Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) announces Recognizing Commercial Potential: Is This Show Worth Investing In? on Sunday, November 22, 2026, from 12PM to 5PM. Tickets start at $97 and can be purchased at https://truonline.org/events/recognizing-commercial-potential-2026/.

The event takes place LIVE at Cody Lassen & Associates’ conference room. It is VIRTUAL for our friends outside of New York City. Register to receive the live location and virtual link. NOTE: Only the first 25 registrants can attend live; everyone else is welcome virtually. There is no ticketing at the door–you must register before the event.

An essential workshop for producers and investors. Panel will include Sharon Fallon/Sharon Fallon Productions, executive producer, general manager and consultant (Indecent, Beautiful Broadway, London & National Tour, Matilda The Musical, Lysistrata Jones); Eric Goldman, entertainment attorney; Cody Lassen, producer (B’way: How I Learned To Drive, Indecent, Spring Awakening; Off-Bway: A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, Picking Up Speed, Hyprov); James Simon producer and investor (The Play That Goes Wrong, The Velocity of Autumn, Something Rotten, Pippin; UK premiere of Something Rotten; upcoming: Damn Yankees).

It’s every producer’s job – to find investors for your production. Whether you are a self-producing artist looking for a lead producer to option your piece, a lead producer looking for co-producers and investors, or a not-for-profit theater looking for enhancement funds, at some point you will have to sit down and make the case for why your show is the right investment.

In this invaluable and unprecedented program, a stellar lineup of theater professionals will share their personal views on evaluating shows as investments. You will hear insider takes on how producers and investors determine the productions in which they want to participate, as well as how they bring others on board, including methods for evaluating the structural integrity of the play itself, the production and creative teams, the financial plan for the initial commercial production, the possibility for downstream revenue, and the potential competition. And you’ll hear some stories about pitches that were wildly successful and some that were epic disappointments.

12 to 12:15PM – Introduction, with Bob Ost
12:15 to 1PM – Legal Perspective: Laying the Legal Groundwork and Identifying Potential Issues, with Eric Goldman
1 to 1:45PM – General Manager Perspective: Budgeting and Contracts – Are the Financials Realistic? with Sharon Fallon
1:45 to 2:30PM – Lunch
2:30 to 3:15PM – Producer’s Perspective: How to Pick a Winner, with Cody Lassen
3:15 to 4PM – Why I Choose to Invest in a Property, with James Simon
4 to 5PM – An open conversation about some of the best and worst decisions our speakers have made, and how their assumptions about commercial viability have evolved.