Theater Resources Unlimited Upcoming TRU Community Gathering Via Zoom Harnessing The Beast: Using A.I. To Your Advantage

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

Ask questions, bring answers, be part of a community - it's an opportunity to network with theater professionals and talk about how we kept theater alive during shutdown, and what we are doing now, going forward.

To receive the Zoom invitation for future 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.

9/8 - Harnessing the Beast: Using A.I. to Your Advantage. In the room: Stephanie Grayson, content marketing leader/advisor/strategist. A.I. is currently at the center of union conflicts and other impassioned conversations these days. It's easy to want to damn it and dismiss it, but it is unlikely that it will be going away. Stephanie will talk about how other industries use A.I. for business, and how it has helped generate marketing strategies across industries. We'll consider how A.I. Marketing/Pitching/Promotion efforts apply to theater pitching, support effective marketing on a budget, glean insights inbound and/or outbound to help generate more effective marketing or fundraising, create copy drafts to get the word out about your show, and help you do smart networking as well as smart ticketing. Don't fear it. Use it. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

UPCOMING:

9/15 - Broadway Producer. Playwright. Novelist. More. The Many Lives of Jennifer Manocherian. In the room: Jennifer Manocherian, Tony winning producer (awards for War Horse, La Cage Aux Folles revival, August: Osage County, Spring Awakening, The Norman Conquests revival, Thoroughly Modern Millie; and she's also been on 24 other Broadway shows), film writer/producer (Family Blues, formerly Hudson River Blues; in production Boundary Waters), screenwriting teacher, playwright-librettist (Marry Harry, Cockroaches & Cologne). Meet a media-hopping multi-tasker who perhaps has found a happy medium with her newly released novel, Alpha Bette, which features a seance and ... a medium. How has being a producer influenced her writing career? How (and why) does she move from one form to another? How do different mediums satisfy her artistically? Are there common themes that appear throughout her work, and did those influence her choices in shows that she helped produce? And btw, which came first: writing or producing? Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

9/22 - Follow the Leader: How TheaterWorksUSA Serves Youth and Family Theater. In the room: Barbara Pasternack, artistic director since 2000. We'll look at the founding of TWU by Jay Harnick and Charles Hull, and what it was like for Barbara to follow in their footsteps. How did she leave her own mark? What lessons were learned over the years, and how has the company adapted and changed? What was the impact of shutdown, and has live performance returned to "normal" for young audiences? We'll also touch on the function and importance of TYA, the difference between young audiences and family audiences, and the full range of programming offered to cultivate new audiences as well as new artists. Plus a look at Barbara's process for developing new work. Click here to register and receive the zoom link.

Future guests will include Sherry Eaker, formerly with Backstage and now producer of the Bistro Awards; the In Fine Company producing team of Sue Gilad and Larry Rogowsky; award winning director and writer Richard Maltby; and motivational coach Chelsey Shannon.

Check back at TRU's web page for the 2023 schedule: truonline.org/tru-community-gathering.

Videos of past Community Gatherings may be viewed on TRU's YouTube channel at youtube.com/channel/UC43rsChi4fA23dNLeloaF_A/. And a new 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-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, 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.