Theater Resources Unlimited to Host Bare Bones Theater Discussion

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is in its sixth year of non-stop weekly Community Gatherings, having led over 300 consecutive conversations about aspects of theater and the arts. The series has offered the theater community information, inspiration, and camaraderie since April 17, 2020. TRU hosts these gatherings every Friday at 5pm ET via Zoom, originally presented to explore the creation of art and theater in the time of shutdown, and now to ensure that these crucial conversations continue going forward.

Visit this registration page to receive this Friday's Zoom link. These gatherings are a service for the theater community and are offered free for TRU members; non-members may also attend for free, but are asked to help keep the organization running by buying a $12 ticket, making a donation or joining as a member.

10/2 - Making Something from Nothing: How Bare Bones Theater Companies Survive and Thrive. In the room: Andrew Beck, producing artistic director of Outta Bounds Productions, which in the last 4 years has incubated over 25 new scripts of varying length in their Warehouse Works series; and Alicia Foxworth, founder of Brownstone Steps Entertainment, curator of Brownstone Steps Play Festival since 2018, dedicated to producing culturally affirming content by, about and/or including people of the African diaspora to reflect a myriad of cultures and generations. Given today's economic challenges, it's a wonder that anyone can get a show up on a stage. There is much discussion of the soaring costs in commercial theater, particularly on Broadway; but the discussion will also address the thousands of small scrappy theaters around the country and around the world. How does a company on a shoestring budget survive in today's no-string economy? Are they able to use union artists? What are their secrets and strategies to keep costs down? What are some of their favorite venues to work in? How did they make it through shutdown? How have they found and grown their audience? Visit this registration page to register and receive the link.

Upcoming

10/9 - Why Fly Solo? Creating and Marketing a One-Person Show. In the room, four solo artists who have appeared or will be appearing in the United Solo Festival: Toni Hart, playwright and comedian (Run Out of Town: How A Small Town Dealt with Right-Wing Extremism); Angela Polite, educator, actress and playwright (Mary Speaks, drawing parallels between the biblical Mary and generations of black mothers dealing with violence in America); Sam Simon, writer and performer (Dementia Man: An Existential Journey, his journey from diagnosis with Alzheimer's to advocate for change through theater); and Anton Spivack, actor and playwright (Functions, touching on the struggle to be accepted and have a career in the arts). Solo festivals pop up everywhere, and at independent theater festivals like the New York City Fringe or the Edinburgh Festival Fringe solo pieces explode in popularity, accounting for anywhere from 20% to 35% of the entire festival catalog. Visit this page to read more, register and receive the link.

More information about upcoming dates 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.

About Theater Resources Unlimited

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a thirty-three-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 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 (adapting short plays into films), 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 Leibowitz Greenway Foundation, Stewart F. Lane & Bonnie Comley, Merrie L. Davis, Dunbar Hofmann Productions 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.