Conversation with Blair Russell, Broadway Producer

Broadway ReFocused is in conversation with Blair Russell, a Tony Award nominated Broadway producer. Blair specializes in bringing new plays and musicals to Broadway and was recently on the producing team of the Broadway hit play, Slave Play. Coming to us from Mexico City, we are excited to learn more about his musical theatre background, what it was like to be one of the only black producers on Slave Play and also what he believes on how Broadway will and can change in the future.

Blair Russell: I grew up in Northern Virginia, really close to Washington, DC.  And not in a place where people cared about theater at all. my school didn't fund the arts. There was nothing like we had a really nice auditorium. It was not a theater, it was an auditorium because there was no fly space. And we just, I don't even know how things happened.

The parents donated time and money and we just made it work. And I learned through that, to fill in  where I was needed and do what needed to be done. I would perform in the shows and be in the chorus, but also  be the stage manager and also  be the assistant director and also do makeup for people who had never done their own makeup before.

because of that experience through school, I ended up going to. College, Virginia Commonwealth university for stage management.  I was in school for two weeks and a half years. And then I did a semester out in Las Vegas for Cirque du Soleil, where I did an independent study.  I actually learned so much in that semester that I couldn't have. Possibly learn just in school. I was really excited to get out into the workforce. So I finished my degree in three years, started doing a little bit of freelance stage management. I worked at the Santa Fe opera. I worked at opera, Santa Barbara and Santa Barbara, California.

And eventually I got a job at Goodspeed musicals in Connecticut as a stage manager. Goodspeed is a  famous regional theater that is known as the birthplace of Annie and Manipal Mantia and Shenandoah and those great  old shows. While I was working at Goodspeed, I did a couple of shows, the stage manager, which was awesome because I was able to see a few different directors, different designers.

Yeah. If an actress, all working and I realized I was really interested in how shows come together. And I was very lucky because for the first time ever, they needed an assistant and the producing office. So I was in the right place at the right time. And I applied for the job and they were, I think it was partially like,  you're already here.

So you know what the deal is, cause it's rural Connecticut. There's not a lot going on. There's no town. You're just  out in the middle of nowhere. It doesn't come alive until summer. So I got that job working for the producers. Good speed. And it was just, it was great to learn what it means to be a producer or to begin to learn what it means to be a producer.

I still don't know everything, but, that's, where I met , Spencer there.   I've met so many great artists, performers, writers, directors, designers, everything. And that really taught me that I wanted to be a producer of shows. I wanted to be able to support work that I really liked.  And I wanted to be able to bring people together, make those connections and just make art.  I see passionate people working on great art and I want to be able to support them.

Spencer Williams: When you were at Goodspeed, how many shows did you work on?  talk a little bit about their new works initiative.

Blair Russell:  At Goodspeed, we had two spaces, a bigger thing, which is the opera house, which is the main space. And then the terrorists' theater, which was an old, knitting needle factory that had been converted into a theater.

And. At the opera house, it was typically older shows, revivals or revivals as they called them. As Goodspeed was known for many years of taking really obscure old shows that even I was like, I've never heard of this. And they would rewrite the book called the dialogue and maybe change some of the songs and give it a new life.

And then in the terrace theater that was normally brand new shows. that may be needed to do a little bit of development and do a practice run outside of New York with no reviewers or nothing. And so they did that there. And then Goodspeed also had a festival of new musicals, which was three new shows that were just doing book in hand readings.

And so throughout the season, I would work on. The three shows at the opera house, the three at the terrorists three shows at the festival, and then there would be other workshops or readings. we did a writer's retreat, so I was often meeting with writers there. so yeah, it was a lot of, a lot of shows and a lot of different people and they would,  we'd be rehearsing one show and then in performances for that, and then start rehearsing the other show in the main space and then the other show and the second space would be running.

And so there was always like three casts at one time at Goodspeed. 

