Dirty Dancing

Kevin Jacobsen, Chairmen of Jacobsen Entertainment and Jacobsen Venue Management (JVM), is acknowledged as one of Australia's foremost entertainment entrepreneurs. He has produced, promoted and presented major events of concert, stage spectaculars, theatre, ballet, and opera, etc. including international celebration for Australian federal and state governments.

From his beginning as an accountant Kevin moved on to playing in piano in a rock band with his brother as up front singer. After leaving the band Kevin began to promote Australian performers. This was the beginning of Jacobsen Group which has become a major force in the Australian entertainment industry.

As head of the Jacobsen Group, Kevin has procured and represented hundreds of events covering all facets of the entertainment business.

Concert attractions: include Elton John, Barbra Streisand, The Three Tenors, Bee Gees, Bruce Springsteen, Michael Jackson, KISS, Billy Joel, John Denver, Joe Cocker, Cyndi Lauper, Simon and Garfunkel, Pearl Jam, Julio Iglesias, Shania Twain and many others over a period of 25 years.

Arena Spectaculars: produced and procured include A Long Way to the Top, Walt Disney's World on Ice, The Man From Snowy River and the televised event for Australia's Bi-Centenary with Their Royal Highnesses Prince Charles and Princess Diana in attendance.

Stadium productions: include Verdi's Opera Aida, Turandot and special event openings and government owned outdoor facilities and most recently, the Vector Arena in Auckland, New Zealand - a 13,000-seat venue which opened in April 2007.

Kevin was also part of the team coordinating the visit to Australia by His Holiness Pope John Paul II and the extraordinary visit by Nelson Mandela. Kevin formed the first private company to manage public facilities in Australia and negotiated the long term lease for the Sydney Entertainment Centre which opened in May 1983, Since then he has developed and operated Brisbane Entertainment Centre, Brisbane Convention and Exhibition Centre, Newcastle Entertainment Centre, Sydney Capitol Theatre and most recently the Vector Arena (Auckland Entertainment Centre) which is due to open in December 2006.

Kevin served as a government appointed director on the Board of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) and was awarded the Medal of the Order Of Australia for services to the performing Arts and Entertainment Industry by the Governor General of Australia representing Queen Elizabeth II.

Col Joye, Director of Jacobsen Entertainment and Jacobsen Venue Management (JVM), is an Australian show business phenomenon and a 'name' that is legendary in the Australian Entertainment industry. He was the first Australian pop music artist to have a National No.1 single with successive No. 1 hits and was the first to appear on the American Billboard music chart. Col recorded fifteen Top 10 albums and was the first inductee into the Australian Record Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame. He has received numerous platinum, gold, and silver albums and hundreds of other industry awards including Australian television's Logie Award for Australia's Most Popular Television Performer. He has toured extensively throughout Australia and his concert performances are guaranteed sell-outs.

Col involves himself with sound design and music development of the Jacobsen Group musicals and has produced all the cast recordings including the ARIA winning albums Shout! and Long Way To The Top.

Col was awarded an Order of Australia (AM) for his contribution to music and charity which was presented by the Governor General of Australia on behalf of Queen Elizabeth II.

Col was chosen to run with the Olympic Torch as part of the Sydney Olympic celebrations and was recently honoured by having his own postage stamp.

Amber Jacobsen is an Executive Director of the Jacobsen Group. She has been involved with every show produced and presented by the Jacobsen Group since 1997 and is currently the Director of Concerts and Theatre Amber is responsible for the research, procurement and presentation of the company's product, and consequently has arranged tours for numerous artists including Elton John, Barbra Streisand, Bruce Springsteen, The BeeGees, Shania Twain, Pearl Jam and Usher. Additionally she was Co-Producer and Marketing Director for Fame The Musical and SHOUT! and Executive Producer for The Man From Snowy River, Long Way To The Top and now Dirty Dancing worldwide. Amber is an Director of Vector Arena in Auckland and negotiated the successful bid on behalf of the company to build, own and operate the venue.

Broadway: The Seagull, All My Sons, American Buffalo, Our Country's Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker (6 Tony nominations, NY Critics Award Best Foreign Play, Olivier Award Best Play).

