Theater Resources Unlimited Announces June Panel

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) facilitates a conversation about the purpose of awards in theatre on Thursday, June 28, 2018: Winning Ways: The True Meaning of Theater Awards at 7:30pm (doors open for networking at 7pm) at The Playroom Theatre, 151 W. 46th Street, 8th fl., NYC. For more details, visit https://truonline.org/events/winning-ways/. Free for TRU members; $12.50 for non-members in advance ($15 at door), free for TRU. Please use the bright red reservation box at https://truonline.org/events/winning-ways/, or call at least a day in advance (or much sooner) for reservations: 212-714-7628; or e-mail TRUStaff1@gmail.com.

Speakers to include: Peter Breger, president of the off Broadway Alliance, presenters of the Off Broadway Alliance Awards; Shay Gines, founding co-director of the New York Innovative Theatre (NYIT) Awards; Simon Saltzman, president of the Outer Critics Circle; Charles Wright, current president of the Drama Desk, presenters of the Drama Desk Awards.

The unique identity and purpose of different theater awards, the complex and probably exhausting process of managing and administering an annual awards ceremony and how it functions in stimulating the development of our theater culture. Come learn the history of some of our current theater awards and why each was created, the philosophies behind each, and their differences in terms of esthetics (if there are differences). What do they look for? What do they value? You will learn about eligibility, of course, and how the awards are run and produced. Should art even be competitive? Are awards healthy acknowledgments that offer artists something to aspire to? Isn't this inevitably subjective, or are there ever objective criteria to consider when choosing nominees and winners?

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-five 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 the arts. 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; 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, How to Write a Musical That Works and a Director-Writer Communications Lab; programs for actors include the Annual Combined Audition, Resource Nights and "Speed Dating" as well as actor workshops.

Programs of Theater Resources Unlimited are supported in part by public funds awarded through the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA) with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, as well as the Montage Foundation and the Leibowitz Greenway Foundation.

For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call 212-714-7628.