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Broadway Cares with Jack Noseworthy
114 Plays11 months ago
Our esteemed guest is Jack Noseworthy, long-time veteran on Broadway, TV, and film, to talk about his career and his process as an actor. He also is a Individual Giving Officer for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Since 1988 they have led the fight against AIDS, becoming the nation’s leading industry-based nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations. They have raised over $300 million dollars to fight AIDS, as well as COVID-19 and other illnesses.
Noseworthy also formed Truworthy Productions with his husband, Tony-award winning choreographer Sergio Trujillo, and they are producing a stage production of the 2002 hit film "Real Women Have Curves". The show opened December 2023 at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge Massachusetts, and they aim to open on Broadway within the near future.
For more about Broadway Cares and how to donate, go to https://broadwaycares.org
For more about Jack's production company and their shows, go to http://www.truworthy.com
Instagram @jack_noseworthy
For more info on Athletes and the Arts, go to https://athletesandthearts.com
Bio: Jack Noseworthy is the co-founder of Truworthy Productions along with Tony and Olivier Award-winning Director/Choreographer Sergio Trujillo. In their Truworthy venture, Jack is passionate about bringing authentic, diverse, and socially conscious works of theater, film, and television to life.
He is an acclaimed producer and dynamic, experienced fundraiser on the Major Gifts team at Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, where he successfully collaborates with colleagues, helping to grow and steward relationships for their annual giving society, the Angels, and Visionary Circle, responsible for raising $4M of the foundation’s annual budget. In addition, Jack manages the Broadway Cares NextGen Network—creating giving opportunities for young professionals with a passion for giving back to the community.
In partnership with seven-time Tony winning legendary producers Fran & Barry Weissler, Jack is the lead producer on Lisa Loomer’s new musical Real Women Have Curves, with music and lyrics by seven-time Grammy award winning artist Joy Huerta (Jesse & Joy) and her partner Fred Ebb/ Jonathan Larson recipient Benjamin Velez. Real Women Have Curves – The Musical will premiere at The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) in December 2023. For A.R.T., Jack also produced Arrabal (Elliot Norton Award for Best Production and Gala Production at the Ibero- American Theater Festival in Bogotá, Colombia).
Jack produced Playbill’s ¡Viva Broadway! Hear Our Voices concert for The Broadway League, Voices for Change at Ars Nova, as well as NextGen Spotlight and Home for the Holidays for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, raising over $350k for artists struggling during the Covid-19 pandemic.
His producing career has been bolstered by 33 years as a stage and screen actor. Jack made his Broadway debut in Jerome Robbins’ Broadway, which was followed by Cats, A Chorus Line, Sweet Smell of Success, and the original Toronto company of the international hit, Come From Away. Some of his favorite screen credits include his debut in Encino Man, as well as ALIVE, Event Horizon, The Brady Bunch Movie, Undercover Brother, Cecil B. Demented, Killing Kennedy, and several Jonathan Mostow films including Surrogates, Breakdown, and U-571. His television credits include Elvis, Mrs. Cage, Shades of Blue, CSI, Judging Amy, Crossing Jordan, Law & Order, Law & Order SVU, and Dead at 21.
Jack received his Master’s Degree in Performing Arts Administration from New York University and is a proud graduate of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee as well as the Commercial Theatre Institute.
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Transcript
Podcast Introduction
00:00:06
Speaker
Welcome to the Athletes in the Arts podcast, hosted by Steven Karaginas and Yasi Ansari.
00:00:21
Speaker
Hi there, this is the Athletes in the Arts podcast and welcome to our show. Along with Yasi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas and we are excited to finish off 2023 with a very fun show. We are sponsored by School Health, a national full service provider of health supplies and services to professionals in educational settings from preschool all the way up to college. Now for over 60 years, they have been advocates for the health and safety of students, staff and their communities. So please check them out at schoolhealth.com.
Athletes in the Arts Overview
00:00:51
Speaker
Also, if you're new to the show, Athletes in the Arts is a consortium of 17 different sports medicine and performing arts medicine organizations working together to improve the care of artists and athletes everywhere. We have lots of resources and programming going on, so check us out at athletesandthearts.com.
