Barbara Whitman
Award Winning Theater Producer explains just what it takes to produce a live theater production
Barbara Whitman is a theater producer who made her Broadway debut producing A Raisin in the Sun, starring Sean Combs, Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, and Sanaa Lathan.
Owner of Barbara Whitman Productions, she has won multiple Tony and Drama League Awards for producing musicals like A Strange Loop, Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Fun Home, and The Humans.
Some of her other Broadway credits include Diana: The Musical, Next To Normal, and Burn This.
In 2021, she established the Barbara Whitman Award at the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. The award is given annually to a female, trans, or non-binary early-career director.
Currently, Barbara is producing Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Doug Wright’s new play, Good Night, Oscar, starring Sean Hayes. The play will open on Broadway in the Spring of 2023.
A native New Yorker, Barbara attended NYU Gallatin School of Individualized Study and received an MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University.
With roots in the theater, it’s no surprise that she’s built a career around this art form. She has a deep passion for story, and especially for outlier stories that may live outside the more typical commercial Broadway fare.
Gems from this episode include:
How the definition of a Producer has evolved.
The importance of introducing people to the theater.
And, how to get started producing theater.
Tune in!
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“There’s no set path for being a producer… You don’t need to go to grad school. You can just go out and start producing in smaller venues, festivals… and just learn by doing it.”
- Barbara Whitman
Episode Transcript
