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

5/23/25 – The Most Unkindest Cuts of All: America’s Defunding of the Arts. In the room: Tannis Kowalchuk, artistic director of Farm Arts Collective; Stephanie Prugh, director of development for The York Theatre Company; Bevin Ross, executive director of The Drama League; Tooshar Swain, director of Public Policy at Americans for the Arts. America has never been a leader when it comes to funding the arts, but today things have taken a more disturbing turn than ever. So many iconic institutions are suddenly under siege starting with a forced takeover of the Kennedy Center and now the defunding of NPR and PBS. What is hitting our theater community most directly, in this moment, is the neutering of the National Endowment of the Arts which is rabidly cutting funding to organizations that are not aligned “with the president’s priorities.” We’ll consider what those priorities might be and how this effects individual artists and well as theater companies. At heart: why does art matter, and what is this administration afraid of? Is this a form of censorship, and how do they justify an apparent infringement of free speech? And ultimately what is being done – or can be done – to counter this attack? Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING:

5/30/25 – Balancing Act: The Many Sides of Robert Cuccioli. In the room: Robert Cuccioli, an actor equally adept with musicals and classic plays. On Broadway, he debuted as Javert in Les Miserables, got a Tony nomination for Jekyll and Hyde and brought his split-personality expertise to Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark as Norman Osborne/Green Goblin. Off-Broadway shows included And the World Goes Round, The Rothschilds and Enter the Guardsman, as well as distinctly non-musicals Antony and Cleopatra and A Touch of the Poet. He has made frequent appearance with Shakespeare Theatre of NJ, and also loves to direct. We’ll talk about how he chooses his roles, and whether he approaches the classics any differently than he approaches musicals. And yes, we will touch on the current environment of the arts, and theater, in America. 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 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 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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