Broadway Cares: Mission and Adaptation
00:01:09
Speaker
So today we want to focus on Broadway, specifically the organization known as Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids. Now since 1988, they have led the fight against AIDS, becoming the nation's leading industry-based nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organization. Now Broadway Cares and Equity Fights Aids were separate organizations, but in 1992 they merged, and since then their mission has provided essential services for over 50 states, Puerto Rico, and Washington, D.C.
00:01:39
Speaker
but in recent years, they had to pivot, providing support for those fighting COVID-19 and other critical illnesses, and supporting people losing income to the prolonged lockdowns. From healthcare to meals to emergency financial assistance, the amount of good this organization has done for the performing arts in the U.S. goes beyond dollars and cents. Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids offers hope.
Introducing Jack Noseworthy
00:02:05
Speaker
So, joining us today is a very special guest, Jack Noseworthy. He's an individual giving officer for Broadway Cares, and also a performing artist whose career spans decades on stage and screen. From Cats, A Chorus Line, Sweet Smell of Success, and the original Toronto Company of Come From Away on stage,
00:02:25
Speaker
To Encino Man, alive, to Brady Bunch movie U-571, on film, to CSI, judging Amy, Law & Order, and Elvis on TV, Jack is done it all. And now, his production company, Trueworthy Productions, is producing a musical based on the movie, Real Women Have Curves, that just opened at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts in December, and aims to be on Broadway very, very soon.
00:02:53
Speaker
So Jack, thank you so much for being on our show today. We're really happy to have you. Thank you. I'm really happy to be here and to chat with you and Yasi. So you have an amazing career. I mean, the number of things you have, we'll see if we can get all this into the show within one hour here. But first, let's go back to the beginning and talk about how you started off in acting with theater and film. Where do all that start from?
00:03:18
Speaker
Yeah, so I started, when I was just a kid, really, I started working, well, not really working, but I started doing shows with my church and my high school. And it was just something that I always wanted to do. And I went to college, I went to the Boston Conservatory and I trained in musical theater and dance. And I was just really driven and really focused. And I,
00:03:44
Speaker
always just wanted to be on Broadway. I really just had a goal to be on Broadway. And so I came to New York and went on my very first professional audition for the Broadway show Cats. And I was cast in the national tour of the show.
Jack's Career Transition from Broadway to Film
00:03:57
Speaker
And then I left that show to then do my audition for Jerome Robbins. And I was an original cast of Jerome Robbins Broadway, which was very exciting. That was my first Broadway show. And then I did a course line on Broadway. And then many years later, I did a speech of success with John Lithgow. But in between,
00:04:13
Speaker
you know, I went to Hollywood and made a lot of movies. So it really was like, but it really just did start with me wanting to sing and being in church.
00:04:24
Speaker
So you started off in Broadway, but then only a couple years later, you started not just going to Hollywood, but you were in like Encino Man, and you started from there on to like the Brady Bunch movie, and then U-571, all these different movies and projects. How did that flip so fast from like, you know, this Broadway track that suddenly being in all these movies? Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So, um, um, I, I never really thought about wanting to be in movies or be on television. That really wasn't what I was
00:04:53
Speaker
where I thought my career was, but I auditioned for a Broadway show and I didn't get it, for Miss Saigon, and I didn't get it, and the creator of that show, his name was Richard Mul- one of the writers on the show was Richard Mulby Jr., and he was writing a television series, and he said, hey, I think you should go out and audition for the show, I think you're really right for it.
00:05:14
Speaker
I was like, okay, well, I didn't get this job. And so I flew out to California and I was super driven. And I, you know, through a couple of connections, I met some agents and met some folks in the business in this one week I was out there. And the show that I was going to do, it never got made. And so I didn't get it, but I did get an agent and the agent told me to come out to California in January for pilot season.
00:05:40
Speaker
And so I came out for pilot season and six weeks later I got a pilot and did a television show for CBS that never aired. So I did 13 episodes of a television series that never aired. And it was created by David Franco who directed Devil Wears Prada. And so the show never aired, but while I was doing the show, I then got cast in Alive.
