Hosted by Tony Award-winning Producer & Writer, Ken Davenport is now sharing his perspective on all things Broadway TheaterMakers. Follow Ken's new journey as he gives his view on making new musicals and plays, marketing, writing, producing, the Broadway industry and more.
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256 - Places, Please Series: Part 6 with Ken Davenport
Episode 256
Thursday, November 4, 2021 • Duration 01:17:02
One of the most fun and most productive events we had this year was our “Take Charge of Your ’21” Challenge in January. Over 500 TheaterMakers joined us to hear tips and strategies on how to have your best year yet from super successful people in the business.
We learned how to crush writer’s block, how to squeeze a few more hours into each day for your REAL work (not that day job work), how to increase your confidence . . . and more.
We got such great feedback on this free event that we decided to do it again! But better. 🙂
I’m proud to share our free “Places, Please” Challenge which will kick your theatermaking in high gear!
Why now?
Two reasons.
First, I don’t know about you, but even though I’ve been out of school for (mumble, mumble) years, I STILL think the start of the school year is the start of a NEW YEAR for me.
So what better time than RIGHT NOW to re-evaluate where we are, and develop a plan on how to accomplish all that we want to accomplish as we sprint toward the end of the year.
Second, this is a PIVOTAL time for the theater and for theater-making. First, we’re finally opening up again. So not only do we need to be ready to get out of the zoom rooms and into a rehearsal room again, but I believe that a renaissance is around the corner. And that means opportunities. Opportunities for more new voices in the theater than ever before.
And you want to be ready, right? I mean . . . we just went through a crapper of a year. Well, the sun is coming out tomorrow, so let’s take advantage of it.
That’s why I assembled some of the smartest and most motivational and inspirational theatermakers I know to give you strategies on how to be ready for the renaissance.
And they are all coming to you for free as part of the “Places, Please” challenge!
Referenced in this episode:
Check out the TheaterMakers Summit: www.theatermakerssummit.com
The TheaterMakers Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/theatermakersstudio
Continue the conversation: www.instagram.com/kendavenportbway
The Producer's Perspective: www.theproducersperspetive.com
About me:
Ken Davenport is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and writer whose credits include Once On This Island (Tony Award), Gettin’ the Band Back Together, The Play that Goes Wrong, Groundhog Day (Tony nomination), Deaf West Theatre’s Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), It’s Only a Play, Macbeth starring Alan Cumming, Godspell, Kinky Boots (Broadway - Tony Award, National Tour, Toronto, Australia, and West End), and more, including multiple Off-Broadway productions! Ken’s shows have been produced internationally in over 25 countries around the world.
He is the founder of TheaterMakersStudio.com, a one-of-a-kind "masterclass" community that provides training and inspiration from Broadway's best to writers, directors, producers and more.
Ken also serves as the Executive Producer for North America for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Outside of theatre, he has produced award-winning content for both film and TV. Ken’s unique production and marketing style has garnered him international attention in numerous publications, including Vanity Fair and The New York Times.
Upcoming projects include Broadway Vacation, Joy the Musical, My Life In Pink, Harmony: A New Musical written by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, a musical based on the life and songs of Neil Diamond, and a musical based on the life of Harry Belafonte.
Keep up with me @KenDavenportBway on Instagram.
Check out my blog for daily content: www.theproducersperspective.com
This episode was produced by Mary Dina.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
255 - Places, Please Series: Part 5 with Ryan Scott Oliver and Tony Howell
Episode 255
Tuesday, November 2, 2021 • Duration 39:54
One of the most fun and most productive events we had this year was our “Take Charge of Your ’21” Challenge in January. Over 500 TheaterMakers joined us to hear tips and strategies on how to have your best year yet from super successful people in the business.
We learned how to crush writer’s block, how to squeeze a few more hours into each day for your REAL work (not that day job work), how to increase your confidence . . . and more.
We got such great feedback on this free event that we decided to do it again! But better. 🙂
I’m proud to share our free “Places, Please” Challenge which will kick your theatermaking in high gear!
Why now?
Two reasons.
First, I don’t know about you, but even though I’ve been out of school for (mumble, mumble) years, I STILL think the start of the school year is the start of a NEW YEAR for me.
