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.

5/2/25 – Using the Virtual Toolbox to Develop Your New Musical. In the room: Stacia Fernandez, co-owner, Tom Polum, CEO and executive director of Streaming Musicals; Tyler Milliron, CEO of Milliron Studios; and Gina Gallego, Joel S. Bailey and Jan Roper, writers of the new musical América Tropical which was the 2025 presentation of the TRU Voices New Musicals Reading Series, and will have its On Demand premiere on Sunday 5/04. We’ll touch on the advantages and disadvantages of live staged readings versus filmed presentations, and consider different ways of capturing a show on film including live broadcast, livestream and On Demand; plus the options available if you choose to film a new work in development, the costs and the rules you need to follow. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING:

5/09/25 – Art and Business Working in Harmony: Meet the Manhattan Musical Theatre Lab. In the room: James Benjamin Rodgers, president and general director of MMTL, a company that strives to identify new musical theater creators and collaborators on both sides of the footlights: they serve as an incubator for the step-by-step development of new works, while also seeking to identify and mentor the next generation of theatrical artistic leaders and offer them training in business skills and industry knowledge. Support programs include a New Works Initiative for writers, and an Artistic Director Fellowship to develop the future leaders of the industry. They also offer networking opportunities as well as connections to outside resources and industry support for the community. James will also share his background as a performer, administrator, producer, director and educator, and how his varied background experiences comes together in his current vision for his company. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

5/16/25 – Follow the Leader: How TheaterWorksUSA Serves Youth and Family Theater. In the room: Barbara Pasternack, artistic director since 2000. We’ll look at the founding of TWU by Jay Harnick and Charles Hull, and what it was like for Barbara to follow in their footsteps. How did she leave her own mark? What lessons were learned over the years, and how has the company adapted and changed? What was the impact of shutdown, and has live performance returned to “normal” for young audiences? We’ll also touch on the function and importance of TYA, the difference between young audiences and family audiences, and the full range of programming offered to cultivate new audiences as well as new artists. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

5/23/25 – tbd

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 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 NY Shakespeare Company, 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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