Hello, I am Conor O’Brien, the social media manager for the NYITF for the 2015 award season. On July 20th the New York Innovative Theatre Awards held a party to announce the 2015 nominees. This celebration of Off-Off-Broadway was held at the Diamond Horseshoe, a gorgeous underground venue below the Paramount Hotel.
The energy in the room grew from electrifying to a fever pitch of excitement once the doors opened. As social media manager my role is to cultivate a dialog across various online platforms, to ensure an informative conversation is continued from now thru the awards ceremony in September. Entering this new position I struggled to find the “voice” of the foundation, the core message of the IT Awards. The incredible team of the NYITF has made this transition easy and while I did not want for creative content, I was concerned I would not find a signature voice to share within this wide spread network.(Which brings us to the night of the nominee announcement party)
As crowds of diverse theatre artists and dedicated patrons entered into The Diamond Horseshoe on a (rather) warm summer evening I quickly found the “voice” I was looking for. What I was looking for was not a singular voice, but was a chorus. There was not a single common thread amongst the talented crowd, say for the innovative spirit upon which this foundation was built (forgive me, even I know that was a lame line).
The ages ranged, the artistic focus varied and the attire certainly held no similarity from table to table. However, all in attendance were here for the same reasons:
As I continue to assist with the social media for this awards season, I promise not to focus on the commonality of the nominees but rather celebrate that which makes Off-Off-Broadway unique - our beautiful, weird and innovative differences.
- To gawk at the almost unsettlingly attractive wait-staff
- To celebrate the innovative talents of the Off-Off-Broadway community
Missed this amazing event? Watch the 2015 NYIT Awards announcements!
See photos from the event.