00:06:08
Speaker
And then I went off and made a live and then it's kind of like once you start, you know, once you, once you get on people's, you know, people start to know your name and you start to work that the flow just starts to happen. And I just looked right. I was the right age. You know, it was a time when, when someone like me, you know, a Caucasian young guy
00:06:31
Speaker
was very much in demand and I was a trained actor and I just started auditioning and I just started working and I started getting jobs and then I started getting really good jobs and good movies and television and stuff. So it was great. I mean, it really surprised me. I never ever expected to make movies and do TV and I loved it. I mean, I still love it. I wouldn't say that I'm done doing all that, but I definitely had a really, really solid 13 year run
00:07:01
Speaker
where I would do a television series or make a movie or an independent movie every year. Were you in your 20s when you started being involved in television or was it a lot younger than that?
Audition Experiences and Industry Insights
00:07:17
Speaker
Yeah, no, I was in my 20s. It was like 23, 24 is when I first did my first thing.
00:07:24
Speaker
So you had just come out of college. You moved out to Hollywood. You were getting involved in different TV shows. So what kind of support did you have there? And how did you, I always like to say, how did you make it through? I didn't have any support. I had myself. I mean, I have my family, but they were all back in Massachusetts.
00:07:51
Speaker
Um, but I wasn't, I mean, I had an agent and I, I was just driven. So if you mean by sort of like a support system of family and friends, I, I created friends on the shows. I worked on, uh, I'm still very good friends with the guys I did alive with the guys that did you five, seven, one with, um, but you know, you just start going out on auditions and you meet actors, you know, and, and you make friends.
00:08:14
Speaker
And that drive, right? So even though that one show didn't end up airing, you still have that drive to keep going. I feel like that takes a lot of drive to have to want to stay in this city, keep going, try and take all these other roles, maybe audition for something else. And I feel like it takes a certain kind of personality to be able to do that. Well, I think what happens is it's such a prolific time when you're young.
00:08:44
Speaker
And when you're that young, I mean, in your 20s and 30s, I had a lot of auditions. I mean, a lot of auditions. So, I mean, I probably, I couldn't even get to tell you what I averaged in terms of auditions. And then you're also meeting, like, it's not just the roles that you get, but it's all the roles I didn't get. You know, audition for, think of any movie that was made in that time period, and I'm sure I auditioned for it. Like, any movie that,
00:09:13
Speaker
Mark Wahlberg or Matt Damon or any of them were in School Days, like those, any movie with young guys in it, I guarantee you I auditioned for that movie. And then I got the ones I got and other people got the ones they got. But what keeps you going is that you, you, you know, when you're, again, it has something to do with like, you're being young, you're young and you're talented and you have craft and you are likable and you show up on time and you work that,
00:09:39
Speaker
you just, you keep getting auditions and eventually
Acting Preparation: Film vs. Stage
00:09:42
Speaker
you get parts, you know. And did you feel like you were drawn to certain roles, like when you were auditioning or you really just auditioned for anything? No, I mean, at first you're auditioning for anything, but then eventually you start to think, you know, this is a pass or, or this isn't right for me, or I really don't understand how to do something with this. What I bring to the table is, you know, I don't know my take on this. I don't, I don't think I'm right for this or, you know,
00:10:09
Speaker
or for whatever reason, yeah. I mean, you audition for the things that you really want to do. And then for the, you want to work with certain people. I audition for all the major directors that you know. I didn't get hired by them all, but I've auditioned for all of them.
00:10:31
Speaker
So I want to ask you real quick about you mentioned alive and I watched that movie. I mean, I don't know how many times though, dozens of times. Um, and so, but the physical aspect of filming that movie, um, how, how demanding was it for you? Like what kind of acclimation did you have to do to get ready for it? I mean, how rough was it for a film project? Because it looked pretty intense. Yeah, it was very demanding. We all, um, it's the only film I've ever shot in my life that shot in sequence.
