Theater Resources Unlimited to Present ROLLING WITH THE PUNCHES as Part of TRU Voices New Plays Reading Series

Theater Resources Unlimited is partnering with CreateTheater.com to present the fourth virtual edition of theTRU Voices New Plays Reading Series, with the generous support of RK Greene and The StoryLine Project.The series marks a new partnership with Streaming Musicals and the new Milliron Media Group Studios,enabling TRU to have more sophisticated capabilities in the virtual presentation of new works for theater, including up to eight cameras and high-quality sound.

Sunday 2/18 at 4pm ET will mark the debut of Rolling with the Punches by Joel S. Bailey, directed by Ben Rauch. Rolling with the Punches stars Carey Cox of TV's Handmaid's Tale. The play is being produced by TRU Master Class grad Nicolette Blount of Take My Shot Productions, in association with Kenady Sean. Tickets are available now at https://truonline.org/events/rolling.

Streaming Musicals explains further, "We're proud to partner with TRU in this unprecedented special event. This is something we've never quite done before: a live broadcast, like in the early days of television! It's part of a groundbreaking series we call The Reading Series, a hybrid event of new play development and streaming that is excited to have TRU Voices on board.

Performance Details: 

Sunday, February 18, 2024 at 4pm ET

Nicolette Blount/Take My Shot Productions

in association with Kenady Sean presents

Rolling with the Punches by Joel S. Bailey

directed by Ben Rauch

Rolling with the Punches follows Jo, a wheelchair-bound 20-something, lives largely confined to a second story walk-up, but when her mother's boyfriend moves in, Jo's life is turned upside-down. Her poor judgment causes a serious accident, and Jo is wrongly placed in the infamous asylum, Dunning State Hospital. Her treatment motivates her to fight for the repeal of Chicago's archaic 'Ugly Law', (deformed and unsightly people must stay out of sight from the public). The law's repeal in 1974 remains a milestone in the Civil Rights movement for the disabled.

The play stars Carey Cox of TV's Handmaid's Tale, The Glass Menagerie on Broadway and God of Carnage off-Broadway. Also in the cast: Becca Ayers (1776, My Fair Lady, The Addams Family, Avenue Q, Les Miserables, South Pacific), Marc Winski (Grease National Tour, TV's Boardwalk Empire. The Penguin, Breaking and Entering, What Would You Do?), Adam LeBow (Defense Contract, Close Call), Allan Lewis Rickman (Relatively Speaking, Talking Cure, Honeymoon Hotel, George Is Dead; off-Broadway in Mack and Mabel, Yentl, Theda Bara and the Frontier Rabbi; films - A Serious Man, Son of Saul, You Don'r Know Jack), Tessie Herrasti (regional theaters worldwide, TV's The Jewels of Light, The Ice Wolf Queen, film - Soledad, Sombras Nada Mas, Mother's Home). Plus Jordan Richards, Carrie Jean Henley, Marisa Jean Giachetti, Shiomara Gonzalez, with stage directions read by Tatiana Montes.

The reading will be followed by TRU's unique "Dollars and Sense" industry talkback featuring prominent commercial producers, artistic directors and general managers. Panelists will include Jana Robbins, producer of Fiddler on the Roof in Yiddish (Drama Desk Award), Company revival Broadway and West End (Tony & Olivier Awards), Ragtime revival, and Little Women, plus UK developmental productions of the Jazz Age and The Astonishing Times of Timothy as well as upcoming, Rose in London's West End (Pinnacle Productions with producing partner Haley Swindal); Bear Kosik of bearly designed llc (First Light, The Cappadocian, Déjà vu on the Obituary Page, Between Panic and Desire, Madame Égalité, Alpha Betty, Hiding Bodies, and Ghost Gig at The Secret Theatre, The Players Theatre, Manhattan Repertory Theatre, and other NYC venues); Tamra Pica, TV, film and theater producer and casting director for Write Act Repertory; others tba.

Rolling with the Punches will also be available On Demand for a limited time after February 18, for 4 days only, dates to be announced.