So what better time than RIGHT NOW to re-evaluate where we are, and develop a plan on how to accomplish all that we want to accomplish as we sprint toward the end of the year.
Second, this is a PIVOTAL time for the theater and for theater-making. First, we’re finally opening up again. So not only do we need to be ready to get out of the zoom rooms and into a rehearsal room again, but I believe that a renaissance is around the corner. And that means opportunities. Opportunities for more new voices in the theater than ever before.
And you want to be ready, right? I mean . . . we just went through a crapper of a year. Well, the sun is coming out tomorrow, so let’s take advantage of it.
That’s why I assembled some of the smartest and most motivational and inspirational theatermakers I know to give you strategies on how to be ready for the renaissance.
And they are all coming to you for free as part of the “Places, Please” challenge!
Referenced in this episode:
Check out the TheaterMakers Summit: www.theatermakerssummit.com
The TheaterMakers Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/theatermakersstudio
Continue the conversation: www.instagram.com/kendavenportbway
The Producer's Perspective: www.theproducersperspetive.com
About me:
Ken Davenport is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and writer whose credits include Once On This Island (Tony Award), Gettin’ the Band Back Together, The Play that Goes Wrong, Groundhog Day (Tony nomination), Deaf West Theatre’s Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), It’s Only a Play, Macbeth starring Alan Cumming, Godspell, Kinky Boots (Broadway - Tony Award, National Tour, Toronto, Australia, and West End), and more, including multiple Off-Broadway productions! Ken’s shows have been produced internationally in over 25 countries around the world.
He is the founder of TheaterMakersStudio.com, a one-of-a-kind "masterclass" community that provides training and inspiration from Broadway's best to writers, directors, producers and more.
Ken also serves as the Executive Producer for North America for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Outside of theatre, he has produced award-winning content for both film and TV. Ken’s unique production and marketing style has garnered him international attention in numerous publications, including Vanity Fair and The New York Times.
Upcoming projects include Broadway Vacation, Joy the Musical, My Life In Pink, Harmony: A New Musical written by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, a musical based on the life and songs of Neil Diamond, and a musical based on the life of Harry Belafonte.
Keep up with me @KenDavenportBway on Instagram.
Check out my blog for daily content: www.theproducersperspective.com
This episode was produced by Mary Dina.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
246 - An Off Broadway Model On Broadway
Episode 246
Monday, August 16, 2021 • Duration 12:22
I arrived in New York City during the Golden Age of Off-Broadway. Forever Plaid, Nunsense, And The World Goes Round, Cryptogram, Family Secrets, and more, were a few of the shows running in theaters under 499 seats . . . in commercial productions! And many actually recouped!
Referenced in this episode:
The TheaterMakers Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/theatermakersstudio
Continue the conversation: www.instagram.com/kendavenportbway
The Producer's Perspective: www.theproducersperspetive.com
About the podcast:
After 6 years of podcasting with one style, we're shaking it up here - no guests! Just me! I'm giving you micro-episodes with my perspective on Broadway and the comeback on Broadway.
About me:
Ken Davenport is a Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and writer whose credits include Once On This Island (Tony Award), Gettin’ the Band Back Together, The Play that Goes Wrong, Groundhog Day (Tony nomination), Deaf West Theatre’s Spring Awakening (Tony nomination), It’s Only a Play, Macbeth starring Alan Cumming, Godspell, Kinky Boots (Broadway - Tony Award, National Tour, Toronto, Australia, and West End), and more, including multiple Off-Broadway productions! Ken’s shows have been produced internationally in over 25 countries around the world.
He is the founder of TheaterMakersStudio.com, a one-of-a-kind "masterclass" community that provides training and inspiration from Broadway's best to writers, directors, producers and more.
Ken also serves as the Executive Producer for North America for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group. Outside of theatre, he has produced award-winning content for both film and TV. Ken’s unique production and marketing style has garnered him international attention in numerous publications, including Vanity Fair and The New York Times.
Upcoming projects include Broadway Vacation, Joy the Musical, My Life In Pink, Harmony: A New Musical written by Barry Manilow and Bruce Sussman, a musical based on the life and songs of Neil Diamond, and a musical based on the life of Harry Belafonte.