00:11:00
Speaker
And so and the reason why we did that is because we all had to lose weight, right? So we had to lose weight because the survivors were up there for 72 days. We shot for 72 days.
00:11:11
Speaker
And then we were up there, they were there for a long period of time before they decided to eat human flesh to survive. And so we, contractually, we had to lose weight up until that scene. So, you know, I mean, I think being a dancer really prepared me for that, not necessarily losing weight, but the rigorous training that we had to go through in order to look physically right for it. So it was pretty demanding.
00:11:38
Speaker
And I'm also a huge fan of Sweet Smell of Success. I watched that movie a thousand times. So I saw you in the, I never, I haven't had a chance to ever see it on stage. So what was your experience like playing in that amazing show with that amazing dialogue and John Lithgow. And I mean, that must've been a pretty cool experience for you. Yeah. It's one of the best experiences I've ever had in my life. I mean, I.
00:11:59
Speaker
created an original show written by John Guare with music and lyrics, with music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Craig Carniella, directed by Nick Heitner, opposite John Lithgow, Kelly O'Hara, and Brian Dorsey James. And it truly being part of that company and having the opportunity to develop that material and be forever on the cast album and learn and be introduced those songs. It was a really, really, really fantastic experience. It was so creative.
00:12:30
Speaker
And you're just in the best hands of the most talented people in our business. And so it was just a terrific experience. It's one of the most joyous experiences of my life, actually. I hope they bring it back soon. I love to see it on stage. No, I mean, I think it's funny. The score is just so good. And now that I'm producing, there's times that I think, geez, maybe I could bring that to ENCORES. Because ENCORES is a program here.
00:12:59
Speaker
organization here that does that brings back shows that have a great score and they just put them on its city center with a huge orchestra and it's just people kind of hold their scripts and sing the music and and You know, the score is just so good I sometimes wonder if I should You know try to bring that back and put it on stage just because I want people to hear the music You know, I would not be in it. I would only produce it. Well, you have one vote here if that helps you I
00:13:26
Speaker
Tell us a little bit about what your process is for preparing for an acting role. When you look back at some of the hardest roles you've played or even the most inspiring roles you've played, what did it take to really prepare for that role? I did a production of Equus in Los Angeles when I was there. And I learned how to ride a horse for that.
00:13:54
Speaker
even though I didn't ride a horse, in the play, you just, it's a person. And then, so I learned how to ride a horse. I had to speak in a British dialect, so I had to learn the dialect. I often think about the physicality of the role and what, I kind of, if I feel, like when I read the material, there's just something about the material that makes me feel like I can access part of myself that is authentic to what the character is.
00:14:23
Speaker
And there's just something about the honesty or the truth of it that you can empathize with the character and you feel like you can never judge the character. You always think you're doing the right thing. And so that's sort of the key. You feel like, oh, there's a part of me in there that knows how to do that. And then so it just starts to manifest in you and you figure out how that character physically moves.
00:14:51
Speaker
Because I'm such a physical person, I often think that the internalization of what the character feels like then starts to me think, oh, how does my body, what should my body look like for a character like that? And oftentimes it
00:15:06
Speaker
You know, I like to be fit, so I would play with how fit I would be for something. And then I think about where the register of the character's voice would sit. So like, you know, it's really like, it starts with an internal approach and something that you feel attracted to, that the character can do, or that the character does, or something that the character expresses or feels, and then you just go from there.
