Broadway ReFocused

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Equity Stage Manager, Peter Royston. Peter is based in New York City and originally from the Bay Area. His credits include: Blue Man Group, The Public Theater, The Lark, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, San Jose Repertory Theatre, Theatre Works, among others. Since 2017, Peter has become a vocal advocate and ally to the disabled community, specifically through his lived experience as a White Gay man with Cerebral Palsy. In this podcast, we learn about his journey and new ways to support the disabled community in the theatre business. You can follow Peter on Instagram: @PeterRoyston Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Off-Broadway producer, Jen Sandler. Jen talks about her experience becoming a producer in New York City and how new diverse musicals will usher in a theatrical renaissance when theatre reopens. Jen is a creative producer and theatre administrator based in New York City. She recently co-produced Joe Iconis' Broadway Bounty Hunter at the Greenwich House Theater. Jen serves as Associate Artistic Director of New York Theatre Barn and as an Original Programming Producer at Feinstein's/54 Below. Previously, Sandler has worked on Penn and Teller on Broadway as well as at prominent theater companies such as Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages and MCC Theater. Follow Jen on Instagram: @jensandler   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Kim Montelibano Heil, Associate Producer and Casting Director at San Diego Repertory Theatre, a theatre that produces intimate, provocative, inclusive theatre. Kim is a dedicated advocate of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, and places those values at the forefront of all her work. She is especially interested in the intersection of the performing arts and financial literacy, and has sought to dispel the myth of the “Starving Artist” through her Instagram Live Channel, The Nuance. You can follow her at: @thenuance2020.

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Joe Barros, Artistic Director of New York Theatre Barn, home for new culture shifting musicals during incubation. Joe is a New York-based stage director and award-winning choreographer working on Broadway, Off-Broadway, regionally, and internationally. Joe recently directed and choreographed two national tours of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, the new musical “Love and Yogurt” in New York, “Aida” in Singapore, and “A New Brain” at Five Towns College on Long Island. New York Theatre Barn has programmed over 30 new musicals in their New Works Series since March 2020, uplifting and including diverse stories, voices and writers. 

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Luis Salgado, an international director, choreographer and educator. Luis was the Assistant Latin Choreographer of In the Heights on Broadway, which won four Tony Awards. Luis worked as the associate director/choreographer of Cirque du Soleil's Paramour in Hamburg, Germany. Coming to us from Puerto Rico, we are excited to learn more about his musical theatre background, what it was like to direct the first bilingual production of Fame and how he finds purpose in art and storytelling.

Blair Russell, a Tony Award nominated Broadway producer, specializes in bringing new plays and musicals to Broadway. He was recently on the producing team of the Broadway hit play, "Slave Play." Joining us from Mexico City, we explore Blair's musical theatre background, his experience as the only black producer of "Slave Play," and his hopes for how how Broadway can change to celebrate more diverse stories and storytellers.