Spencer Williams: Within the Norma Terrace Theater, how many new works did you  work through?

Blair Russell: I saw about 10 shows go through the normal terrorists. Yeah.

It's really important to find shows that. Spoke to the moment that we were living in and spoke to the audience that we had. the audience that is that read as an older, more traditional audience. And so if we want to just want it to speak to them about some modern ideas, it had to be in a more traditional way.

So something like Hamilton would never have worked. At Goodspeed, like it doesn't matter how good it is. Like it's just this, the audience wouldn't really be able to understand where it's coming from. So we were all often working in that, that middle ground of wanting to find contemporary shows that were not too challenging.

Challenging is a favorite word of anybody who runs a theater or a producer, not too challenging, but still seemed contemporary and still seemed like they were in telling important stories. So we're always trying to find something in that area. Yeah.

Spencer Williams: What was the most challenging piece that was developed through Goodspeed?

Blair Russell: you'd be, we would be surprised because we would think some very simple show that was like, Oh, okay. Like the audience will be into it. Like we do talk backs and they would say I was offended by this. And I didn't like that. And I, Cause I guess a lot of people wanted to see things that were just like happy and dancy and smiley.

And so anytime there was anything that was tough for them, the tough topics they sort of would get upset. They were like, I didn't come to the theater to be sad. I came to the theater to be happy.  People  didn't like if there was any kind of serious topics or too much drama, we've got that, that note a lot too much drama,

Spencer Williams:  It's interesting to kind of hear. That they don't want any drama.

Blair Russell: And I think this was at the time and have continued to try to change that. You don't say it's not, it's not so bad.

And also the festival is a place where we were able to try out more challenging works because that's a much smaller audience and they all want to see what's new and what's coming up.

Spencer Williams: How did you go  from that to a Slave Play.

Blair Russell: Right.

Spencer Williams: Talk about challenging. I mean, I think you probably went. To the complete opposite spectrum of  theater. Right.   talk about that journey a little bit, cause I'm interested to hear  what changed for you or, or how you grew inside of it.

Blair Russell: Right. I guess it's, I've always been a fan of more, challenging works, things that really ask tough questions or present it in a new or experimental or kind of out there way. And. You know, often in theater, you don't really get to choose what you work on. You work on what the theater is doing or what you're hired to do, and because you have to have a job.

So I guess for me, maybe part of what I want to be a producer is because I could decide what I wanted to work on. And I had. Then asked to join a couple of Broadway shows before. And I was like, okay, they didn't seem that interesting and you have to raise a lot of money for it. And it's not very good.

And then I was invited by one of the other producers on Slave Play to go see it while it was off Broadway. And I saw it and I was like, I don't, I don't know. I don't know about that. I sort of laughed at that night and I was talking to people and I was like, I don't know how I feel. And it really took me like months to even form an opinion and be like, okay.

Yeah. Okay. Yeah, that was, I liked that. That was, yeah. I liked that. And I saw it in December. Bye. I think the end of June user, Greg Nobel, who was one of the leads on that show was saying, okay, we're going to take it to Broadway. And we were opening in September. So I was like, Okay. Yeah, I'm going to do it.

So I said yes. And then to backtrack and convince myself that it was actually a good idea, but it was, for me, it was about if I'm going to try this, if I'm going to put my whole heart into a project, it needs to be something I'm passionate about. And I was so passionate about something that would not only challenge people.

Off-Broadway or anywhere, but to have it on Broadway and to be presenting a show with a black writer and a black director and this just great, amazing cast, I was like, this is the, if I never produce anything ever again on Broadway, I want this to be it. And I want to go down and flame. So that was kind of like, ha you know, cause there's always a chance if you're raising money for something, you know, you can say, cool, I'll put some here, put some effort here.

But I was like, no, I want it to be something I really, really care about.

Spencer Williams:   How did that happen with Greg?

