TRU to Present 'What Does It Take To Be A Producer? And Why Do We Do It?'

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.

11/22 - What Does It Take to Be a Producer? And Why Do We Do It?

In the room: Michael Alden (Broadway: Come From Away, Disgraced-Pulitzer Prize, Grey Gardens, Tony winner Bridge & Tunnel; West End: Come From Away, David Seidler's original play The King's Speech, Bat Boy The Musical; off Broadway: Not That Jewish, Becoming Dr. Ruth, Admit One, The Last Session, Spalding Gray: Stories Left To Tell; film: From the Shadows, Studio One Forever, Estella Scrooge, Death Metal, My Beautiful Stutter, Just Cause, Stephen Daldry's The Hours, Kissing Jessica Stein). They'll talk to Michael about his career path and what made him decide to produce in the first place. What are the basic skills needed to be a good producer? What is satisfying about it, and what is frustrating? So many names above the title simply raise money for shows. How does that differ from being a lead producer and developing new works for stage and film? Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING:

11/29 - What I Am Thankful For: Focusing on the Positive (in Spite of It All). In the room: TRU board members including Margot Astrachan, producer (The Roommate, Water for Elephants, Diana, The Prom, A Gentleman's Guide..., Ghost the musical, Around the World in 80 Days, Nice Work If You Can Get It, On a Clear Day...); Patrick Blake, producer (The 39 Steps, Bedlam Theatre's Hamlet/St. Joan, My Life Is a Musical, Play Dead, The Exonerated), founding artistic director of Rhymes Over Beats Hip Hop Theater Collective; Scott Sickles, playwright and Emmy-winning TV writer; board chair Sandy Silverberg, tech consultant, producer (The Way Out); We'll talk about coping with the current political climate, and focus on what we can do to stay centered, creative and productive. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

12/6 - Politics and Art: City and State Initiatives to Support the Arts, and What We Can Do. In the room: NY State Assemblyman Robert Carroll and Paul Leibowitz, co-founder of IndieSpace, celebrating and centering independent theater-making in New York City, and founder of newly formed Plot, which provides real estate advisory and transactional services with the goal to secure creative community spaces in New York City. Politicians who support and actually talk about the arts are few and far between, and bills that directly affect the NYC theater industry are rare. Enter Robert Carroll, an attorney who was an active part of the indie and not-for-profit theater scene and found his way into politics to facilitate necessary changes. How hard was the transition? Paul Leibowitz and IndieSpace offers programs to empower and support small theater companies. The two (plus others) have come together to create the New York Arts Space Act which offers tax incentives to landlords who include affordable rehearsal and office space for the arts when converting buildings from commercial to residential. Paul will also share about the multiple programs that IndieSpace offers to keep the indie arts scene alive and thriving, and his plans for Plot. And we will certainly talk about what the rest of us can do to strengthen the arts. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

12/13 - Designs for a Living: Creating Sets and Building a Career. (Postponed from 11/8) In the room: Beowulf Boritt, set designer (Tony Awards for Act One and New York, New York; nominated for The Scottsboro Boys, Thérese Raquin, Flying Over Sunset, POTUS; Obie Award for Sustained Excellence). Being a sought after designer in New York theater doesn't just happen. Or does it? Meet a designer whose career came as a surprise, though hard work and lucky breaks certainly helped. We'll talk about the steps along the way, and what distinguishes his designs. Surely a production must inspire a designer, but does a designer ever inspire a production? Is there a Boritt style or esthetic? We'll also consider the dynamics of collaboration with a director and - more crucially - the other designers on a show. And we'll look at how Boritt is "passing it forward" with his 1/52 Project that provides grants to early-career designers. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.