On Sunday, November 14th, TRU (Theater Resources Unlimited) will hold its annual TRU LOVE Benefit which will honor Michael Presser, Founder and Executive Director of Inside Broadway, with its 2010 TRU Humanitarian Award. This award is being given in recognition of his 29 years of service to the theater community in helping to develop new audiences. The benefit will take place at Caroline's on Broadway at 12noon, and the event celebrates the year round assistance and guidance TRU provides to the theater community. Additional honorees that afternoon will include Broadway Producer Pat Addiss, and entrepreneur TEd Greenberg. TRU educates, supports and nurtures the New York producing community, both commercial and not-for-profit, by providing information and a variety of entertainment-related services and resources that strengthen the capacity of producing organizations, individual producers, self-Producing Artists and other theater professionals. TRU's programs and panels help all theater artists understand and navigate the business of theater.
Michael Presser has been an active participant in the New York City and Broadway communities for over 29 years. Mr. Presser is the Founder and Executive Director of Inside Broadway, which produces touring musical productions as well as a wide range of educational programs that allow students to interact with professionals in the field and experience theatre hands-on in the classroom. He is a member of Manhattan Community Planning Board #5 (and has previously served as its Chairman), and currently sits on the boards of the Times Square Alliance, The Mayor's Midtown Citizens Committee, The Broadway Association, and is a trustee of The Town Hall Foundation. He is the recipient of the 2000 Heart to Heart Award for service in the Times Square Theatre District and the 2005 Theatre Museum Award for Arts in Education. He has also been honored by The Broadway League and the Coalition of Broadway Unions and Guilds for over 25 years of service to the Broadway industry.
Inside Broadway was originally established in 1982 at the invitation of Bernard B. Jacobs, the late President of The Shubert Organization, as an effort to create a student ticket program for the Broadway musical Cats. Now in its 29th year, Inside Broadway develops More than 30,000 students in 85 schools in all five boroughs participate each year in Inside Broadway's programs. The TRU LOVE Benefit will feature a number of special performances including the Inside Broadway Kids, Ashley Choi, Nicole Gallardo, Vako Gvelesiani, Arjona Kulla, Cindy Reka, Quinn Rosciano, and Michael Tagliarini, which are all students from P.S. 97K in Brooklyn.
Theater Resources Unlimited's TRU LOVE Benefit will take place on Sunday, 11/14 at 12noon at Caroline's on Broadway (1626 Broadway, between 49th & 50th). Tickets, which start at $100, can still be purchased by phone at 212.864.3753. For more information, please visit www.TRUonline.org
For more information on Inside Broadway, please visit www.InsideBroadway.org