Blair Russell:  We had known each other for years. I actually met him while I was at Goodspeed. he produced that gentleman's guide to love and murder.

And so I was like, Oh, that's cool. And I was, I want to say I was 24 when I was working there and he was 23 and he won a Tony when he was 23. And so when he came up to Goodspeed to do a meeting, I looked him up. I was like, Or whatever, like how is it somebody younger than me, you're going to have a Tony.

So I was like, I don't like that guy. But then I was like, actually, I should probably get to know that guy. Cause we're the same age and you know, we can work together. So we started talking. Yeah. And I ended up sort of helping him with some prior shows, seeking investments, but not really as a producer, maybe just investing myself and then.

When Slave Play came around, he was like one, I think like you want to start producing more? And I was like, yes. And I had actually told myself I am a producer. because before I was always just sort of like, well, I want to be a producer. Maybe I'll be a producer. And like one day when I grow up, you know, I'll be a producer and he was, he just.

Sent me to the show. I saw the show and then he was like, I think it's your time. And I was like, yes. So it was honestly that, that simple as me having an inside, I want to do this and then having the right project come along.

Spencer Williams: Why don't you give a little background, honestly, play  and why it was challenging for audiences.

Blair Russell:  the playwright, Jeremy O. Harris was a student at Yale when he wrote it, he was actually, he had just graduated the spring prior to opening on Broadway, which is like, if you can make that your career good for you.

He wrote that play, I think he said he was at a party and he was having a conversation with somebody and it was like, the conversation just sparked this idea and he had to go home and write it that day. And. He wrote it and he performed it at Yale and people were just like, I don't, I don't know what to do with this.

I don't know how to feel about this, but people wanted to see it. It was, you know, selling out there was no seats available.  What's so interesting when I saw it off Broadway is that Jeremy is from Virginia. Yeah. He's from Southern Virginia Martinsburg. And I went to school in Richmond, Virginia, and one part from his own life that he put into place. This idea that when you are a teacher in Virginia, you do a field trip to a plantation.

Like, no, you will absolutely do multiple field trips to a plantation. And if you're someone like me who grew up in an area that's mostly white. You're the only black kid in a class who's on a field trip to a plantation. And. Not only are you too young to like, process anything or understand anything?

You're like six, seven. You're like, okay I understand what this is, but I have no way of processing it. You also have people looking at you, like you have some kind of special insight into what's going on. And you're like, honestly, I just happy. We're not at school today. You know? Like you don't really think about it.

But it is kind of crazy. That's a normal thing and nobody was ever like, should we do this? should we take 30 kids just kind of be wild on a plantation. And so knowing that, Jeremy had had that same exact experience that really hit me when I was watching the show, it was almost like it was pulled from my own life.

And, you know, one of the couples, the partner was English and I have an English partner. So I was coated with like, Why are you taking my life? And how did you know, why did you see all of my life? so that, so the experience of the show, and I think crossed with how much it sort of took pieces from my life, from my own personal experiences.

That's what really made me say,  I have to be a part of this.

Spencer Williams:  I know that there were multiple producers on a Slave Play,  what was that like? Was there other black producers on that?

Blair Russell: One of the reasons why I was able to do the show is because I had conversations with Greg about what producing would be and what it would mean in this context. Some really big musicals have lead producers, maybe two or three, then you have some associates, some co-producers to do work. And then you have a bunch of people who are producers.

They help. They raise money, but they don't really have a say in the process. And so for me, it was really important that I have a say in the process. I also really trust Greg because I've worked with him before. So I knew,  we could have the open dialogue and have the conversation, something that he also did.

That's untraditional is he made Jeremy O'Hara as the playwright or producer, and that almost never happens. And, you know, he wanted him to be able to use his voice in that way to be at that table and be able to say, yes, I agree with this marketing. And yes, I agree with that. Or, no, I don't want that.

