TRU To Host Community Gathering Via Zoom - Way Way Off-Broadway: The Thriving Philadelphia Theater Scene

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 over 200 conversations and unlimited camaraderie since April 17, 2020. TRU hosts these Community Gatherings every Friday at 5pm ET via Zoom, originally presented to explore the creation of art and theater in the time of COVID-19, and now to ensure that these crucial conversations continue going forward as theater reopens.

9/6 - Way Way Off-Broadway: The Thriving Philadelphia Theater Scene. In the room: Charles Gilbert, composer, writer, educator and executive director of MusiCoLab; and Barbara Bellman, playwright-librettist and the president and co-founder of MusiCoLab, which has been supporting the development of musicals in Philadelphia since 2018. We'll focus on the work and programs of MusiCoLab as well as a broader view of the surprising number of professional theaters and opportunities for theater artists and indigenous homegrown works, plus LORT theater and national tours, university programs and the formidable Philly Fringe, founded in 1997, and now featuring more than 1,000 performances by national, international and Philadelphia-based artists of all disciplines. We'll catch a glimpse at the city's history as a prime out-of-town tryout stop-off on the way to Broadway and the more recent Prince (as in Hal) Music Theater which gave early-career opportunities to folks like Adam Guettel, Tina Landau, Ricky Ian Gordon, Julie Taymor and a host of others. We'll also consider how the scene has changed with the demise of the Prince, 11th Hour Theater Company and, most recently, The University of the Arts and its Polyphone Festival, and how MusiCoLab hopes to fill the void. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING:

9/13 - Surprise! How Theater Can Pop Up Anywhere in the World and Make an Impact. In the room: Leese Walker, producing artistic director of the Strike Anywhere Performance Ensemble, a permanent collective of jazz musicians, modern dancers, and actors formed in 1997. Elements of their art include improvisational, site specific and immersive theater experiences with consciously political intent, always featuring live music, physical theater and modern dance. They are also the pre-eminent company in the US that uses Soundpainting, a universal sign-language developed for live composition with improvisers. Click here to register and receive the zoom link: https://truonline.org/events/how-theater-can-pop-up-anywhere/.

9/20 - Been There, Done It All, Seen It All: The Many Facets of Irene Gandy. In the room: Irene Gandy,publicist (starting in 1968 with Douglas Turner Ward and Robert Hooks' Negro Ensemble Company; and now the only black female member of ATPAM with over 100 Broadway shows to her credit), producer (with Jeffrey Richards for over 3 decades: Tony winner The Gershwin;s Porgy and Bess, plus Lady Day at the Emerson Bar & Grill with Audra Macdonald, The Great Society, American Son, China Doll, Fiddler on the Roof and Tony winner You Can't Take It With You revival), fashionista (with a collection featured in Vogue, and the Lady Irene Fur line) and winner of the 2020 "Tony Honors Excellence in Theatre" Award. Also board member of the Drama League which has created the Irene Gandy Assistant Directorship Program. We'll talk about a life in theater and the specific challenges of being a black woman, and how that experience has evolved over a decades long career. Have her successes opened doors for others? What are her proudest moments? And how far have we come in theater in genuinely implementing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion? Click here to register and receive the zoom link: https://truonline.org/events/been-there-done-it-all/.

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 at youtube.com/channel/UC43rsChi4fA23dNLeloaF_A/. And a 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

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a thirty-one 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, TRUSpeak: Hear Our Voices evening of short plays about social issues, 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; 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.