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 theater and 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/coming-to-terms-with-a-i/ 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.

9/11 – Taking Control of Technology: Coming to Terms with A.I. In the room: Kipp Koenig, formerly a 35 year career in technology, now a playwright; Nuoya Li, technology transformation leader, founder and CEO of PerformaMatch, a casting and career development platform; Tamra Pica, TRU technology director and consultant, as well as a producer and casting director; and Tracy Swedlow, playwright and lyricist, CEO and founder of TMRW Corp, EP of The TV of Tomorrow Show (TVOT). Controversy rages about perceived misuses of artificial intelligence, but we all know it’s not going away. Our guests have built their businesses with the help of AI, and found it immeasurably helpful in pursuing careers in theater and the arts. And all have approached it with conscience, care and caution. Do the lines ever blur? Do technical short cuts diminish the worth of our work? Are there things that AI simply cannot do … at least for now? Until the legal dust settles, join us and learn how others find A.I a useful tool … and where they draw the line. Click https://truonline.org/events/coming-to-terms-with-a-i/ to register, and receive the link.

Panelists

KIPP KOENIG is a playwright whose work explores the intersection of technology and human connection. He holds a BFA in Musical Theatre from the University of Michigan and brings a unique perspective to his writing after a 35-year career in technology at Goldman Sachs, Warburg Pincus, and Deutsche Bank. His screenplay Lost In His Prime won the 2004 Hollywood Gateway national screenplay competition, and his early work earned recognition in numerous statewide fiction and poetry competitions. His play The Glitch premiered Off-Broadway at the Jerry Orbach Theater in the fall of 2025 to nearly unanimous critical praise, and follows a woman who visits an AI lab to meet a simulated version of her future child, only to discover that her daughter’s actual spirit may be trying to connect with her through a glitch in the software. He is currently working on a play about AI and online dating, and developing numerous software projects for theater and film makers.

NUOYA LI is a strategic tech leader with 10+ years of global experience driving AI innovation, digital transformation, and product strategy across North America, Europe, and Asia. At Forest Friends Innovation Studio, she is pioneering the application of recommendation systems, image analysis, and automated matching in the performing arts, bridging human-centered design with technical innovation. Nuoya graduated magna cum laude from Brown University with a concentration in Applied Math-Economics and holds her master degree from Columbia University in Economics. She is also a multimedia artist. Alongside her tech career, she studies acting at The Barrow Group, ballroom dance at Fred Astaire, and ballet and theater dance at Ballet Arts, and performs dance and improv.

TAMRA PICA is a producer and casting director for Write Act Repertory. Tamra’s theater and television work spans 33 years and over 250 productions as a prop designer, AEA Stage Manager, producer and casting director of plays, musicals, dance and ice shows. She produces both Off Broadway, as well as, managing the Los Angeles theater presence for Write Act. Recent credits include the long-running Frankenstein, Wicked City Blues, and Swing. Other credits include: Lili Marlene, Caldwell’s Bomb for the New York Venus/Adonis Theater Festival, Renewal, Your Name on My Lips at Theater for the New City and the long running musical Fabulous! Queen of the New Musicals where she served as a casting director and producer. Alongside theater, Tamra’s work production, casting, and development television work can be seen for companies such as Disney, Sony, Cartoon Network, NBC Studios, TBS, CBS, MTV, ABC and FOX. She currently works on the animated Disney series Mira, Royal Detective.

TRACY SWEDLOW is CEO, publisher, and editor-in-chief of InteractiveTV Today (ITVT) (https://itvt.com), founded in 1998; and the co-executive producer and director of the TV of Tomorrow Show conferences (https://itvt.com/tvot) that occur in San Francisco and New York City or as livestreaming events. ITVT email newsletter and Web site are read by thousands of high-level TV multiplatform-focused executives around the world. I interview these executives and creatives via video interviews called “Televisionation” (https://itvt.com/televisionation)

UPCOMING

9/18 – Know the Score: MTI’s Unique Place in the Licensing World. In the room: Jason Cocovinus, director of Marketing and Marc Hershberg, director of business and legal affairs at Music Theater International (MTI). MTI was co-founded in 1952 by the legendary Frank Loesser and is heading towards a landmark 75th anniversary. How has the company evolved from then to now? Have legal updates influenced the licensing business over the years? Statistically, what are the things that now seem to interest audiences and theaters around the country, and has that changed since shutdown? Does a show need to have a NY run to be marketable?… Click here to read more, 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/ Pleased visit us and consider joining our 27,700 subscribers.

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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