TRU to Host Panel on the Election's Impact on the Arts This Month

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) and The Playroom Theatre present the TRU February Panel - The Impact of the Election on the Arts: What Is at Risk? What Is Our Responsibility? on Monday, February 20, 2017 at 7:30pm (doors open for networking at 7pm) at The Playroom Theater, 151 W. 46th Street, 8th floor, NYC 10036. For more details, including a full schedule and faculty bios, visit truonline.org/events/election-impact.

Presented in partnership with TRU's Young Patron & Artists Circle (YPAC), co-hosted by Christin Cato and Bob Ost. Panelists to include Teresa Eyring, executive director of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). Kareem Fahmy, director and playwright (world premiere Indian Head at Luna Stage); Ari Laura Kreith, Artistic Director of Theatre 167 (The Jackson Heights Trilogy, Pirira); David Mendizábal, Producing Artistic Leader of The Movement Theatre Company, director (Tell Hector I Miss Him at the Atlantic Theater); Beto O'Byrne, Playwright and Co-Founder of Radical Evolution; Jacob Padron, Artistic Director of The Sol Project (Alligator at New Georges); and Meropi Peponides, artistic director and co-founder of Radical Evolution, producer at Soho Rep.

Only one month into a new administration and already many are feeling uneasy and threatened by the radical change in values that is perceived. The NEA has been targeted, health care that has been a lifesaver for so many is under attack, and perhaps most dramatic of all is the threat to the diversity that has been a hallmark of American values since our founding. Are there constructive steps that we can take to protect our cultural sanctity? Points of discussion will include the apparent attack on women's rights, minority rights, LGBTQ rights and what we can do as a community to protect against this perceived threat. What steps do we need to take now to ensure that we support each other in the theater community? What differences can we make with our stories? What are the stories that we need to start telling now? How do we spread awareness? How do we protect our identities and our values?

Doors open at 7:00pm for networking and refreshments, roundtable introductions of everyone in the room will start at 7:30pm - come prepared with your best one-minute summary of who you are, and what you need. Free for TRU members; $15 for non-members at the door ($12.50 if you register in advance above), free for TRU members. Please register at truonline.org/events/election-impact, or call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 212/714-7628, or e-mail TRUStaff1@gmail.com.

The Playroom Theater, a small theater with a purpose on West Forty Sixth Street. Created by longtime theatrical producer Eric Krebs, The Playroom Theater features a 62-seat boutique theater, appropriate for rehearsals, readings, auditions, producers' presentations and workshop productions. Conceived of as an artists' workspace for writers, directors, composers, actors, producers and others committed to the professional theater arts and its industry. "The idea of The Playroom has grown out of my desire to create a small and financially manageable space in the heart of the theater district," commented Krebs. "I want this to be a place where industry professionals can pop over for a reading, a backer's audition or a small production of a work in progress." For more information on The Playroom Theater, call Adam Brunner at 212-967-8278.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-four year old 501c3 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, goods and productions; presents the TRU VOICES Annual New Play Reading Series and Annual New Musicals Reading Series, two new works series in which TRU underwrites developmental readings to nurture new shows as well as new producers for theater; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program whose mentors are among the most prominent producers and general managers in New York Theater, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop the business skills they need. TRU serves writers through a Writer-Producer Speed Date, a Practical Playwriting Workshop, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition, Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as actor workshops.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call 212 714-7628.