Beam me up, Broadway.

George Takei, aka “Star Trek” helmsman Hikaru Sulu, is passionate about a personal enterprise.

The 75-year-old actor has had a longtime dream of telling the story of his childhood in an internment camp on Broadway. The tale was told last fall in the musical “Allegiance” at San Diego’s Old Globe Theatre.

On Monday at New World Stages, Takei will discuss the show and how he built a social-media platform to make it happen at the second annual TEDxBroadway symposium. The event is built around the question: “What’s the best Broadway can be?”

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The organizers of the Jan. 28 TEDxBroadway conference are hoping to change the fortunes of the theatre community through conversations spinning off from the question, “What Is the Best Broadway Can Be?”

Last Year, Vincent Gassetto, a principal at the Academy of Applied Mathematics and Technology (M.S. 343) in The Bronx, spoke before a crowd of theatre industry professionals. The occasion was TEDxBroadway, an independently organized event licensed by TED, the by-now-renowned, multifaceted, California think-tank conference. His fellow speakers included Jordan Roth, the president of Jujamcyn Theaters and producers Ken Davenport and Randy Weiner.

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Before long plane flights, Thomas Schumacher likes to download talks from some of the world’s brightest and creative minds speaking at TED conferences, watching them on his iPad while thousands of feet in the air.

“I marvel at the range of stuff. I like the passion of the speakers and love the content,” says the president of the Disney Theatrical Group about the various conferences dedicated to technology, entertainment and design. “I am a giant TED freak.”

The downloader will become the downloaded after Monday when Schumacher joins more than a dozen speakers for the second TEDxBroadway conference at the off-Broadway complex New World Stages.

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The second annual TEDxBroadway, a day-long event where artists come together to discuss the future of Broadway, will be held Jan. 28 from 11 AM-6 PM at New World Stages. Actor George Takei, producer Daryl Roth and playwright Kristoffer Diaz are among the speakers who have joined the 2013 lineup.

TEDxBroadway, according to press notes, “will begin where the sold-out 2012 TEDxBroadway left off, bringing together some of the most passionate and influential people in academics, entertainment, marketing, and media to answer the question: ‘What’s the best that Broadway can be — on stage, in the community, and throughout the world?’”

“TEDxBroadway invites everyone who has a stake in Broadway, a neighborhood of New York City, to participate in shaping its future,” said Jim McCarthy, CEO of Goldstar and an organizer of the event, in a statement. “Our goal is to present speakers who inspire ideas, conversations and growth.”

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Seth Pinsky, Thomas Schumacher, Randi Zuckerberg, Terry Teachout and Others

Take the Stage to Discuss the Future for Broadway

NEW YORK, N.Y. (October 23, 2012)—The second-annual TEDxBroadway— a one-day event about the highest aspirations of Broadway as a location and destination—will kick off on January 28th, 2013 at New World Stages in New York City.

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The day-long event will begin where the sold out 2012 TEDxBroadway left off, bringing together some of the most passionate and influential people in academics, entertainment, marketing, and media to answer the question: “What’s the best that Broadway can be – on stage, in the community, and throughout the world?”

“TEDxBroadway invites everyone who has a stake in Broadway, a neighborhood of New York City, to participate in shaping its future,” said Jim McCarthy CEO of Goldstar and an organizer of the event. “Our goal is to present speakers who inspire ideas, conversations and growth.”

TEDxBroadway will feature stimulating presentations by artists, entrepreneurs, non-profit theater executives, and business experts— including:

• Seth Pinsky, President of NYC’s Economic Development Corporation
• Thomas Schumacher, President of Disney Theatrical Group, award-winning Broadway producer
• Randi Zuckerberg, Founder of Zuckerberg Media,  award-winning producer, media personality
• Terry Teachout, Drama critic at the Wall Street Journal
• Christine Jones, Artistic Director of Theatre for One, a portable private performing arts space for one actor and one audience member
• Josh Harris, founder of the world’s first internet radio/television network, Pseudo Programs, Inc., and subject of the Sundance award-winning documentary film We Live In Public

“Broadway is about more than theater as a genre and today’s hottest shows. There’s an ecosystem that has far-reaching impact on the entire world,” said producer Ken Davenport. “We were encouraged from last year’s TEDxBroadway attendees to keep this discussion going to examine other influences, new opportunities and add fresh perspectives.”

