A dependable haven for artists in isolation, Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is now in its fourth year of non-stop weekly Community Gatherings this Friday, having offered to date over 200 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.

12/13 – Designs for a Living: Creating Sets and Building a Career. (Postponed from 11/8) In the room: Beowulf Boritt, set designer (Tony Awards for Act One and New York, New York; nominated for The Scottsboro Boys, Thérese Raquin, Flying Over Sunset, POTUS; Obie Award for Sustained Excellence). Being a sought after designer in New York theater doesn’t just happen. Or does it? Meet a designer whose career came as a surprise, though hard work and lucky breaks certainly helped. We’ll talk about the steps along the way, and what distinguishes his designs. Surely a production must inspire a designer, but does a designer ever inspire a production? Is there a Boritt style or esthetic? We’ll also consider the dynamics of collaboration with a director and – more crucially – the other designers on a show. And we’ll look at how Boritt is “passing it forward” with his 1/52 Project that provides grants to early-career designers. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING

12/20 – Politics and Art: The State of the Arts in the City of the Arts. In the room: Carla Hoke-Miller, executive director, Theatre and Live Performance Partnerships at the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment; and Aimee Todoroff, director, arts advocate, former Managing Director of the League of Independent Theater. Are we back to business as usual after the uncertainty of shutdown? Did Covid reshape some of the inner workings of our business? What are the challenges to not-for-profits going forward? Might the new administration affect the arts here in NYC as well as the rest of the country, and what can we do about it? Are there safeguards in place to keep the New York arts community strong and independent? Carla will also share a rundown of projects the City is planning for next year that might be of interest to our TRU community. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

12/27 – Artist, Meet Money (We Think You’ll Be Very Happy Together). In the room: Bailie Slevin of Entertaining Finance, financial advisor and recovering stage manager. Before you start crafting your New Year’s resolutions, we will disarm the myth of the starving artist and talk about creating a healthy and successful relationship with money and finances in 2025. In Bailie’s teachings, “selling” is just talking with a purpose. Once you are comfortable talking about money it’s easier to ask for it. Having trained hundreds of professionals in a variety of industries, positions, and points in their careers Bailie sheds light on the “sales” process as a whole, the individual steps, and the most persuasive words to use. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

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 now 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-two-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; 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 evening of short plays about social issues, 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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