Theater Resources Unlimited Submissions For TRU Writer-Director Communications Lab (Virtual) Deadline Extended

Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is accepting submissions for the Writer-Director Communications Lab, an amazing opportunity for directors and writers to meet and hone their ability to talk productively with each other. The deadline for writer submissions is extended to Friday, December 3, 2021.

Writers must submit and be accepted before registering. The workshop will be presented virtually over Zoom to enable artists beyond the New York area to join on Sunday, December 11, 2021 from 1pm-7pm ET. Seven directors are confirmed with availability for three more, and all writerwriter-director-virtual-lab-2021 submissions will be read by all directors. For more information and to submit, visit https://truonline.org/events//

This workshop addresses one of the most important - and most sensitive - relationships in theater, the bond between playwright and director. In some ways, the entire success of a show can hinge on the shared understanding, trust and mutual respect between these two artists. TRU's program teams up to ten directors with up to ten writers prior to the Lab, and guides them in the crucial skills of communication.

The event will be led by commercial producer and communications expert Ric Wanetik (Tony nominated Twilight Los Angeles: 1992, Broadway's Marlene, Off-Broadway's Jolson and Company) and TRU executive director Bob Ost, with additional feedback from entertainment attorney/mediator Eric Goldman.

OBSERVERS ARE ALSO WELCOME TO COME WATCH AND LEARN, LIMITED SPACE AVAILABLE. Playwrights will email a synopsis, pitch and production history, plus 5-10 sample pages of a script; directors will select a project that interests them from those submitted, request and read the script and prepare for a preliminary director-writer discussion about the play. Facilitators will watch and guide that discussion in the Lab. You will:

• Discover your personal communication style

• Learn to identify the style of the person you are with, and adjust to it for maximum mutual

understanding

• Explore non-threatening ways of discussing text, communicating and listening

• Identify your domain of authority, and determine protocols

Confirmed directors: Andrea Andresakis, Dennis Corsi, Ryan Cupello, Brian Daye, Miriam Eusebio, Jesica Garou, Chris Michaels. 3 slots are available. Other directors (as well as writers) are encouraged to attend as Observers and join the conversations.

About the Directors

Andrea Andresakis - early career includes performing at Lincoln Center, Radio City, on Broadway, in South America, and Japan. A graduate of The High School of Performing Arts, she appeared in the film and television show, Fame. Later, she went on to direct and choreograph the stage version at the Barrington Stage Company. She has over a hundred director and choreographer credits in plays, musicals, operas and dance pieces in New York City, the US and internationally including residencies in Alaska, Europe, India, and China. Original work includes: Spandex (Off-Broadway); My Purple Wig and Quiet Cry (Theatre Row); The Little Prince (Merkin Concert Hall); Lola Luning's First Steps (Abingdon); The Egg Project (NYC International Fringe Festival); The Dragon Slayer and Lake of Sorrows (NY Theatre Festival); Nellie (Lamb's Theatre); Fahrenheit 451 (Wing's) and Hip Hop High (Fringe & Off-Broadway) which Andrea co-wrote along with "Z-Man" Thornton. She directed and choreographed the East Coast premiere of The Marvelous Wonderettes (Arundel Barn Theatre). Revivals include the Star Spangled Girl (Playwrights Horizons); Children of Eden (Sheboygan Theatre Co.); Little Shop of Horrors (Theatre at St. Clément's) and five Gilbert and Sullivan productions. As Associate Artist with NY Classical Theatre, she has collaborated on six productions, including Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, where the cast reversed roles on alternate performances. Her production ofThe Pearl Diver is currently being streamed as a fundraiser for Asian Americans Advancing Justice. Awards and honors include an SDCF grant to direct Shaw's Arms and The Man at EMU and a Kennedy Center Award for her direction of Spring Awakening at Whitman College. Proud member of SDC. www.Andresakis.com

Dennis Corsi is a queer director specializing in new work development and queer work. As a certified health & wellness coach, he fosters rehearsal rooms that prioritize well-being. His directing style is fast-paced and bold. Transitions are rehearsed as much as the rest of the play. His casting always prioritizes diversity and inclusion. Dennis is currently studying ASL. His dream is to one day stage a killer exorcism. Dennis is the Artistic Director of the Fresh Fruit Festival, which develops and presents theatre by queer artists. He is the Director of New Works at Live & In Color, a creative incubator developing new plays and musicals celebrating diversity. Dennis is the co-director of the Chesley Chambers reading series at TOSOS, NYC's oldest and longest-producing LGBTQ+ theater company. Dennis is an alumnus of the Lincoln Center Directors Lab, Directors Lab West, and the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation Observership program. Associate Member SDC. www.denniscorsi.com

Ryan Cupello is a NYC-based producer, director, and actor from Rochester, NY. He is a founder and the Artistic Director of the newly formed Brazen Light Theater Company which has a mission to challenge ingrained prejudices in American society by spotlighting artists and communities that have been ignored or exploited in American theater. He received his MFA from the program that boasts the longest title: American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre School Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University. Directing credits: The Tempest (Soho Shakespeare Company), BardCore (A.R.T./Oberon), Ionesco's The Leader (Self Produced), A Midsummer Night's Dream (Self Produced). Select acting credits: The Sickness (Off-Broadway), Dirty Dancing (National Tour), Fiddler on the Roof (National Tour), James and the Giant Peach (American Repertory Theater), and the film Once Every Day directed by Richard Foreman. He is a company member of the monthly, immersive Our Bar here in NYC.

