Playbill On-Line Editor Robert Simonson with Saturday Night Fever's Paige Price. At 6:30 PM, Playbill publisher Phil Birsh (at right) stepped behind the podium, thanking the members of the theatre community present for their continued support of the service. Playbill On-Line was born on Nov. 22, 1994. Since then, it has gone on to become one of the world's leading sources of theatre news and information, posting 200 news stories, updates and features a week, and drawing over three million viewers a month.