A dependable haven for artists in isolation, Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is celebrating its fifth year of non-stop weekly Community Gatherings, 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.

Register here to receive this Friday’s Zoom link. These gatherings are a service for the theater community and are offered free for TRU members; non-members may also attend for free, but we ask that non-members help keep us running by buying a ticket, making a donation or joining as a member.

11/21 – How in the World to Get Noticed: PR Strategies from the NY Festival Scene to the Edinburgh Fringe. In the room: Michelle Mangan, Edinburgh Festival Fringe publicist representing major Fringe venues as well as individual shows; Jonathan Slaff, NY-based publicist for the Dream Up Festival as well as cultural institutions, professional theater and dance companies, international cultural events and self-producing artists. Meet two publicists whose wheelhouses contain way more than theater. Do their broader perspectives influence the way they promote individual shows? Are there special approaches to promoting a show in a festival especially when you have to get noticed in a field of dozens (Dream Up) or thousands of shows (EdFringe)? Are they passionate about every piece they represent? Is that even possible? We’ll also review the basics that go into an effective press release as well as how they have developed their individual styles and strategies. And why hiring a publicist, in the long run, might be better than trying to do it all yourself. Visit https://truonline.org/events/how-to-get-noticed/ to register and receive the zoom link. 

Michelle Mangan has managed communications and PR for Traverse Theatre, Citizens Theatre, SHEDINBURGH Fringe Festival, Summerhall, Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh Spanish Film Festival, DANCE:FILM Festivals, Edinburgh Jazz and Blues Festival, EMI Music, National Theatre of Scotland, Outsiders Film Festival and Virgin Records amongst others. For over 10 years she has promoted successful venues and work at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe and spent four years as Senior PR and Marketing Manager for the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Society. She is on the Board of Trustees for Scottish Documentary Institute and the Steering Group of Creative Edinburgh.

Jonathan Slaff has been an independent press agent since 1988. He solicits print and broadcast media outlets for news/feature story coverage, arts reviews and photo placement. He is one of the few press agents in New York who takes his own press photos. He specializes in advocating for new work. Clients include cultural institutions, professional theater and dance companies, fundraising and civic events, government agencies, NGO’s and self-producing artists of various kinds, primarily in New York City and vicinity. He also offers audience development services. From 1989 to 2005, as press agent of La MaMa E.T.C. (“Theater of the World”), he represented scores of theater and dance events from Eastern Europe, Latin America and the far east. He was editor for five years of JapanINFO, the bi-monthly cultural newsletter of the Consulate General of Japan in New York. New York theatrical clients have also included Shakespeare in the Parking Lot, Theater for the New City, Woodie King Jr.’s New Federal Theatre, The Negro Ensemble Company, Inc., Czechoslovak-American Marionette Theatre, The Drilling Company Theatre, Workshop Theatre Company, Kings County Shakespeare Company, The American Place Theatre and Ubu Repertory Theater. Musical clients have included violinist Mari Kimura and two Klezmer attractions, The Klezmer Conservatory Band and The Klezmer Mountain Boys. Artists represented have received 17 Obies, three Bessies, Lucille Lortel, Theater World, and Outer Critics Circle Awards. His success stories include (while press agent for La MaMa) the launch of one of New York’s most successful and cutting-edge theatrical attractions, Blue Man Group. www.jsnyc.com

UPCOMING

11/28 – What I Am Thankful for: Focusing on the Positive (in Spite of It All). In the room: TRU board members, to be confirmed. We’ll talk about coping with the current political climate and focus on what we can do to stay centered, creative and productive. Email TRUnltd@aol.com to register.

12/5 – One Native American Artist’s Approach to Theater: Creative Sovereignty. In the room: Tara Moses (citizen of Seminole Nation of Oklahoma, Mvskoke), director, multi award-winning playwright, and co-founder of Groundwater Arts, a US-based artist collaborative committed to envisioning the arts field through a climate justice lens. Equally concerned with the fair treatment of our planet as well as equitable treatment of the multiple populations that inhabit it, Tara will talk about finding her rightful place as an artist, and how decolonization offers a path towards more equal opportunities…. Click here to read more and register and receive the zoom link.

12/12 – Two Views of the Latiné Theater Community: Chicago and New York. Email TRUnltd@aol.com for details.

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

To receive the Zoom invitation for weekly meetings, email TRUnltd@aol.com with “Zoom Me” in the subject header. These gatherings are free for TRU members, non-members are asked to make an optional tax-deductible donation or consider joining TRU at truonline.org/membership to support the organization’s ongoing service to the community.

Videos of past Community Gatherings may be viewed on TRU’s YouTube channel at youtube.com/channel/UC43rsChi4fA23dNLeloaF_A/. And a podcast series, TRU Talks About Theater, featuring 2023 Community Gathering conversations, is available wherever you get your podcasts; or tune in at ElectraCast: https://electracast.com/?s=Theater+Resources

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a thirty-three-year-old 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and navigate the business of the arts. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers and theater companies.

TRU publishes an email community newsletter of services, opportunities and productions; presents weekly Community Gatherings about the arts, and monthly Town Halls about current social issues; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in New York theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through the TRU Voices Play Reading Series, TRUSpeak: Hear Our Voices (adapting short plays into films), Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation; and the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org.

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