00:15:33
Speaker
So how does your process change between film and Broadway stage roles? Because obviously, one's like going to be put onto a medium and shown and the other one you're performing every time, you know, every time a show exists. But do you have a different process for one versus the other? The initial sort of character development and discovery and research, I always do if it's possible for me to do research, I always do a lot of research and
00:16:00
Speaker
If it's a period piece, you want to know about the time period and what was happening in the world. And everything starts to, you start to see the character through the eyes of, you start to see in your daily life, you start to see what's happening in your daily life, how the character would react to situations or how they are. But for stage, because you have to repeat the performance for eight times a week,
00:16:27
Speaker
it definitely requires a different mechanism and a different training and a different discipline. So again, it does come down to my body and my instrument and certainly for stage my voice and how I take care of my voice, how I take care of my body, how I take care of your instrument. My body and my voice is my instrument. And so that understanding how you can attach
00:16:54
Speaker
understanding how you can use your instrument every single night. And that, you know, when you wake, people think, oh, you do a Broadway show, you only work two hours a night. You work all day. The entire day is getting you ready for that show because you can't talk during the day. Oftentimes you're on vocal rest or if you are physical, you have to be really careful about, you know, your physicality and you can't drink coffee. If you're singing, you can, it's like,
00:17:21
Speaker
Every single thing you do all day long is about how you can, for that two and a half hours, oh, did I just hit my mute? Oh, I thought I hit my mute. Everything you do all day long is about preparing for that show and how you can do that show the best way you can, right? Because your life happens, and somehow when your life happens,
00:17:49
Speaker
in crazy ways, and you have to learn how to utilize that for what you're doing that night. And it could be a negative or a positive thing that happens in the daytime, but you have to channel it and use it so that you can do what you're doing at night. That takes a lot. I mean, some of the shows are just back to back. And plus, for some of them, did you ever travel? Were you touring as well? Yeah.
00:18:17
Speaker
That's a whole nother layer on top of that, right? Like getting enough sleep when you're touring and getting used to time zone changes.
Challenges of Touring as an Actor
00:18:24
Speaker
How did that all? The thing I used to love about touring was that, because I was really dancing then, is that when you stay in a hotel, they have an ice machine. And I used to stick my feet in ice, or my knees in ice. And it was just so easy to get ice when you're in a hotel. Little pleasures.
00:18:48
Speaker
You did come from away again, another favorite show of mine, but that was your based in Toronto though, right? Yeah. So, um, so, um, I did, I opened the Toronto company and I did that show for 14 months. Um, and I lived in Toronto, um, the entire time, but you know, I, I had, I rented a, you know, like the bottom floor of a house and.
00:19:14
Speaker
you know, I was really close to the theater and I would ride my bike every day. So, you know, we're really living there. My husband is from Toronto. Well, he's originally from Columbia, but his family lives in Toronto. And so all my, you know, my mother-in-law was there, my sister-in-law, their family was there, pardon me. And then we have, um,
00:19:35
Speaker
a lot of great friends that live in Toronto. So it really, I'm super familiar with Toronto. It's a great city and it's a great theatre town. So yes, I was living there. And then it's also like a one hour flight back to New York from Billy Bishop Airport. So I could leave the theatre on a Sunday. I'd finish my show at 4.15. I'd catch the five o'clock flight. I could be home in my apartment by 7.30 at night in New York City.
00:20:04
Speaker
So I would do that occasionally. I would just go home for the weekend, or my day off. I'd go home on a Sunday and come back on a Tuesday. Very cool. But with the touring aspect of performing too, you've done tours as well. So what's the most difficult part of performing a tour? Well, again, I was really dancing.
00:20:31
Speaker
at that time, you know, our deck would be put onto an existing stage. And if the existing stage was cement, and we would put our deck on the stage, and even though we had, you know, sort of not really a spring floor, but a floor that had support, if their stage was really built on cement, it was really hard on your body, you know,
00:21:00
Speaker
if you're there for two weeks or a month and you're dancing on that hard floor because even though we had our deck still walking to and from the stage and around our deck, you're walking on the cement and that kind of pounding on your body and dancing that hard on the cement floor, that was really hard. And moving from city to city, your body had to adjust to that. If you're in Colorado,
00:21:24
Speaker
you know, the elevation is really high. So oftentimes they have an oxygen on either side of the stage when you're dancing. And then just, I mean, I think you would go, you know, you would go from city to city and you would walk out your hotel room and you'd take a ride and you would think, where's that restaurant?
00:21:42
Speaker
I know, and you realize, oh, that was two cities ago. I just forget, right? Like you're, I'm not at the same in the right city. I'm in the wrong city, right? Cause you just get, you're just touring, you do eight shows a week, you come out, you get your coffee, you go to the theater, and then, you know, so that part, that part's, but then you get to see these beautiful cities. I've been in every state in the country and you get to perform for these audiences that are so grateful to see a Broadway show in their hometown.
