Thursday, August 26th - introductions at 5:30 pm, open forum starts at 6:00
Still virtual, still on zoom while we get ready for a post-pandemic world.

As part of a multi-tiered initiative to help restore the theater community in New York and beyond, TRU is inviting small-to-medium sized producing companies to join us in an honest conversation about the struggle to reopen. Many theater companies are bringing the lessons they learned during the pandemic with them into the future, reevaluating "best practices" to determine what still works and what needs to change.

Some of the questions we will consider: How can we plan productions with the COVID situation see-sawing? How do we win the trust of our audiences so they will come back and support us and attend our shows? How many performance spaces survived the shutdown, and are new spaces being created? Are the pre-pandemic contracts and agreements going to be in effect going forward? Will safety precautions be required, and will they increase costs?

Companies are encouraged to talk about their experiences with shutdown and their plans for reopening, with a particular focus on finding solutions to any obstacles holding them back. This initiative will be an opportunity for companies to learn from and find ways to help each other while TRU begins to explore programs that might better serve the producing companies. Though we will focus on not-for-profit and fiscally sponsored companies, all companies struggling to return to live performance are welcome to participate in this crucial conversation.

Doors open at 5:30pm for networking and roundtable introductions of everyone in the room – come prepared with your best 20-second summary of who you are, and what you need. The Open Forum will start at 6:00pm. Free for TRU members and not-for-profit theater companies; $15 for non-members. Please use the bright red reservation box here on our web page, or email or phone at least a day in advance (or much sooner): e-mail TRUStaff1@gmail.com / phone 833-506-5550