Keep up with me @KenDavenportBway on Instagram.
Check out my blog for daily content: www.theproducersperspective.com
This episode was produced by Mary Dina.
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
157 - Rebecca Taichman
Episode 157
Sunday, June 3, 2018 • Duration 41:19
Rebecca Taichman is a theatre director. In 2017 she received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for Indecent. She is an affiliated artist at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in D.C, where she has directed Taming of the Shrew, Twelfth Night (2008), The Winter's Tale and Cymbeline (2011). She has directed several Shakespeare plays at the McCarter Theatre in Princeton, New Jersey. Other plays she has directed include Dead Man's Cell Phone, The Scene, Milk Like Sugar, The Oldest Boy, Familiar, and How to Transcend a Happy Marriage.
Through years of determination, steadfastness, ego-checking, and intense collaboration, she took her wisp of an idea . . . and forged it into a Broadway play called Indecent. And then the universe thanked her with a Tony. Tune in to hear what kept her going through those years, as well as:
How being objective about her performing and writing is one of the reasons she’s a success.
What question she asks herself about a play before she signs on to direct it.
Straddling the line between wanting to direct great plays while trying to make a living.
What it’s like on her first day of rehearsal.
The difference between being a woman director yesterday . . . and today. Has it changed?
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
156 - David Lindsay-Abaire
Episode 156
Sunday, May 20, 2018 • Duration 37:12
David Lindsay-Abaire is a playwright, lyricist and screenwriter. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 2007 for his play Rabbit Hole, which also earned several Tony Award nominations. His first theatrical success came from Fuddy Meers, which was workshopped as part of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in 1998 and eventually premiered Off-Broadway in 1999. He also wrote Kimberly Akimbo, Snow Angel, A Devil Inside, and Wonder of the World. He wrote the book and lyrics for the musical Shrek the Musical and received a 2009 Tony Award nomination for Book of a Musical.He has written the screenplays for Robots, Inkheart, Poltergeist, the film adaptation of his play Rabbit Hole, Rise of the Guardians, and Oz the Great and Powerful.
David told me the story of how he went from a guy in high school whose friends made him write a play, to a playwrighting student at Juilliard, to the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning play, and more on this week’s podcast.
We also chatted about:
How his first play was a rip-off . . . and why.
What he looks for when he reads plays from prospective Juilliard students, and how he usually knows in 3 minutes whether a writer has got “it” or not.
Why early readers of his work didn’t respond to Rabbit Hole and why.
How he uses “office hours” to meet his many deadlines.
His writing group that has existed for over a decade, and how it has helped him succeed.
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
155 - Nelle Nugent
Episode 155
Sunday, May 6, 2018 • Duration 34:55
Nelle Nugent is an independent Broadway producer. She has overseen productions such as Amadeus, Morning's at Seven, The Elephant Man, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, and Dracula; awards she has won includes Tonys for all five listed shows. She and producer John Schwally started the east coast chapter of the Producers Guild of America in 2001. Nelle Nugent has produced more than 60 Broadway, touring, Off-Broadway and West End productions including: Home, The Dresser, All's Well that Ends Well, Time Stands Still, Sly Fox (revival), The Trip to Bountiful American Buffalo (revival), and Latin History for Morons.
I was lucky enough to get to sit down with Nelle to talk to her about some of her biggest hits and how Broadway has changed since her days as a PA, as well as . . .
What can make a great play fail.
How raising money for Broadway has changed over the last fifty years.
What she did to overcome the resistance she got for being a female Producer.
The chance encounter that led her to produce Dracula and WHY it became a hit (Hint: it didn’t have anything to do with what was on the page.).
When reviews matter and when they do NOT.
What we often forget is that Broadway is not that old of an industry, and people like Nelle helped lay the foundation for the work we’re all doing now. We not only owe Producers like her a debt of gratitude, but if we listen closely to how they got where they are today, we might just learn how to get to where we want to be tomorrow.
