Theater Resources Unlimited To Host TRU Town Hall: Gender Parity. Are We There Yet?

Theater Resources Unlimited presents a TRU Town Hall, Gender Parity. Are We There Yet?, on Tuesday, December 20, 2022 at 6:30pm ET, at Polaris North Theatre, 245 W. 29th Street, 4th Floor, 10001, NYC.

Marking TRU's return to live monthly panels and discussions, this event will have a simultaneous streaming for our friends outside of New York City. (Everyone should receive the Zoom link upon registration. If you don't receive it, email TRUnltd@aol.com to request link.) Networking begins at 6:30pm and The Open Forum begins at 7pm - come prepared with your best 20-second summary of who you are, and what you need. The event is free for TRU members; $15 for non-members, with a $5 "Starving Artist" option for those in post-shutdown financial need. For more information and to register, visit truonline.org/events/gender-parity.

Gender Parity: Are We There Yet? will be co-hosted by Malini Singh McDonald, of Theatre Beyond Broadway and Black Henna Productions, director and producer; Porsche McGovern, lighting designer and researcher; Lorca Peress, Founder and Artistic Director of MultiStages, advocate for women in theater and an equity and diversity activist; Martha Wade Steketee, critic and dramaturg and author of the Women Count Report Series in a project founded by Judith Binus; others to be confirmed. The panel will be moderated by Cheryl L. Davis and Bob Ost of TRU.

TRU conversations continue about issues of current cultural significance. We turn our attention to the ongoing uphill battle for gender equality, a fight that has been part of our political fabric for generations and continues to influence and impact the arts and specifically, for us, theater. Malini will share her experiences as both a woman and a woman of color, and the hurdles she must continually overcome. Martha will focus on the ongoing importance of tracking employment by gender and other statistical explorations of practices in our business. Lorca will share her advocacy work for women in theater, as well for diversity. Porsche contributes insights about challenges for tech theater artists. And we will talk about expanding our definitions of gender and adding "nonbinary" to our conversations.

TRU offers this as an opportunity for everyone to learn from and find ways to support each other while exploring initiatives that might bring us closer to genuine gender parity. All attendees are welcome to participate in this conversation.

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.