And so, we'll talk about it, but some of the big initiatives, which just Jeremy, as a producer, being able to say, I want this to happen. So in the room, you know, it's kind of. Crazy how wild putting a show together for Broadway's. Cause someone literally just says, it's happening. We have a theater and then you start raising money and you start trying to get the cast that you want and the designers and the director.

And so sometimes you'll have someone, yeah. Who might want to be a producer on the show, but for whatever reason, they don't make it to opening night. And like opening night is the day where it's you're either a producer or you're not. And so I had, there were, there was one other, Black producer on the team who actually had to leave before opening night.

So it actually ended up being just me. And there were a couple of people because. Sometimes like a company will produce and we had a company called level forward and, nine stories, which one is Abigail Disney. One is Jake Gyllenhaal. Like they're kind of producing companies. And within those companies, there were other people of color on the team and other black people.

But none of them were like coming to the table singularly as their own person as their own voice. So ultimately I  was the only black person around that table having to hold it down for everyone. It'd be the representative for everyone at the reducing table.  it was a very good experience.

It was not without challenges and not without moments where I was like, Oh, I have a thought or a feeling that I can't really express because no one else is on the table. Well, no, what I'm talking about. And then also it will just be like, I'm being difficult so often I would have to  sit back and just listen and be like, okay, cool, cool, cool, great.

Like, and kind of let it go or bring it up at a different moment. Cause it's just easier that way.

Spencer Williams: Within the initiatives ,  what were some of them? I know that there was a $39 ticket initiative, and then there was something that I like we want to talk about with the blackout on September 19th.  I think there were others,

Blair Russell: There were actually, yeah,  Jeremy demanded that there always be $39 tickets available to the show and that we wouldn't raise the price if it became popular, which he did. But that, those would always be available no matter what, no code necessarily no standing, you know, doing the rest line at 5:00 AM, nothing like you can just go and buy a $39 ticket, which as producers is scary.

We could also make it twice that much and get our money back twice as quickly. But we said we want to make it accessible to the audience that Jeremy wants. We made sure that those $39 tickets were available to each performance. We also did. It's something later in the run where we elect out people to do like a Broadway plus one, which is when you were buying a ticket, you could.

Pay a certain amount. I think it was like an additional $25 to subsidize a ticket for someone else. So people would go and they'd be like buying a ticket. And basically it was just like, Hey, if you want to buy a ticket for someone who may not be able to afford it, you know, just add another $25. And  if you're spending $200, you're like, sure, now they're $25.

What's the difference? So we did that as well. And then of course we did a blackout performance in the beginning of the run. The invited dress rehearsal was all students and people that couldn't and wouldn't buy a ticket. And I was there. It was a great, great show.  we just invited a bunch of people to come in and it wasn't, normally those can be like, Oh, friends and family and industry people and people, you want to see it, but we just opened it up to.

People who want to come. I think Jeremy posted on Twitter. So we had a lot of people, a lot of people coming to that and then, had the blackout performance, which was also kind of wild because we didn't plan it before we started previews. We were like, I think we'll do this.

And then we basically had to just take a whole performance and the. All the seats and say, we're going to just make these available to artists, educators, students, people in the industry of color to come to this one performance. And we had two ticket levels. And then a lot of it was just by invitation as well.

And I was there that night as well, and I brought a couple of friends and  I don't think it's ever been done on Broadway before. And. It was just kind of wild to see a completely different audience in a completely different energy.  So to be in that room, It was just so free. It was just open,  the people who were there, some of them had never imagined that they would go to a Broadway show and had never been at a Broadway theater before they didn't have expectations. They didn't have all this  history of trauma, bad experiences in the theater.

If you go to a show, You sort of find yourself performing, even if you're in the audience, you know, when you have to laugh a certain amount and when you're supposed to clap and when you're supposed to do this and this audience, didn't like, it wasn't people who were like, Oh, you wait until this moment to clap  and then it has to die down at a certain moment.