00:22:12
Speaker
You know, it can be really exciting. But I think mostly maintaining your facility. Again, like taking class, right? We would go to cities and you have to take class, right? I would take class every day or if I could. You know, we didn't always have company class, right? So you'd find a dance studio and you would go take class and find a place to take class and just keep yourself in shape.
00:22:38
Speaker
And will any of your tours have medical personnel, therapists, trainers with
Support Systems for Broadway Actors
00:22:42
Speaker
you guys? Or is it just physical training for yourself? No, no. The company manager would often find a physical therapist or a massage therapist for you. But, you know, yeah, it wasn't really like that. So what is it like now? Is there more support now for, um, you know, people on Broadway? Like are, is there,
00:23:02
Speaker
Is there a whole medical team that's put in place now? And is this with every show or is it only select shows? Equity versus non-equity shows? Yeah, I'm not sure. Well, non-equity, I have no idea what they do with a non-equity show. But I'm not sure what the actual equity rule is. My executive producer could tell me, but I don't know that. But I know even for our show now, for real women have curves, right, that we are the commercial producer zone that's being done at the ART.
00:23:31
Speaker
They have physical therapy every day at the studio. So during lunchtime, the actors can sign up and do physical therapy at lunchtime. And so that's available in rehearsal every single day, right? Again, we're rehearsing in New York City. So there's always a doctor. In fact, there was a psychologist today at the studio because our show has
00:23:59
Speaker
there's a moment in our show that requires the actors to sort of draw upon some traumatic events. And so they provided a psychologist to be with the actors today so they could sort of talk through the traumatic events so that we were making sure that we created a safe space for people to be vulnerable. So I do think that there is availability for mental health and physical health on shows today.
00:24:30
Speaker
We'll be back after this message.
00:24:34
Speaker
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00:25:01
Speaker
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00:25:23
Speaker
And now back to the show. So that brings us
Producing 'Real Women Have Curves'
00:25:26
Speaker
up to your show. You just mentioned real women have curves. You've been acting and stage and screen and TV. And now you're producing and you're producing musical musical version of this 2002 hit movie. So for you, how what is most fun part of
00:25:43
Speaker
you know, this process of I mean, obviously, it's a very challenging process. But like, what really inspires you to do this kind of work and bring a movie into a musical form and bring it out to stage? I think what the main reason why I wanted to produce is because I felt like I I I this is I sort of described
00:26:07
Speaker
My career is I've worked with everyone from Jerome Robbins to John Waters and everyone in between. And I've had a lot of really marvelous experiences and I really like what I do. I love what I do. And so I felt like I have a lot of knowledge and a lot of creativity. And then I'm every day learning more and more about the business side of it.
00:26:30
Speaker
And I wanted to be able to utilize that in a way that that just simply acting doesn't really allow. So I'm able to utilize my creativity and identify intellectual property that I could turn into live theater or a movie for that matter. I'm not ruling out films or television either happens to be theater right now. And so and then provide work for people.
00:26:54
Speaker
and give people, give voice to communities that don't necessarily get voice. So for example, with this show, this Mexican-American community, which it actually started as a play by Josefino Lopez. And so we optioned the play and the film. And so the play, the gravitas of the play is that it really introduces the undocumented experience for Mexican-Americans. And so, and that became really interesting to me
00:27:24
Speaker
for lots of reasons, mostly because it was a disenfranchised community that doesn't necessarily have a voice. But then literally my husband came to America as an undocumented person and was working on Broadway as an undocumented person. And that's how we met doing Jerome Robbins Broadway together. And felt this every time he got called down to the stage manager's office, he thought that
00:27:54
Speaker
INS was going to be taking him in out of the country. He thought the police were going to be there to take him off out of the country. And, you know, living in that kind of fear until he eventually he told me and we got him a visa. He got spot. Anyway, it was a whole journey. But that journey was so specific to him that when I read this play and we formed this company and we've done a couple of other things as well. But I just felt like, wow, this is something we both can really relate to. And I felt like it could sing.
