Listen: TRU TALKS ABOUT THEATER Podcast Series Launches - First Four Episodes Streaming Now

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) has launched a new podcast series TRU Talks About Theater based on its celebrated Community Gatherings, a weekly conversation series that has explored the creation of art and theater in the time of COVID-19 via Zoom non-stop for over two years. The first three episodes of the show are available for streaming now on all major podcast platforms. Available at https://electracast.com/podcast/tru-talks-about-theater/ and wherever you get your podcasts.

Listen below

Episode 1: Fifty Years of Leadership: A Conversation with Producer/Theater Owner Eric Krebs

In the room: entrepreneur, producer, writer and groundbreaking theater manager and owner Eric Krebs talks of a dedicated life in New York theater. Co-founder of the George Street Playhouse, and manager for years of the John Houseman and Douglas Fairbanks Theatres, Eric has been a part of the evolution of off-Broadway, through the creation of Theatre Row to running several of his own theater spaces including the current Theatre 555 on West 42nd Street. He shares his experiences with candor and offers insights into the challenges of maintaining off-Broadway as a viable environment for developing theater artists and art.

Episode 2: Keeping Virtual in Our Vocabulary: Integrating What We've Learned As We Return to Live Performance

In the Room: Kathryn Jones, leader and Innovator in live-streaming, virtual fundraising and social-first content, founder of Collective Agency. Two years in shutdown has pushed us to expand our creative skill set. Kathryn and Bob look at the virtual tools that can still serve us going forward, and how they can contribute to our future success in theater, from livestreaming as a supplementary revenue stream to online fundraising to new ways to approach marketing and increase awareness of our products.

Episode 3: What I Did Last Summer: How Producer Jim Kierstead Kept Productive in a Pandemic

In the room: Jim Kierstead (Tony winner for Hadestown, Kinky Boots and Pippin; plus Ain't Too Proud, The Inheritance, Waitress) talks about moving his energies into the virtual world with Broadway Virtual, a new company specializing in streamed and video content, as well as educational opportunities to help artists master the new technologies. He'll also share his journey balancing the two sides of his ambitions: playwrighting and producing. Plus his plans for coming back to live performance. With a side trip into the current controversies within our slow-to-change business.

Episode 4: Is the Great White Way Becoming a Little Less White?

In the room: Adam Hyndman, board member and Tara Moses, advisory board member of Broadway for Racial Justice, fighting for greater equity and inclusion by providing immediate resources, assistance, and amplification for BIPOC in the Broadway and theatrical community at-large. Though its nickname referred to the bright lights on its marquees, intentional or not, white privilege and perspective have shaped Broadway and our business from its very beginnings. On June 8, 2020, the pandemic already raging, the BIPOC proclamation "We See You, White American Theater" challenged theater to acknowledge the problem and address it. The current commercial season boasted 7 plays by BIPOC writers, and regional theaters have announced their most diverse seasons to date. Is it enough? And is our current COVID world stifling progress? Bob and his guests wade into the deep waters of controversy and face both the challenge and the necessity of facing the roadblocks in the way of having true equity and inclusion in our business and our world.

TRU Talks About Theater is distributed by ElectraCast.

A dependable haven for artists in isolation, the Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) Community Gatherings are now into the second year of non-stop weekly panels. Having offered to date over 100 conversations and unlimited camaraderie since April 17, 2020, TRU hosts 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. To be part of the room for future conversations, email TRUnltd@aol.com and put "Zoom me" in your subject header. It's your chance to ask questions, bring answers, be part of a community, and network with theater professionals and talk about how we kept theater alive during shutdown, and what we are doing now, going forward.

ElectraCast is a new 360° content company focused on inspiring and connecting people, creating a better world through compelling entertainment and storytelling. ElectraCast develops content along multiple verticals and mediums, spinning off hit podcasts into film and television adaptations, promoting new and emerging recording artists through ElectraCast Music, and creating engaging narratives that unite entertainment partnerships with social impact goals. Our mission is to become the go-to partner for creatives in any medium to tell compelling stories in a daring new way.

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-nine-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 New York theater, 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, 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 Montage Foundation, The Storyline Project and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation. For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit truonline.org.