League, Theatrical Rights Worldwide and Artists Striving To End Poverty (ASTEP). His future clients both on and off Broadway include the New York premieres of The Three Musketeers, Nerds://A Musical Software Satire, The 5,000 Fingers of Dr. T, Pageant Play and the London Sound Theatre's production of Beautiful Thing, among others.

Shaffer began his publicity career at The Pete Sanders Group in 1999. Later that year, he joined Barlow-Hartman Public Relations, where he remained until 2004.

As a press rep, he worked on Broadway productions of Thoroughly Modern Millie, Whoopi, Little Shop of Horrors and Bombay Dreams. With New York offices at 1650 Broadway, The Publicity Office was founded by Thibodeau in 1991. Its current clients include the Broadway productions of The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables and Grey Gardens, the theatre companies Playwrights Horizons, Signature Theater and Classic Stage Company, as well as the New York engagements of Cirque du Soleil.

The company's publicists also include Michael Borowski, Candi Adams and Matt Fasano.