NY: Terra Haute by Edmond Wilson, BAM the NT's production of Happy Days by Samuel Beckett featuring Fiona Shaw directed by Deborah Warner.

UK: Memory directed by Terry Hands, Triptych by Edna O'Brien, Ring Round the Moon by Jean Anouilh and adapted by Christopher Fry directed by Sean Mathias at the Playhouse, Jenufa by Timberlake Wertenbaker directed by Irina Brown at the Arcola Theatre.

Karl has produced/co-produced: Sinatra At The London Palladium the spectacular multimedia production directed by David Leveaux with choreography by Stephen Mear; And Then There Were None with Tara Fitzgerald at the Geilgud; the London & Sydney production of Dance Of Death with Sir Ian McKellen, Frances de la Tour and Owen Teale; Bea Arthur at the Savoy; Auntie And Me with Alan Davies and Margaret Tyzack at the Wyndham's; Michael Moore. Live! at the Roundhouse; the West End premiere of Noel Coward's Semi Monde; Kevin Elyot's Mouth To Mouth at the Albery Theatre with Lyndsay Duncan and Michael Maloney; David Mamet's Speed The Plow with Mark Strong, Patrick Marber and Kimberly Williams; Drummers by Simon Bennet and Some Explicit Polaroids by Mark Ravenhill (winner of the Evening Standard Award as Most Promising Newcomer) both directed by Max Stafford-Clark for Out of Joint; Macbeth with Rufus Sewell at the Queens Theatre; A Swell Party a celebration of Cole Porter at the Vaudeville Theatre; Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Country's Good (nominated for six Tony Awards and received the Olivier Award for Best Play and the New York Critics' Award for Best Foreign Play); Hysteria (Best Comedy, Olivier Awards), and an adaptation of Sue Townsend's novel The Queen And I which was Out of Joint's inaugural production.

Karl continues to serve on the board of Out of Joint, the UK leading producer of new writing for the theatre.

Karl also served as a director of Renaissance Film Company. He continues to act as an independent film producer; projects under development with David Parfitt, his colleague from Renaissance include A Bunch Of Amateurs by Ian Hislop & Nick Newman featuring Samantha Bond, Derek Jacobi, Imelda Staunton and Burt Reynolds.

Lionsgate is the leading independent filmed entertainment studio, winning the 2006 Best Picture Academy Award® for CRASH, and the company is a premier producer and distributor of motion pictures, television programming, home entertainment, family entertainment and video-on-demand content. Its prestigious and prolific library of more than 11,000 motion picture titles and television episodes is a valuable source of recurring revenue and a foundation for the growth of the company's core businesses. The Lionsgate brand is synonymous with original, daring, quality entertainment in markets around the globe.

The team of Conwell S. Worthington II and Michael Coleman and their company Cornerstone Entertainment International, Inc is well respected in the industry for their integrity and first class quality of work. Most recently, the company produced the successful award winning production of The Laramie Project, at the Laguna Playhouse.

Mr. Worthington staged The King and I on Broadway with the legendary Yul Brynner, with which Mr. Coleman assisted in staging the children into the show. Mr. Worthington also co-directed the very successful National Tour of The King and I, starring the late Rudolf Nureyev, and along with Mr. Coleman were associate producers of Sugar starring Robert Morse at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles.

Before working together for over six years at Disney, Coleman and Worthington produced and/or created numerously successful shows including The Red Skelton Concert, The Andy Williams Christmas Show, and The Doug Henning Magic Show in concert, Victor Borge, Tony Bennett and Tom Jones, as well as charitable events with Beverly Sills, Angela Lansbury, Itzack Perlman, Red Skelton, Dick Van Dyke, Danny Kaye and Ethel Merman. They also originated, directed, wrote and produced the phenomenally successful The Glory of Christmas in Los Angeles market starring Dean Jones, Debby Boone, and featuring the London Symphony Orchestra, and directed, and produced the critically acclaimed The Glory of Easter starring the narration of Gregory Peck, and featuring Michael York. Recently, they co-directed the dinner show for Caesars' Palace new $60 million dollar attraction, Caesars' Magical Empire.