Brian Daye is an actor, director, writer, producer and voice talent based in Cornelius, NC. His acting training includes Margie Haber Studios & The Savvy Actor in Los Angeles and ActTrue in Atlanta & New York. As a playwright, he has written the original plays One In The Spirit, which toured NC, VA & GA and The Race, which had a premiere play-reading for Lee Street Theatre in Salisbury, NC. His television experience includes Lifetime's original series, "Drop Dead Diva", and commercials for Food Lion, Bojangles, Capital One and the NC Lottery. His film experience includes "Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married Too", and the original films "Sanguine Addiction", "Ebbing", "A Social Love Affair", and "Sara Carter Part 3". Brian's directing experience includes Tribe and Home for OnQ Productions, One In The Spirit, Tuesdays With Morrie and August Wilson's Fences for Lee Street Theatre. His one-man show, Hey You!! an Afrostereophonicjourney was performed to sold-out audiences at the 2018 United Solo Theatre Festival in NYC and at The Warehouse Performing Arts Center in Cornelius, NC. He is represented by JTA Talent in Charlotte.

Miriam Eusebio is a director and sometimes actor in NY. She recently directed a filmed online reading of the musical Look For Me by Liz Schiller whom she met here at the communication lab! If you would like to see it please contact Miriam. Miriam's directing work includes the acclaimed Truth Values: One Girl's Romp Through MIT's Male Math Maze written and performed by Gioia De Cari, touring since 2009, and Happy Days by Samuel Beckett at WOW Café Theatre. Work in classic theater includes Pericles, Taming of the Shrew and Midsummer Night's Dream as well as Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles. With young people: The Twelve Huntsmen by Briandaniel Ogelsby, Escape From Happiness by George Walker, several works by Thornton Wilder, and Hansel and Gretel, the opera by Engelbert Humperdink. Staged readings she had directed include Illegal Helpers by Maxi Obexer with Voyage Theater, and The Mysteries of Monet Berzoff by Sharon Jane Smith at Wow Cafe Theater. Her directing work has been seen at Dixon Place, New Jersey Repertory Company, Wow Cafe Theater among others. Acting credits include Suzanna in Murder of Crows by Mac Wellman, Banana in Asshole Differential by Moira Cutler and Dromio of Syracuse in Shakespeare's Comedy of Errors, and she sang in the band for The Kandake Dance Theatre for Social Change's 1001 Nights: Love Stories from Death Row. Miriam also sings with The Glass Menagerie chorus which was part of the Mile Long Opera by David Lang in October 2018. She in a member of the Lincoln Center Director's Lab, Wow Cafe Theater and an associate member of SD.

Jesica Garou joined Theatre Resources Unlimited (TRU) during the pandemic to stretch her networking opportunities from her home state of Maine to New York and beyond. Jesica is the founder and former president of Royal River Community Players where she directed a plethora of shows for audiences of all ages by actors of all ages. Switching to online theatre during the pandemic, she directed Virtual Happy Hour, a musical which was featured at TRU's online Gala. She was also selected to direct a piece for TRU Voices Play Series over the summer. With theatre going back in-person, she is excited to be working with Threshold Stage Company on A Dolls House, Part 2 as a stage manager. She is thrilled to be working with this professional company in a role for which she has trained others, but not held herself, in many years. Jesica firmly believes that art cannot be tucked away in the larger metropolitan areas and that artists deserve to be paid for their contributions to our society. She is working hard to make theatre an economically viable career and experience, regardless of cultural background, economic status, and geographic location.

Christopher Michaels is a New York-based director, actor, and producer as well as the Founder and Artistic Director of IndieWorks Theatre Company. Select directing credits include IndieWorks' productions of Casper, The Not-So-Friendly Ghost, Empty Frames, The Giant Hoax, The Wedding Warrior (Asst. Director), The Commuters... (Winner: Best Director in the Strawberry Theatre Festival, 2016), Oklahoma! (Osceola Theatre), Two Boys In A Bed On A Cold Winter's Night(Asst. Director; Rising Action Theatre), Yosef: An Epic New Musical (Born Entertainment), Evangeline: A Curious Journey(Assoc. Director; Davenport Theatricals), Into The Woods, Jr. (Largo Cultural Arts Center) How Alfo Learned To Love(Asst. Director to Robert Funaro; Al Dente Theatre Company), The Legend Of Sleepy Hollow (Asst. Director; Rodeph Sholom School), Closer Than Ever, Little Shop Of Horrors, You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown, Vanities (MuchaDu Productions). He has also directed numerous cabarets and concerts including Songs From A Hat (IndieWorks Theatre Company), The Broadway Theatre Café (Rising Action Theatre), and Playlight Theatre Company's Songwriter's Showcases Volumes 1 & 2. His film directorial debut, Valley High, a short, musical film based on the song of the same name by Drew Gasparini, made it's premiere this winter and will soon be available to view online. Find and follow him on social media: Facebook/Twitter/Instagram: @itscmikes

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Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU) is the leading network for developing theater professionals, a twenty-eight-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, goods and productions; presents monthly panels and Town Hall discussions, as well as the 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 as well as the upcoming Writer-Director 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 www.truonline.org.