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
154 - Lisa Kron
Episode 154
Sunday, April 22, 2018 • Duration 41:35
Lisa Kron is an actress and playwright. She is best known for writing the lyrics and book to the musical Fun Home for which she won both the Tony Award for Best Original Score and the Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. Fun Home was also awarded the Tony Award for Best Musical in 2015 and the 2014 Obie Award for writing for musical theater. Alison Bechdel's acclaimed graphic novel/memoir Fun Home serves as the basis for the musical. Her major works also include 2.5 Minute Ride, Well, and In the Wake. Performances include roles in her own shows such as Fun Home, and 2.5 Minute Ride, and other shows such as All My Hopes and Dreams, and Brides of the Moon.
Lisa and I talked about her entrepreneurial and unexpected journey in the theater including . . .
Her #1 rule to success: if a door opened, and she was scared, she forced herself to step through it. (Words to live by.)
Why her early writing horrified her. And how she got better.
How performing stand-up helped hone her stage writing.
Being mistaken for a seat-filler at the Tony Awards . . . the year she was nominated!
Who young writers should be trying to connect to in order to have a successful career (hint: it’s NOT who you think).
Why trying to increase diversity in terms of gender and race is like looking for your keys. (This is such a brilliant analogy – only a Tony Award-winning writer could come up with it, so make sure you listen.)
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
153 - Warren Leight
Episode 153
Sunday, April 8, 2018 • Duration 34:06
Warren Leight is an American playwright, screenwriter, film director and television producer. He is best known for his work on Law & Order: Criminal Intent and Lights Out and as the showrunner for In Treatment and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit. His play Side Man was a finalist for the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.
Warren is one of the few playwrights that can go so easily from stage to screen . . . and that’s all about how he started writing in the first place. See he started because he wanted to be a sports writer, and then . . . wait . . . I’m giving it away. Just listen to the podcast and hear Warren talk about:
How a lie about loving horror movies led to him writing one . . . and why you might want to fib a little too.
Why he binge writes.
The importance of joining a Writer’s Group and how it helped him.
Why the deadlines of TV help make him a better writer . . . and how you can use deadlines to accomplish your goals, whether you have a TV network demanding a script or not.
How he wrote Side Man without realizing he was writing it . . . and what it was like after he won The Tony (and it’s not what you think).
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
151 - Michael Korie
Episode 151
Sunday, March 25, 2018 • Duration 38:53
Michael Korie is a librettist and lyricist whose writing for musical theater and opera includes the musicals Grey Gardens and Far From Heaven, and the operas Harvey Milk and The Grapes of Wrath. His works have been produced on Broadway, Off-Broadway, and internationally. His lyrics have been nominated for the Tony Award and the Drama Desk Award, and won the Outer Critics Circle Award. In 2016, Korie was awarded the Marc Blitzstein Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters.
Michael Korie, the lyricist of Grey Gardens, War Paint, and more, talked about the similarities between writing for the theatre and for the papers, as well as . . .
Why he does so much research for his shows and why you should too.
The biggest mistake beginning songwriters make . . . and it’s an easy one to fix.
Why he never speaks his lyrics out loud when working with a composer on a song.
Rhyme . . . and the purpose of it, and how to use it for the greatest impact.
A secret method to making sure a song that you love stays in your show.
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
150 - Danny Burstein
Episode 150
Sunday, March 11, 2018 • Duration 36:48
Danny Burstein is an actor of stage and screen, who made his Broadway debut in 1992. He is a six-time Tony Award nominee; for The Drowsy Chaperone, South Pacific, Follies, Golden Boy, Cabaret, and Fiddler on the Roof. He has also won two Drama Desk Awards, three Outer Critics Circle Awards, and received three Grammy Award nominations. His other Broadway credits include The Seagull, Saint Joan, and Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown. His television work includes Absolutely Fabulous, Louie, Law & Order, and Boardwalk Empire. His film appearances include Transamerica, Deception, The Family Fang, and Indignation.
During our chat, Danny gave me some insight into his process and where Actors fit into the development of shows as well as . . .
The difficult decision of turning down big-time Broadway chorus roles, because he never wanted to be in the chorus, even though he needed the $.
Why he reads scripts 50-100 times before rehearsals begin.
When Writers and Directors should listen to Actors and why.
How to get Danny to do your show.
Why he thinks of himself like a Plumber.
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway
www.theproducersperspective.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
