Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) today announced updates for the cast for the 2026 TRU Love Benefit, honoring respected members of the theater community, produced with the generous support of Margot Astrachan Production, Merrie L. Davis/Next Act 2 Follow and Scott Sickles. The show is directed by Jonathan S. Cerullo assisted by Georgina Bates, with music director Clare Cooper, and stage manager Natalie Thomas. Top-tier tickets are sold out. Remaining tickets are available at $175 for general admission and $200 for reserved seats, and both include cocktail hour/hors d’oeuvres, luncheon, award ceremony and show. It is scheduled for Sunday, February 8, 2026, starting at 11:30AM at Green Room 42, 570 10th Avenue (at 42nd Street), NYC. Tickets can be purchased at https://truonline.org/events/2026-tru-love-benefit/.

The cast includes an intersection of Broadway veterans and newcomers: Tina Fabrique* (Broadway: Ragtime, Glass Menagerie; TV: Blue Bloods, New Amsterdam, Reading Rainbow); Wendy Waring* (original Broadway cast of Follies); Jeff Williams* (National Tour cast of Follies); Brandi Chavonne Massey* (Broadway: Wicked, National Tour: The Color Purple); and a TRU-created, special ensemble group, the TRU Tones – Christopher Michaels*(National Tour of Blippi: The Wonderful World), Jaidyn Richardson (AMDA) and Renee Ross. Plus special appearances by Tony nominated Veanne Cox* and Robert Cuccioli* and TV, film and theater favorite Laila Robins.

*AEA (Actor’s Equity Association)

The TRU 2026 honorees include producers Bonnie Comley & Stewart Lane, who will be given the TRU Spirit of Theater Award for their dedication to community, their visionary work creating BroadwayHD, and the platform’s unwavering commitment to expanding access to the transformative power of live theater. Tony-winning Broadway, film and TV star Tonya Pinkins will receive the TRU Humanitarian Award for being an uncompromising advocate for change, using her art, heart, and talent in a lifetime pursuit of equality and acceptance for all. TRU will also honor the memory of Advisory Board member, prolific Broadway and London producer, and friend Jack W. Batman.

Consistent with BroadwayHD’s mission of making the theater experience accessible to everyone, and Tonya Pinkins’ nurturing of young talent, TRU Benefit director Jonathan Cerullo has incorporated into the TRU Love ‘Changing Hearts’ benefit an intersection of Broadway veterans and a trio of singers that includes newcomers. Jonathan explains: “By uniting both seasoned artists and artists from the original productions of honorees Stewart Lane, Bonnie Comley and Tonya Pinkins with early-career artists and graduating students from the nation’s top theater programs, the inaugural concept of the TRU Tones creates a rare and meaningful dialogue between Broadway’s present and its future – one that we hope might change a few hearts along the way.”

Supporting the event is an Honoree Benefit Committee of luminaries and dear friends: Tony winner Chuck Cooper; Tony nominee and TV regular Veanne Cox; Tony nominee Robert Cuccioli; casting director and producer Mellicent Dyane; 4-time Tony nominee Gregg Edelman; legendary singer Nona Hendryx (of LaBelle);Tony winner Cady Huffman; Pulitzer Prize winning playwright-composer-lyricist Michael R. Jackson; actor, author and director Erik Liberman; theater and film star Mandi Masden; poet Harry Newman; theater, TV and film actor Jake O’Flaherty; theater and TV favorite Laila Robins; veteran actor, writer, director and producer Juney Smith; theater, film and TV actress and author Kim Sykes, Elly Tatum and 4-time Tony winning producer Cheryl Wiesenfeld.

The Benefit Producing Committee includes chair Cheryl L. Davis; producers Bob Ost, Janel C. Scarborough and Sharon Weiss; committee members Jay Chacon, Merrie L. Davis, Ginny Hack, Rob Hofmann, June Ospa, Aisling Riley, Stephanie Schwartz and Sandy Silverberg.

Event Schedule

Cocktail Hour: 11:30am

3-Course Luncheon: 12:30PM

Awards & Entertainment: 1:30PM

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 Montage Foundation, The Storyline Project and 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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