A dependable haven for theater professionals, Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is in its sixth year of non-stop weekly Community Gatherings, having led over 300 consecutive conversations about aspects of the arts. The series has offered the theater community information, inspiration and unlimited camaraderie since April 17, 2020. TRU hosts these gatherings every Friday at 5pm ET via Zoom, originally presented to explore the creation of art and theater in the time of shutdown, and now to ensure that these crucial conversations continue going forward.

Click https://truonline.org/events/exchange-theatre/ 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 $12 ticket, making a donation or joining as a member.

7/17 – A Bridge Between Cultures: Meet London’s Exchange Theatre. In the room: David Furlong, a mixed race Mauritian actor, director, dramaturg and educator, and the Artistic Director and Founder of Exchange Theatre, established in 2006 to champion multilingual voices and cross cultural performance in the UK. Originally focused on bringing lesser known French classic and contemporary works into the London theater consciousness – often doing performances in both languages – Exchange has expanded over the years to incorporate wider aspects of cultural “exchange.” David has worked across stage, screen and street theater, building a distinctive practice rooted in his passion about migration, identity and the decolonization of representation, and his work has also touched on non-western storytelling influences (including Indian and Japanese). How did he start his company in 2006, and was it hard finding venues to work in? Has his mission changed or evolved? What sources of support help him keep going? What were some key moments in the growth of his company? Is running a theater company in London different from running one in the U.S.? We’ll also talk about other programs run by Exchange, including a complete ecosystem of services to help artists get their works up and showcased. Click https://truonline.org/events/exchange-theatre/ to register and receive the link.

UPCOMING

7/24 – Can There Be Such a Thing As an Un-Creative Producer? In the room: producer Cody Lassen. There’s a common misconception that producing is mostly fundraising, says Cody. And he takes issue with this – a producer is not an ATM. The real work is creative problem-solving. Building a budget or a schedule isn’t just math: it’s deciding where the heart of the show lives and how to deploy resources to best support the creative. Assembling the team – the director, designers, and cast – is a creative puzzle. Synthesizing feedback to help a team refine their vision is creative. Join us and explore the many facets of producing with someone who has sheparded shows into production, including several he is currently working on. Where does he find his projects? How long does development take on average? And does he have any tips for dealing with the prohibitive costs of commercial productions? (Even budgeting nowadays has become a creative challenge!) Click here to register and receive the link.

7/31 – The Power of Art, and a Collaborative Project for Peace. In the room: composer Theresa Koon of Tikkun Music and poet Kim Stafford, a former Oregon Poet Laureate. Meet these dedicated artists whose work is inspired by issues of social and environmental concern. In collaboration with filmmaker Ron Bourke, Theresa and Kim have filmed a musicalized poem in and around Oregon based on Kim’s “Proclamation for Peace,” with the goal of using it as an artistic plea for peace around the planet. Worth noting that Stafford’s poem was published in a book with 50 translations thus enabling it to tour around the world, and Theresa addresses how the nuances of each language change the music. We’ll touch on other projects they have individually been involved with, and generally look at ways to use art to foster change. Click here to register and receive the link.

More information about upcoming dates 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 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, Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley, Merrie L. Davis, Dunbar Hofmann Productions 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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