TRUSPEAK Returns With Four New Short Films Available On Demand For A Limited Run

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) will present the 2025 edition of TRUSpeak: Hear Our Voices! as a limited on-demand program, available for four days only. The event will begin on Thursday, December 11 at 4 p.m. and remain accessible through Monday, December 15 at 10 p.m. EST.

This year’s lineup will include four short plays adapted for virtual presentation, blending theatrical storytelling with filmed performance. Tickets start at $15 for TRU members and $20 for non-members and will be offered as fully tax-deductible donations.

The cast will feature Veanne Cox, Douglas Fries, Wesley Han, Kiana Kabeary, Sky Lakota-Lynch, Dick Monday, Jon Okabayashi, Tonya Pinkins, Mike Roche, Elizabeth Teeter, Lori Vega, and Stephen Woosley, with special appearances by Joanna Gleason, Allison Janney, and Shakina Nayfack. The program is produced by Executive Producers Carley Santori and Janel C. Scarborough, with Tamra Pica serving as TRU’s Technical Director, Bob Ost as Executive Director, and IBen Cenholt as Founding Producer and consultant.

Clinton Festa’s Pyotr & Dmitri, featuring Douglas Fries and Stephen Woosley, follows a desperate Shostakovich as he confronts the ghost of Tchaikovsky during a moment of Soviet artistic suppression. The piece is directed by Kingsley Lims Nyarko and produced by Amy Drake, with Director of Photography Andrew Collins, editors Ernest Kay and Kingsley Lims Nyarko, assistant producer Patrick Thibodeaux, script supervisor Regan Jordan, sound by Amene Alshaer, set dressing by Gaynelle Sloman, and production design by Ross Osterholt.

James McLindon’s Safe Harbor, with Veanne Cox, Kiana Kabeary, and Tonya Pinkins, depicts a clash between a doctor and a hospital attorney as they navigate the life-and-death implications surrounding a young, endangered mother. Directed by Megan Hess and produced by Cady Huffman, the film includes Director of Photography Jeanette Bears, editor Carley Santori, co-producer Wendy Waring, sound by Ryan Alberti, sound design by Dennis Dembeck, production design by Scotty Salame, and costumes by Donald Sanders.

Scott C. Sickles’s Reckoner, featuring Wesley Han, Jon Okabayashi, Mike Roche, and Lori Vega, centers on a young trans girl and her family on a day when words give way to reckoning. The film is directed by Janet Bentley and produced by Carolyn M. Brown, with Director of Photography Andy Evan Cohen and editor Joshua Santora.

Brett Hursey’s Riding Lessons, with Sky Lakota-Lynch, Dick Monday, and Elizabeth Teeter, follows a “boy meets girl meets clown” narrative built around self-acceptance. Directed by Misti B. Wills and produced by Mike Katona, the creative team includes Director of Photography Christopher Smith, editor Matthew Brennan, assistant director Kayla Katona, production coordinator Rachel Bass, sound by Eliza Carlisle, assistant camera Luka Vonier, background performer Max Reihs, hair and makeup by Rachel Toledo, production assistants Jay Chacon and Max Reihs, visual effects by Jack Bellomo and John Laidlaw, music by Brian Katona, and graphic design by Kristen Thompson.

TRUSpeak serves as a major annual fundraiser for Theater Resources Unlimited, supported this year through SAG-AFTRA’s micro-budget agreement, which enables the use of union actors in low-budget filmed projects. TRU, now in its thirty-third year, remains a central network for emerging and established theater professionals, offering ongoing programs including its email community newsletter, weekly Community Gatherings, monthly Town Halls, a Producer Development & Mentorship Program, Producer Boot Camps, the TRU Voices Play Reading Series, Writer-Producer Speed Dates, Practical Playwriting workshops, How to Write a Musical That Works, and the Director-Writer Communications Lab.