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Theater Resources Unlimited will establish a new TRU scholarship fund at its annual TRU Love Benefit this November 4th at Caroline’s on Broadway. Honorees at the benefit this year will be Baayork Lee and the National Asian Artists Project (NAAP) receiving the TRU Spirit of Theater Award, and John Chatterton and the Midtown International Theatre Festival (MITF) receiving the TRU Entrepreneur Award. The scholarship fund will be open to any candidates demonstrating financial need, and will include annual worthy candidates submitted by both NAAP and MITF.
Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a nonprofit organization created to help producers produce, emerging theater companies to emerge healthily and all theater professionals to understand and best navigate the business of theater. Membership includes self-producing artists as well as career producers.
Says TRU board chairman Tom Polum, “With this new scholarship fund, we will be able provide financial aid for those producers and artists starting out, making it possible for them to hone their skills through a range of educational workshops.” TRU programs offering scholarship opportunities include Producer Boot Camps (Raising Money, Showcase Producing, Self-Producing and more); TRU Beginnings, a series of programs that support the development of new and early works for the stage; and the Producer Development and Mentorship Program (commonly known as PDMP), a 10-month training for producers and self-producers; and in some cases, membership in the TRU organization.
The scholarship program created at the TRU LOVE benefit will give everyone the opportunity to help support this important organization and expand opportunities for emerging producers, playwrights and self-performing artists alike. Tickets start at $115 for luncheon and performance, with limited $50 show-only tickets. As part of the fundraising effort, there will be a live auction for Yankees Legend Suite tickets, premium seats to Hamilton and a luxurious Uniworld European River Cruise. There will also be a live cash appeal specifically for the scholarship fund.
The performance lineup for the event will include members of the recent U.S. National Tour, Japan International Tour, upcoming China International Tour and upcoming 50th Anniversary New York City Center productions of A Chorus Line (Mel Cabey, Samantha Cho Grossman, Aaron Patrick Craven, Giovanni Da Silva, Steven Del Col, Veronica Fiaoni, Lauren Garriott, David Grindrod, Ryan Koerber, Laura Pierpont, Zoe Schneider-Smith, Madison Tinder, Jake Vielbig and Baayork’s assistant Andrew Winans), plus Sam Simahk (Carousel revival, Curly in Oklahoma! at TUTS, 1st National Company of The King and I), will be joining Tony Award nominated Brenda Braxton Smokey Joe’s Cafe, Chicago); original A Chorus Line co-star and Tony Award winner Priscilla Lopez; NAAP co-founders Nina Zoie Lam and Steven Eng, as well as selections from MITF musicals Thrill Me! by Stephen Dolginoff (presented by producer Jim Kierstead, sung by Sam Given and Xander Chauncey), Sistas the long-run off-Broadway hit by Dorothy Marcic (sung by Tyla Collier, Aneesa Folds, Haley Swindal, Nesha Ward, Helen White), Take Me America by Bill Nabel, and more! Performance and award show will be directed by Jonathan Cerullo, Broadway/NYC choreography consultant for Say, Goodnight Gracie; assistant director and/or choreographer for Band in Berlin, Anna Karenina, The Three Musketeers, original cast of Legs Diamond; and choreographer for Big Apple Circus’ Carnivale! & Picturesque @ Lincoln Center. He will be assisted by Andrew Winans and Sam Given, with music director Lulu Picart and stage manager Jim Semmelman.
It all takes place on Sunday, November 4, 2018 from 12pm-4pm at Caroline’s on Broadway, 1626 Broadway, NYC. Tickets are available at Eventbrite(https://www.eventbrite.com/e/tru-love-benefit-2018-the-power-of-community-tickets-50935196544); details about the gala are at https://truonline.org/events/tru-love-2018/. Tickets start at $50 for the performance only, $115 for performance plus three-course luncheon.Friends and colleagues of the honorees may also buy congratulatory ads in the TRU Love Benefit Journal. 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.
For more information about TRU membership and programs, visit www.truonline.org or call 212 714-7628. #
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