Theater Resources Unlimited Founder Bob Ost Honored At 'It's Just A Number'

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) founder Bob Ost will be honored at the upcoming It's Just A Number! cabaret on Thursday, May 31, 2018 at 7pm at Don't Tell Mama, 343 West 46th St., NYC. Tickets are $20 with a cash only two-drink minimum ($5 discount for Srs./MAC/TRU/AEA/SAG/AFTRA). Reservations may be made by calling 212-757-0788 after 4pm.

Bob Ost founded Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) 25 years ago and has been its leader ever since. He is being honored for the work he does supporting and educating theater professionals, with a focus on producers, offering networking opportunities and guidance in navigating the tricky business of theater. He is also an award-winning playwright and songwriter, and the evening will include performances of some of his songs including one from his off-Broadway reviewEverybody's Gettin' into the Act.

Performing Bob's songs are cabaret favorites Sue Matsuki and Marni Klar, both MAC Award winners, plus Broadway actress and producer Jana Robbins (Gypsy, Tale of the Allergist's Wife currently in This One's for the Girls at St. Luke's Theater; producer of Little Women, Roof of the World, Ragtime revival, I Love You Because), who also happens to run one of the major producer programs at Theater Resources Unlimited. Also performing in Bob's honor are Randy Jones (The Village People Cowboy!), Sandi Durell (publisher/editor of TheaterPizzazz.com), David F. Slone, Esq. plus a "Surprise Guest" from England! Musical Director will be Matthew Martin Ward. Bobbie Horowitz's birthday will also be celebrated, so every attendee will be gifted a piece of birthday cake.

Long before TRU, Bob's one-act Beast was presented in the first season of Playwright's Horizons. He produced an all-star Broadway cast CD of Everybody's Gettin' into the Act, featuring Rebecca Luker, Karen Mason, Bob Cuccioli, Mary Testa and many others. The CD was nominated for a MAC Award, as was his cabaret review Not Quite What You Expected and his holiday song A Quiet Little Christmas (in a Padded Cell). His musical Finale!was Grand Prize winner in the American Musical Theater Festival Competition and presented at NAMT, a grand prize winner in the New American Musical Writers Competition, and a finalist at the O'Neill Music Conference. He won an OOBR (off-off-Broadway Review) Award for the Vickie Phillips cabaret review Songs Are Like Friends which he wrote and directed and most recently his chamber musical Angel in My Heart won three awards at the Fresh Fruit Festival, including Outstanding Musical. His play Breeders was a finalist in two national competitions, won the 2010 New Works of Merit National Competition and also was a presentation of the TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series; The Necessary Disposal was a finalist in four competitions including the 2010 Maxim Mazumbar New Play Competition at the Alleyway Theatre in Buffalo.

Not surprisingly for the man who runs a producer's organization, Bob has also produced productions of his own works as well as Civil War Voices by James Harris at The Midtown International Theater Festival, winner of 8 festival awards including Best Musical and went on to a record-breaking production at the Barter Theater in Abingdon Virginia; Rip! by Dan Furman, also at the Midtown Festival; and recently Romance of the Western Chamber, a musical adaptation of a classic Chinese classic by Howard Rubinstein presented at Tada Theatre.

Come celebrate Bob and Bobbie and enjoy a delicious birthday cupcake gifted and baked by multi-MAC Award Winner" (and super baker) Sue Matsuki! May 31st, 2018 @ 7 pm at Don't Tell Mama.

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 the Montage Foundation.

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