Public relations agency specializing in theatre and live entertainment.
Vivacity Media Group is a dynamic publicity team founded upon – and named for – a core principle of infusing every facet of a campaign with verve and vitality. We engage the public with the life and character of a brand, and through unique creative platforms, secure its position in the national conversation.
Our Work
Past Work
Our Scope
- Consult with client and sculpt BRAND IDENTITY AND KEY MESSAGING – continuing to refine messaging as the process evolves.
- Deliver a PR PLAN (including target media list), strategy and timeline.
- Craft PRESS RELEASES for all newsworthy announcements, with client’s guidance & approval, and distribute to our 2000+ relevant arts & entertainment, lifestyle, theater and pop culture media contacts in television, radio, print, online.
- MEDIA TRAIN all talent, creative team members and producers prior to interactions with the press.
- Develop strategy for CRISIS COMMUNICATION when necessary.
- Oversee the capturing and editing of all PHOTOGRAPHY and VIDEO materials for publicity use.
- Write, edit and update PRESS KITS with all client background information for distribution to the media.
- Continuous MEDIA MONITORING for all client mentions in broadcast, print, and online, with timely CLIP DISTRIBUTION to client
- Using our knowledge of, and relationships with, media outlets across the country, we craft PITCHES tailored to each outlet and writer, to secure feature stories in newspapers, magazines, television, radio and online.
- We coordinate all INTERVIEWS, BROADCAST APPEARANCES, or editorial PHOTO SHOOTS that take place – providing on-site management of the appearance, and supplying the talent with all important details and talking points.
- Brainstorm and execute creative, brand-appropriate and media-worthy EVENTS/’STUNTS’ to capture public attention in a unique way.
- Create and send invitations for PRESS PREVIEWS or SCREENINGS to notable critics, writers, editors, TV producers and bloggers. Our team conducts thorough follow up, manages RSVPs, and provides staff support to manage press access on-site for the event.
- Help plan and oversee OPENING NIGHTS or any other pressworthy red carpet event. Invite media to cover (photos, video) the evening.
- Over 30 years combined experience handling press & publicity for arts, entertainment and theater.
- In addition to PR, we can provide expertise and guidance to new producers on a variety of topics based on the years we’ve spent in the industry.
- Accessibility is the most important part of a client relationship. We are always available to brainstorm ideas or discuss any matter in which you seek an additional advice or past precedence.
Our Results
In Ink
On Air
Our Team
Leslie Papa
President
Veteran press agent Leslie Papa has represented over forty productions in her career as a theatrical publicist. Prior to forming Vivacity, Leslie worked as a Senior Account Executive at The Hartman Group (formerly Barlow-Hartman). Her work heading PR campaigns for Broadway, Off-Broadway and National Tour productions includes the Tony-nominated musicals Rock of Ages, On Your Feet!, Bring It On, American Idiot, Legally Blonde, and Evita (2012 revival), as well as the annual Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center. Outside the scope of theatre PR, Leslie has managed campaigns for television shows & specials, notable performers, philanthropic enterprises and production companies.
Select additional theater credits include In & Of Itself, Accidentally Brave, Cruel Intentions, Heathers: The Musical, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Ironbound, Disenchanted!, Catch Me If You Can, On A Clear Day You Can See Forever, Wintuk by Cirque Du Soleil, 13, Cyrano de Bergerac starring Kevin Kline & Jennifer Garner, Company, Movin’ Out, Grease (2007 Revival), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays and Sweeney Todd starring Patti LuPone & Michael Cerveris.
TV credits include the NBC television series “SMASH,” MTV’s Legally Blonde special and reality show “The Search for Elle Woods,” and the NBC reality series “Grease: You’re the One That I Want.”
A graduate of Columbia University, Leslie began her career in theater at Carol Fineman Publicity, representing the Public Theater as well as various other Off-Broadway productions including the multi-award winning production of The Exonerated, Modern Orthodox, and Hank Williams: Lost Highway.
Whitney Holden Gore
Vice President
Whitney has worked for twelve years as a publicist in the theater and music industries. She has repped over thirty Broadway & Off-Broadway productions alongside Leslie, including the current/upcoming musicals Jagged Little Pill, Rock of Ages, Little Shop of Horrors, Once Upon A One More Time and Soul Train. Recent favorites include On Your Feet!, Heathers: The Musical, In & Of Itself, Bring It On, Evita, The Other Josh Cohen, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, SeaWife, and dozens of plays for the Lortel Award-winning WP Theater, such as Martyna Majok’s Ironbound and Theresa Rebeck’s What We’re Up Against. Whitney also spearheaded the campaigns for the latest revivals of Romeo & Juliet starring Orlando Bloom & Condola Rashad, A Clockwork Orange, and Jekyll & Hyde.
Before Vivacity, Whitney was a press agent at Broadway publicity firm The Hartman Group. Her work prior to landing on the Great White Way was as a Senior Publicist at Cohn Dutcher Associates, representing performing arts institutions such as The New York Pops and Orpheus Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall, Caramoor International Music Festival, and Chicago’s acclaimed Ravinia Festival. Whitney hails from Connecticut and has a B.A. in Public Relations from Miami University. When not speed-walking through the theater district, she can usually be found wandering Brooklyn Bridge Park with her dog Penny, loitering in the history section of Barnes & Noble, or pursuing her never-ending mission to find the city’s most creative bourbon cocktails and mac & cheese.
Maggie Trabucco
Press Assistant
Maggie joined the Vivacity team in January 2019, though she has been an avid lover of Broadway ever since she first saw 42nd Street at the age of eight. A Nashville native, she came to New York by way of the University of Alabama, where she worked as Chapter Development Coordinator for Alumni Relations after graduating with a degree in Public Relations and Theatre in 2016. Her projects at Vivacity include: the Broadway-bound musicals Jagged Little Pill and Once Upon A One More Time; Big Apple Circus at Lincoln Center; and recent Off-Broadway productions Accidentally Brave, The Other Josh Cohen, Hatef**k at WP Theater, and Joe Iconis’s Broadway Bounty Hunter.