Nicolette Blount

is a Chickasaw producer/writer/composer/lyricist/performer and owner of Take My Shot Productions LLC whose producing credits include Reprieve (2023 TRU SPEAKS) with co-producing credits including A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet (Off-Broadway, DR2), In Pieces (In development), Savage (co-writer, composer, lyricist, In development,), and is currently in TRU's Producer Mentorship Master Program. Nicolette is an investor for the Museum of Broadway and Millennials are Killing Musicals (Off Broadway) and is currently a Fellow in the Dramatist Guild Foundation's National Musical Theatre Fellowship.

Kenady Sean

is a producer/musical writer/performer whose producing credits include Beyond Perfection, The Scarlet Letter Musical and We Can Do It! and the inaugural MuscalWriters.com Festival. She is the regional monitor for Maestra Music's Texas chapter. She performed in Circle of Friends as Samantha (Off Broadway). She is a member of the TRU's Producer Mentorship Program.

Ben Rauch

is a director/actor/musician/music director/singer-songwriter who directed numerous shows at Theatre Breaking Through Barriers including: Kum Ba Yah, I Am Obligated To Disclose, Remember, and Safety On. He directed the short play Ditmas by Glenn Alterman for last year's TRUSpeak: Here Our Voices! evening of plays about current social issues. His acting credits include TV - Big Bang Theory, Mr. Robot, Girls, Gossip Girl, Strangers With Candy, ED. Film: Can You Ever Forgive Me?; Jersey Boys (Dir. Clint Eastwood).

Joel S. Bailey

is a writer/producer/director/actor whose writing credits include the musical Photo Finish (Studio C Artists), New York Society for the Suppression of Vice (New Musicals Inc.), Big Noise (New Musicals Inc.), América Tropical (Latiné Musical Theatre Lab) which was a semifinalist for NMTC ONeil and NAMT. His acting credits include Beverly Hills Cop, Days of Our Lives, Turner & Hooch, Flamingo Road, and Santa Barbara.

Readings will be presented Sundays, February 18 and 25, 2024 at 4pm. The series executive producer is TRU executive director Bob Ost with co-producer IBen Cenholt of RuneFilms and tech consultant Tom Polum of Streaming Musicals. The series is administered by TRU literary manager Cate Cammarata and literary assistant Ross Milstead. For an overview of the series, visit https://truonline.org/tru-voices-details-and-history/ Tickets start at $12 for play only, $15 for play plus talkback and are available at the individual event pages, links provided below.

Up next:

Sunday, February 25, 2024 at 4pm ET

Wayward Creatives and Nima Makela present

Un Hombre: A Golem Story by Stephen Kaplan,

directed by Farah Alvin

starring Broadway's Natascia Diaz, Tim Jones, Ben Sadowsky

A modern-day golem story about Rebecca Wolfson, a recently widowed single mother who is struggling to resume her creative life as a sculptor after the untimely death of her husband. She makes a clay man that comes to life to serve as a Bar Mitzvah and Spanish tutor for her 12-year-old son, Josh, who is grappling with his own grief and loss. As mother and son embrace the magic of this seemingly perfect solution to their problems, the clay man begins questioning his own existence and purpose, forcing all three to confront the truths they've all been avoiding. CLICK HERE for tickets.

Followed by our renowned "Dollars and Sense" industry talkback featuring: Jane Dubin (Is This a Room, Dana H., The Prom, Tony winning The Norman Conquests, Farinelli and the King, Bandstand, Peter and the Starcatcher and An American in Paris; plus off-Broadway Absolute Brightness of Leonard Pelkey, The 39 Steps, Ann), Janel C. Scarborough, producer/creative investor (Single Black Female, Thoughts of a Colored Man, Tony nominated revival for colored girls...), co-founder TRU Diversity; Ric Wanetik, producer (Tony nominated Twilight Los Angeles: 1992, Broadway's Marlene, Off-Broadway's Jolson and Company) and senior advisor for America to the Royal Shakespeare Company; others tba.

TRU's renowned "Dollars and Sense" industry talkback will follow each reading. Since the series was created to not only develop new plays but also new producers for theater, as well as foster the relationship between writers and producers with the hope that our readings will launch future steps of development, the talkbacks will focus on the development of the work read.

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