It was like snaps and call backs and  cheers and everything. I have never seen that before in a Broadway audience.  that was wonderful. And then we had to do it again at the end of the run. We did another one, which was just, just really great. It’s history that I was there for and I love it.

Spencer Williams: Within  that,  when you go to a Broadway show, I mean, the demographics, right? They are like 40 to 60 year old women. That's like the main Democrat. Right.

I have to ask, to be in a space full of an audience of other people that look like you, which is never something that you experienced,  what was that  like?

Blair Russell: It just changed the way that I was able to relax in the theater. If you have a bad experience going to the theater, I think it sticks with you.

I think it puts your guard up.  and being in that audience, I forgot about all of that.

I forgot about all of the bad experience because it didn't matter. I didn't feel like I was, performing, being a theater goer. I felt like I was just Blair in the audience of a show. When, you know, too much, it can sometimes be sort of a cage. Like I want to make sure I have my ticket off of the usher and I get my playbill and I'm very polite and I sit down and I don't] get up and you know, don't go sit down if I'm in the middle until other people come so that we're not in the way and I'm not late.

And I don't get up during the scene and all these other things that you just always think about where they were just all gone and people just kind of did what they wanted. And it was  great.

Spencer Williams: That's awesome. moving forward , in looking at new musicals or looking at other plays that you're interested in producing, what are you looking for and  what are you looking to like even just like amplifying new voices and different things in the theater?

Blair Russell:  I really want to support work that is good. I really want to support work that touches me and touches people around me and speaks to them. I I want to see new stories. I want to see new faces on stage. I want to see work presented in new ways. You can love these older shows and there was a time and a place for them.

And there's a reason that they existed in some of them in their own right. Were very challenging, but I'm ready to produce new things that are challenging for today that speak to people today that are presented in the language and the musical styles of today.

Spencer Williams: The last couple of months has been  a lot of unrest, right? a lot of different things happening with code and Broadway shutting down.

And then, the black lives matter. Protests going on   do you  foresee  a change  how do we push that change forward?  I'm just curious about your perspective on that.

Blair Russell: Yeah. I wish. I'm going to start out saying yes, there's an opportunity.

And also I wish I was hearing more things that made me feel positive. we will absolutely see nonprofit theaters that own a Broadway stage. Show and signal that they care about this. And we'll see a change in, in some of the shows that they produce. I think we'll see some more opportunities come around for shows that are out there, written by BI POC people.

when COVID shut down Broadway, There were probably, I think 35 shows open at the time. It wasn't the full 41, but we're pretty close. And. Normal for spring, there were back to back openings. So the day, I think six was opening that night, literally that night, and shows are starting previous.

And the next day he was afraid of Virginia Woolf. The minutes were probably in the next week, Diana was happening  a week or later. that stuff still exists. And. A lot of people put money into it and a lot of people want it to perform and be on the stage.  there's probably not a great chance that those things are just going to disappear and make space for other people.

The shows that were in process, the shows that were in the pipeline, people are still going to be pushing those forward. And unfortunately they all look very similar and they appeal to a very similar audience. And there's also like, as, as nice as the idea is that. We could completely change it. You have to have the people in the spaces to change it.

And that means theatre owners who have people of color in their organizations. That means more producers like me, who are there. That means. People not being afraid and wanting to take risks and all these things that it's like peeling the layers of an onion, you get to the core of it, which is we just have to do it like that we just have to do it.

And when I think about that, I can see all the roadblocks and all the Gates and all the gatekeepers and in my way of wanting to produce something Broadway and my friends and all of us.  That was a very roundabout way of saying I hope, but I'm not sure, but people will.  have to be extremely accountable and we will see cast change and be more diverse. We will see artists demanding more diversity, backstage, and more diversity in their world. I think before, if you were a writer. You know, it's happened before, but definitely like someone like Jeremy, who is, if you want my show, I demand these things.

