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’ at the venue or other locations. This is a specialty of Vivacity’s. Some examples: Rock Of Ages’ Super Bowl #BroadwayBlitz, 'Rock Out With Your Cookout', Air Guitar Guinness World Record; 'A Very Heathers Prom'; Evita’s Bilingual First Preview Press Conference.
- 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 20 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.
- We will always be available to 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. Before she founded 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 new hit musical On Your Feet! and Tony-nominated musicals Rock of Ages, American Idiot, Bring It On, Legally Blonde and Evita (2012 revival). Outside the scope of theatre PR, Leslie has managed campaigns for television shows & specials, notable performers, philanthropic enterprises and production companies.
Additional recent theater credits include White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Stuffed, Ironbound, Heathers: The Musical, 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 over ten years as a publicist in the theater, music and performing arts industries. Prior to Vivacity, she was a press agent at Broadway publicity firm The Hartman Group. Alongside Leslie, Whitney has repped over thirty Broadway & Off-Broadway productions, including On Your Feet!, Rock of Ages, Bring It On, Evita, Heathers: The Musical, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, In & Of Itself and Ironbound. She also spearheaded the campaigns for Romeo & Juliet starring Orlando Bloom & Condola Rashad, Jekyll & Hyde starring Constantine Maroulis, SeaWife and A Clockwork Orange. Whitney hails from Connecticut and has a B.A. in Public Relations from Miami University.
Before landing on the Great White Way, she worked as a publicist at Cohn Dutcher Associates, representing music and performing arts clients such as The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, Chicago’s acclaimed Ravinia Festival, and Caramoor International Music Festival. When not speed-walking through the theater district, Whitney 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 best bourbon cocktails and mac & cheese.
Ailsa Hoke
Press Associate
Ailsa joined the world of theatrical publicity in 2015, but her heart has belonged to Broadway for far longer than that. Growing up in Louisville, KY, she never missed an opportunity to be on stage or in the front row. She holds a B.A. in Theatre & Speech from Wagner College in New York City. Some of her Theater PR credits include On Your Feet!, White Rabbit Red Rabbit, Pocket Universe’s Julius Caesar, Disenchanted, Lisa Lampanelli’s Stuffed and Ironbound. Ailsa loves a good costume party and prides herself on being an avid anglophile and pizza connoisseur.