TRU Community Gathering Via Zoom Hosts Why Theater Needs Cast Recordings, And The Introduction Of A Brand New Label

A dependable haven for artists in isolation, Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is now in its fourth year of non-stop weekly Community Gatherings this Friday, having offered to date nearly 200 conversations and unlimited camaraderie since April 17, 2020. TRU hosts their Community Gatherings every Friday at 5pm ET via Zoom, to explore the creation of art and theater in the time of COVID-19, and to ensure that these crucial conversations continue going forward as theater reopens.

Join TRU on Friday 2/9 for Why Theater Needs Cast Recordings, and the Introduction of a Brand New Label. Come meet Van Dean, producer (Jagged Little Pill, Anastasia, Matilda, The Lightning Thief, Tony winner for Porgy and Bess revival), co-founder and former head of Broadway Records (Grammy for The Color Purple revival, Grammy nominee for Caroline, or Change, Matilda and My Fair Lady; also released nearly 300 recordings including Camelot 2023 revival, Anastasia, Once on This Island), now founder and president of Center Stage Records (Gutenberg! The Musical, How to Dance in Ohio).

Van built Broadway Records into a respected brand. Has a change of his goals and/or the business itself influenced his decision to create the recently announced Center Stage Records label? How has the market for original cast albums changed over the years? How does a cast album fit into a commercial production budget? Digital albums vs. CDs: what is the market for each? Going forward, how will Van apply everything he learned with Broadway Records, and what lessons is he taking into the new brand? Click here to register and receive the zoom ink.

Check back at TRU's web page for future 2024 gatherings: 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 during these challenging times.

Videos of past Community Gatherings may be viewed on TRU's YouTube channel atyoutube.com/channel/UC43rsChi4fA23dNLeloaF_A/. And a new 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

Van Dean is a Tony and Grammy award winning Broadway producer. Previously, Dean ran Broadway Records, which is under the ownership of Cutting Edge Group. Dean co-founded Broadway Records in 2012, which released nearly 300 albums under his leadership. Dean helped to produce Broadway Records' Grammy-winning cast recording of the 2015 Broadway revival of The Color Purple, and also served as a producer for the Tony-winning 2012 revival of Porgy and Bess. Recently, Dean announced the launch of a new record label, Center Stage Records. The new label has over two dozen albums scheduled for 2024, including Broadway, Off-Broadway, and West End recordings, plus concept recordings and albums from solo artists.

Dean's theatrical production credits include The Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (Tony Award), Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (Tony Award nomination), Anastasia, Jagged Little Pill by Alanis Morissette and Diablo Cody (Tony Award nomination), How to Dance In Ohio, The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical, Matilda(Tony Award nomination), Evita (Tony Award nomination), Gore Vidal's The Best Man (Tony Award nomination), Catch Me If You Can (Tony Award nomination), The Velocity of Autumn, Big Fish, Bonnie & Clyde, Chinglish, the Off-Broadway production of You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown (2016) and ROOMS, a rock romance. He was also a producer of Master Class with Tyne Daly and the 2022 and 2023 productions of Bonnie & Clyde in London's West End. Upcoming: Death Note, Wild, Goodbye New York, SMASH, Figaro, Little Dancer, Song of Bernadette.

He co-produced Broadway For Orlando's "What The World Needs Now Is Love" to raise funds for the GLBT Community Center of Central Florida. The charity single was featured on NBC's "Maya and Marty" and at the Democratic National Convention in 2016. He co-conceived and co-Executive Produced the anti-bullying single "I Have A Voice" featuring 70 Broadway kids from Matilda, School of Rock and more and co-produced the new Broadway United music video of "We Are The World". He also co-conceived and produced From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Sandy Hook featuring 100 Broadway stars, a 40 piece orchestra and 300+ children from Newtown and From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert for Parkland, USA at the BB&T Center Arena in Sunrise, FL and co-produced the Emmy Award winning From Broadway With Love: A Benefit Concert For Orlando. He is also a co-producer of the feature film documentary "Midsummer in Newtown" which premiered as a Spotlight selection at Tribeca Film Festival. Dean has several major film and television musicals in pre-production.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a thirty-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; offers a Producer Development & Mentorship Program taught by prominent producers and general managers in the New York theater industry, and also presents Producer Boot Camp workshops to help aspirants develop business skills. TRU serves writers through the TRU Voices Play Reading Series, Writer-Producer Speed Date, 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 truonline.org.

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