Theater Resources Unlimited to Present TRU Voices Musicals Series this Month

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) presents TRU Voices Musicals Series on Monday, January 19 and Monday, January 26, 2015 at 7pm at the Engelmann Recital Hall in the Baruch Performing Arts Center, 55 Lexington Ave, NYC. Admission is free. Please RSVP at least a day in advance (or much sooner) by calling 212/714-7628, or e-mailing TRUStaff1@gmail.com.

The purpose of the series is to help develop new musicals, help producers develop the skills needed to produce new works, and foster the producer-writer relationship for future development beyond our series. Each reading will be followed by a wine and cheese reception and "Dollars and Sense" panel discussion with prominent New York producers, general managers and artistic directors focusing on potential venues, marketing and budgeting of the works presented. Attendees will be given an insider's look at the producing process and the development track for a new musical.

This year's TRU Voices Musicals Series will feature Pumped by JD Jacobson, Nicole Jacobson, Kyle Ewalt and Michael Ian Walker andBlood and Fire by Jeffrey Couchman and Lisa Heffler.

Monday, January 19, 7pm: Pumped, presented by Marla Woodhill (Disenchanted!), with book by JD Jacobson and Nicole Jacobson and music and lyrics by Kyle Ewalt and Michael Ian Walker (creators of Bromance: The Dudesical and The Dramatists Guild's Behind The Music-al)

Directed by Katharine Pettit with music direction by Ian Weinberger, the reading will feature the talents of Darren Bluestone (Avenue Q), Autumn Hurlbert (It's Only Kickball, Stupid; Legally Blonde), Rob Maitner (Assymetric), Sue Mathys (Deathtrap, Irresistible: Edith Piaf),and A.J. Shively (Bright Star; La Cage aux Folles) with Lindsay Aster, Brennan Caldwell, Hannah Rose DeFlumeri, Tessa Faye, Damon Gravina, MJ Rodriguez, and Andromeda Turre (Sleep No More).

Pumpedis the story of Gloria (Hurlbert), a fashion-challenged MBA graduate, whose search for her birth mother lands her in the most unexpected of places - the shoe salon of a renowned NYC retailer. When Gloria's attempts to impress her domineering mother fall flat, she allies with a trio of magic talking shoes and uncovers a new side of herself.

Monday, January 26, 7pm: Blood and Fire by Jeffrey Couchman and Lisa Heffler

Produced by multi award-winning Perry Street Theatricals, who optioned and produced My Life is A Musical at the Bay Street Theatre after discovering it in the TRU Voices Musical Series in 2013.

Directed by David Elliott with Music Direction by Vadim Feichtner (Putnam CountySpelling Bee)

Love battles violence and greed in the Victorian saga Blood and Fire. An irreligious physician from London's wealthy West End falls in love with a woman of faith from the impoverished East End. Meanwhile, a mob of ruffians bands together to destroy a new organization called the Salvation Army. The Army's larger-than-life founder, General William Booth himself, marches across the stage alongside an array of Dickensian characters. Rich, poor, reformers and thugs all collide in a musical tale at once intimate and epic. Blood and fire guaranteed.

The Engelman Recital Hall at Baruch Performing Arts Center, is a 175-seat acoustically-sound concert hall located at 55 Lexington Avenue. The audience uses the entrance on E. 25th St. between Lexington & 3rd Aves. With near-perfect acoustics, it is a true gem. The NY Times chief classical music critic Anthony Tommasini called the Engelman Recital Hall "a perfect hall for chamber music (4/29/06)."

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is a twenty-two 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 theater. 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; TRU 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, a Director-Writer Communications Lab and How to Write a Musical That Works; programs for actors include an Annual Combined Audition and quarterly Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as free monthly actor workshops, in partnership with Weist-Barron Studios.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA); the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, 9th district Council Member Inez Dickens and Council Member Christine Quinn; and The Montage Foundation.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visitwww.truonline.orgor call (212) 714-7628.