Teale Dvornik: History Hiding Around Broadway with Jonathan Merritt

Join us for a conversation with Teale Dvornik to celebrate her book, the illustrated guide to the need-to-know and never-known-before of New York's theater district. She will be in conversation with Jonathan Merritt, followed by a signing.

PLEASE NOTE: RSVPs are encouraged but not required. Seating is limited and will be first come, first served. Doors open at 5:30 pm.

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Go behind the scenes of the Great White Way with this illustrated guide to the Theater District's hidden history--an essential book for your explorations of the district from a seasoned Broadway guide.

Broadway is one of New York's greatest treasures, and where there is treasure, there is a backstory. When it comes to Broadway, that backstory is fittingly juicy, dramatic, and unexpected. And no one knows these hidden histories like Teale Dvornik, who has been leading Broadway fans on tours of the theater district since 2017. With her immense knowledge and passion for the theater, Dvornik now takes readers on her one-of-a-kind tour of Broadway, "stopping" at each of the 41 theaters to tell us fun facts, lesser-known history, ghost tales, and interesting stories about actors, performances, stage flukes, blunders, and more, involving the biggest names and productions in theater history.

Learn about the Tiffany chandeliers of the Belasco Theater, the trove of hidden jewels at the Gershwin (which houses years of history from the beloved musical Wicked), and the impresarios and players who influenced Broadway. Readers will also learn the fascinating back stories of theater myths, legends, and traditions. Where did the stage ghost light come from? What started the tradition of intermissions? Which theaters have secret connecting hallways? And much, much more! Along the way, Teale takes detours to explain stage lingo and dives into some of Broadways most popular shows, including CATS, Hello, Dolly!, and Rent.

Teale Dvornik is a seasoned Broadway dresser, passionate theater historian, and online influencer known as “The Backstage Blonde®.” She has worked on iconic productions like Wicked, Aladdin, MJ: The Musical, Come From Away, and A Beautiful Noise as well as the famed Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Teale has also contributed to fifteen seasons of New York Fashion Week, dressing shows for top designers, including Calvin Klein, Coach, and Marc Jacobs. As a licensed New York City tour guide, she has delighted hundreds of visitors with tales of the Theater District’s hidden wonders. Teale studied technical theater and costume design at Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama, and lives in New York City. Despite her best efforts, she has still never seen a theater ghost.

Jonathan Merritt is one of America’s most trusted thought leaders at the intersection of faith and culture. He currently serves as a Vice President and Executive Editor for Simon & Schuster, where he oversees the acquisition of books in the faith / spirituality category as well as select general market non-fiction.

Across two decades of public life, Jonathan has significantly shaped the American religious landscape through hundreds of articles published in national outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast, Christianity Today and USA Today, and as an award-winning contributing writer for The Atlantic. He is the recipient of four coveted Wilbur Awards for excellence in journalism and once earned the columnist of the year award from the Religion News Association.

Jonathan has authored several critically-acclaimed books, including , named “Book of the Year” by the Englewood Review of Books. He has worked as a collaborator or ghostwriter on dozens of books, with several titles landing on The New York Times, USA Today, Wall Street Journal and Publishers Weekly bestsellers lists.

In addition to his writing, Jonathan has contributed cultural commentary to national television, print and radio outlets. He has been interviewed by The New Yorker, ABC World News, Good Morning America, NPR, MSNBC, CNN, Fox News, PBS, and CBS’ “60 Minutes.” He is a sought-after speaker at colleges, conferences, and churches on topics relating to faith, politics, writing and current events.

Jonathan holds a Master of Divinity from Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary, a Master of Theology from Emory University’s Candler School of Theology, and has done additional graduate work focused on Christian mysticism at The General Theological Seminary of the Episcopal Church in Manhattan.

Jonathan currently resides in New York City where he is an aspiring dog dad, a college football fan and intolerable before coffee.

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