“At the end of the day, it’s all about ideas,” said Damian Bazadona, founder of Situation Interactive. “We’re taking a positive approach to the issues and opportunities facing Broadway and know that it’s going to demand collective effort and collective planning.”

TEDxBroadway is co-organized by Damian Bazadona, founder of Situation Interactive, Broadway producer Ken Davenport, and Jim McCarthy of Goldstar. The event’s co-organizing sponsors are Jujamcyn Theaters, Google, and Broadway.com.  Thought leader sponsors include: Fathom Events, Theatermania, and NewYork.com.  Supporting sponsorship is provided by Audience Rewards, Chase Bank, Davis Wright Tremaine, Camp Broadway, and BroadwayWorld.com.

TEDxBroadway, an independently organized event licensed by TED, aims to engage all participants and stakeholders in the vitality of the community—both on stage and in the audience—to develop a vision and commitment to the future of Broadway.

The conference will begin 11AM on January 28th, 2013 and will continue until 6PM. Tickets are $100.

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About TEDx, x = independently organized event: In the spirit of ideas worth spreading, TEDx is a program of local, self-organized events that bring people together to share a TED-like experience. At a TEDx event, TEDTalks video and live speakers combine to spark deep discussion and connection in a small group. These local, self-organized events are branded TEDx, where x = independently organized TED event. The TED Conference provides general guidance for the TEDx program, but individual TEDx events are self-organized. (Subject to certain rules and regulations.)

About TED: TED is a nonprofit organization devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. Started as a four-day conference in California 26 years ago, TED has grown to support those world-changing ideas with multiple initiatives. At TED, the world’s leading thinkers and doers are asked to give the talk of their lives in 18 minutes. Talks are then made available, free, at TED.com. TED speakers have included Bill Gates, Jane Goodall, Elizabeth Gilbert, Sir Richard Branson, Benoit Mandelbrot, Philippe Starck, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Isabel Allende and former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown. Two major TED events are held each year: The TED Conference takes place every spring in Long Beach, California (along with a parallel conference, TEDActive, in Palm Springs), and TEDGlobal is held each summer in Edinburgh, Scotland. For information about TED’s upcoming conferences, visit http://www.ted.com/registration

Leaders from the entertainment, academic, and marketing industries gathered on January 23, 2012, for the TEDxBroadway Conference held at the New World Stages in New York City. For the theme of this first annual conference, event organizers chose the future of Broadway—what Broadway will be like in the year 2032 and what will happen to the Broadway ticketing industry.

TEDx events, such as TEDxBroadway, are locally organized events and use the standard TEDx (Technology, Design, Entertainment) conference as a general guideline. TED, now a nonprofit group, was original started 26 years ago as a four-day conference in California dedicated to “ideas worth spreading.”

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What’s the best that Broadway can be 20 years from now? For Damian Bazadona, finding a new creative pool is a key to success.

“The best thing that Broadway can do is attract as much talent as possible,” argued the founder of digital marketing firm Situation Interactive. “Innovator development is the best path to audience development.”

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Producers, consultants and entrepreneurs gathered yesterday in Manhattan’s Theater District to fantasize about Broadway 20 years from now in what was billed as the first annual “TEDxBroadway.”

Some things, however, kept them focused on the here and now. Anna Wilson, for example, an actress sitting down front wearing almost nothing above the waist except a pair of strategically placed pink butterfly pasties and a pink flower necklace.

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TEDxBroadway is being co-sponsored by Jujamcyn Theaters, Broadway.com with supporting sponsorship by Google, BroadwayWorld and Audience Rewards.

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