A dependable haven for artists in isolation, Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is celebrating its fifth year of non-stop weekly Community Gatherings this Friday, having offered to date over 250 conversations and unlimited camaraderie since April 17, 2020. TRU hosts these Community Gatherings every Friday at 5pm ET via Zoom, originally presented to explore the creation of art and theater in the time of COVID-19, and now to ensure that these crucial conversations continue going forward.

5/09/25 – Art and Business Working in Harmony: Meet the Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab. In the room: James Benjamin Rodgers, president and general director of MMTL, a company that strives to identify new musical theater creators and collaborators on both sides of the footlights: they serve as an incubator for the step-by-step development of new works, while also seeking to identify and mentor the next generation of theatrical artistic leaders and offer them training in business skills and industry knowledge. Support programs include a New Works Initiative for writers, and an Artistic Director Fellowship to develop the future leaders of the industry. They also offer networking opportunities as well as connections to outside resources and industry support for the community. James will also share his background as a performer, administrator, producer, director and educator, and how his varied background experiences comes together in his current vision for his company. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING:
5/16/25 – Follow the Leader: How TheaterWorksUSA Serves Youth and Family Theater. In the room: Barbara Pasternack, artistic director since 2000. We’ll look at the founding of TWU by Jay Harnick and Charles Hull, and what it was like for Barbara to follow in their footsteps. How did she leave her own mark? What lessons were learned over the years, and how has the company adapted and changed? What was the impact of shutdown, and has live performance returned to “normal” for young audiences? We’ll also touch on the function and importance of TYA, the difference between young audiences and family audiences, and the full range of programming offered to cultivate new audiences as well as new artists. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.
 
5/23/25 – The Most Unkindest Cuts of All: America’s Defunding of the Arts. In the room: Tannis Kowalchuk, artistic director of the Farm Arts Collective; Stephanie Prugh, director of development for The York Theatre Company; Bevin Ross, executive director of The Drama League; Tooshar Swain, director of Public Policy at Americans for the Arts. America has never been a leader when it comes to funding the arts, but today things have taken a more disturbing turn than ever. So many iconic institutions are suddenly under siege starting with a forced takeover of the Kennedy Center and now the defunding of NPR and PBS. What is hitting our theater community most directly, in this moment, is the neutering of the National Endowment of the Arts which is rabidly cutting funding to organizations that are not aligned “with the president’s priorities.” We’ll consider what those priorities might be and how this effects individual artists and well as theater companies. At heart: why does art matter, and what is this administration afraid of? Is this a form of censorship, and how do they justify an apparent infringement of free speech? And ultimately what is being done – or can be done – to counter this attack? Click here to register and receive the zoom link.
  
5/30/25 – Balancing Act: The Many Sides of Robert Cuccioli. In the room: Robert Cuccioli, an actor equally adept with musicals and classic plays. On Broadway, he debuted as Javert in Les Miserables, got a Tony nomination for Jekyll and Hyde and brought his split-personality expertise to Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark as Norman Osborne/Green Goblin. Off-Broadway shows included The World Goes Round, The Rothschilds and Enter the Guardsman, as well as distinctly non-musicals Antony and Cleopatra and A Touch of the Poet. He has made frequent appearance with Shakespeare Theater of New Jersey, and also loves to direct. We’ll talk about how he chooses his roles, and whether he approaches the classics any differently than he approaches musicals. And yes, we will touch on the current environment of the arts, and theater, in America. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

More information about upcoming interviews is available at: truonline.org/tru-community-gathering.