Social Network (not that one)

The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York and TheaterMania have teamed up for a social network aimed at independent New York City theaters--New York Theatre Network. The site launched on September 28 with the motto, "The who, what, and where of New York City theater."

The idea for a one-stop shop for independent theaters and theatergoers came from Virginia Louloudes, executive director of A.R.T./New York. She wanted to find a partner to help maintain the website and as the first website where users could purchase tickets and find information about Off-Off-Broadway shows, TheaterMania was the perfect match.

Theater companies can log in to NYTN and update information about their current shows. Even the smallest theaters can create videos by borrowing Flip cams from A.R.T./New York. "Theaters as small as the Dark Lady Players and as large as Roundabout have an equal platform," Louloudes says. In an effort to educate theaters about social networking, A.R.T./New York offers classes to teach theater companies about making YouTube videos, writing for a website, tweeting, creating a social marketing plan, etc.

Visitors to NYTN can search for shows or theaters and buy tickets, get personal recommendations, watch videos, read blogs, and post in discussion boards. Through Facebook connect, visitors can also see what theaters and shows their friends are liking and access Facebook fan pages and Twitter pages in one place. "Liking one theater is never enough. Come and like them all," Louloudes says.

You can log into NYTN here and follow @NY_TN on Twitter.

Photo credit: PR Newswire