I demand there to be a black director. I demand a blackout night. I demand there to be tickets at this price. Artists will start demanding it and not feel like they have to give up everything to a producer or to a theater company. And so we'll, we'll see the change on stage. We'll see the change in the creative teams and hopefully that will lead to a change in the audience The Broadway audience has always been this group traditionally. And so that group is marketed to now.  This is our biggest group, so we just make it to them. You can make it to everyone. There's no reason that a show has to be marketed to select groups. It's  on your feet is about Gloria Estefan to market now to Latino people.

First of all, everybody who likes Gloria has to find it.  Everybody can like this show. And also if those people are willing to come to see that show, they're also willing to come see other shows. You just don't tell them that they exist. So we're going to see a change throughout. I just hope it's from the top down and it really affects.

Facts from the audiences to ticket prices all the way up to who's producing and who owns the theaters.  

Spencer Williams: Yeah. I think accountability will show up differently. at least I hope. Yeah, I agree with you. I hope as well.

Now that  COVID happened and everything and we've, we have that pause what are you doing right now?  and how does that play out as a producer, but yet nothing is being produced. Where are you at right now?

Blair Russell:  In February, I was really excited. I had been going on trips to different cities. I've been going to different regional theaters to meet with the artistic directors because trying to get a show there is really challenging, but if they can put a name to a face, I think that goes a long way.

What I said about meeting people when you can. And so I traveled to Seattle and I had trips planned for Chicago and Minneapolis in March. But before I did that, I went to South Africa and I had a personal vacation to South Africa last fall. I loved it. I thought it was just like an amazing, beautiful country.

And someone suggested to me that I should  talk to the people in the theater there. And I was like, yeah, that's not a bad idea. So yeah. Newly minted Broadway producer, I sent an email saying , I'm a producer from New York coming in, just South Africa. And I ended up meeting with people at every single theater.

They were all happy to meet. They invited me to their shows. And so I did a trip. Like a tourist South Africa and just went to these different theaters that they have there. So that was something that I was working on. I was working on putting a couple of shows, like going into production. I had a tour that I was raising money for.

That was going to start. In the fall , some shows that were in early developments, right? All these things. And the nice thing about that period of time was everything was at a different place. So great. I'm raising money for a show. That's going into production. I have a show that needs a workshop.

I'm talking to some people in certain theaters and starting to make those connections. And I have some things that are still in the early days. Well, Covert came. And every single show is in the exact same place. And every single writer is in the exact same place. And they all have so much free time to work on their show and ask questions.

And so suddenly all of my projects are at a place where they need full attention and I have more time, so I can kind of give it to them. But also everyone who's asking me if things have more time. So what I've found has been so great is. In theater, there gets to be a little bit of a hamster wheel of work.

Especially if you're a writer, you want to finish a draft so that you can submit it somewhere so that somebody will produce it. But if it's not the best draft, then they'll read it. And they won't like it, so they won't produce it. But if you don't finish it, you can never present it. And then, yeah. And so anyways, so you keep going around and around and around like that forever, and then you never know why maybe somebody just  didn't read it.

And now people really have time to focus on  what is on the page. Let's make this the best show it can be because there is no. Production that I'm missing or workshop or festival that I'm missing. There's nothing. So let's just focus on making it the best show it could possibly be. So I've been doing a lot of that work.

Also trying to find new opportunities. I'm working in virtual reality and trying to create a virtual reality theater going experience. , I'm doing these. Live immersive audio dramas, where we're taking old shows or old novels that are in the public domain and kind of turning them to like an in your ear experience.

So you can hear people talking over here, moving over here, something's behind you. And so we're doing all of that and just trying to find what else I can do with the artists that I want to support with the work that I love.  Everybody right now is focused on gearing up for when we reopened and what that's gonna look like.

Spencer Williams: Thank you so much for being here, Blair.

Blair Russell: Yeah. Thank you for having me

Spencer Williams: Great conversation.