00:28:22
Speaker
And so I was just really inspired to be able to create something that I felt was relevant in terms of the sort of immigration story that's happening in America right now that has continued, that will always continue, that's happening around the world with immigrants going from, trying to go from country to country. And then also it's very joyous, right? The protagonist in our show. It's a funny, it's a comedy, right?
00:28:52
Speaker
And it just really said to me it would sing. So that part of being able to take the creative side of me that understands how to tell stories as an actor, but also this business acumen that I'm very quickly developing and also utilizing my relationships within the community to help move something forward. And then everything I'm doing at Broadway Cares to help people in need.
00:29:15
Speaker
I feel like the worlds are all coming together and providing opportunity for folks. And so that's kind of where it started. And now what's happened is we actually have three or four other shows in our wheelhouse that we've optioned that
00:29:34
Speaker
two are in the developmental stage already. We've attached writers to them. And so it's going really well. Really cool. So now where are you with the show right now? What's the stages of development of a show like this from where it's at now to eventual goal of being on Broadway? Yeah. So what you do is we've optioned the play in the movie, as I said, and that's the intellectual property.
00:29:59
Speaker
We then hired this woman, Lisa Loomer, who is a fabulous playwright to come on board to adapt the play in the movie into a musical, right? You want to have a true adaptation, and you take the characters in the story and you adapt it into a musical. Then we hired this one, Joy Huerta, who's a seven-time Grammy Award-winning Mexican-American composer, part of this group called Jesse and Joy. And we partnered her with a
00:30:28
Speaker
a Colombian American composer by the name of Ben Velez, who's a musical theater composer. And so between Sergio and these three creators and myself and my partner, we then start developing the material. They start writing, we start working with them, and we work on the material. You then, we then did a table read. We did a 24 hour, a 29 hour reading with a small cast.
00:30:52
Speaker
that is just in music stands. We did another table read, another reading, and then we did what's called a four-week workshop where you put it on its feet with an equity workshop and you hire the entire cast and you stage it at a workshop. And then from that workshop, we then took that script, did more development, worked on the script, and then we engaged the ART. They agreed to put it into their season
00:31:21
Speaker
And then the ART actually produces the show, and the commercial producers, we enhance the production at the ART financially. And so they then basically provide us with this developmental period, and we don't have to sell any tickets. We're part of their subscription series, and so their built-in audience is, we don't have to do any single ticket business, they call it, right?
00:31:47
Speaker
So we're not responsible for selling tickets. They're responsible for that. So then it becomes this marriage of the developmental production and all of the staff and team at the ART. It's run by Diane Paulus and her team. And we work very closely with them and they advise us on their dramaturgy and their script analysis. And Diane's obviously a very, very accomplished director
00:32:16
Speaker
she and Sergio have worked together on other projects. And so, you know, we continue to work and develop the material and put it up on the stage at the ART, which will be the first time it's in front of a paying audience. And then that will be a time for us as the commercial producers to bring in investors, additional investors that then will help us shepherd the story and the piece to bring it to Broadway, right?
00:32:44
Speaker
Um, and so it's, it's a, it's an ongoing process. Shows never get finished. They just open. It sounds like an amazing process to go. I mean, very, very, any show that comes out, people were like, Oh, brand new show. But this show has been years and hours and months and weeks and just sweat, blood, sweat, and tears to produce it.
00:33:09
Speaker
Yeah, and we're actually on a fast track. I mean, we've really, we're really sort of like three and a half years in. And some shows can take seven, eight years, you know, it's it's it's a lot and it takes a lot of drive and determination. And, you know, I, I hope that will, you know, I hope that fall of 24 is our time.
00:33:32
Speaker
but it may need more development. You have to really, really take it seriously because you kind of only get one shot, right? I only know one show that opened in New York and then went away and developed more and then came back and was actually a hit in New York and that was next to normal, which Sergio choreographed. And then it won the Pulitzer Prize for Best Drama.
00:34:01
Speaker
Wow, that's amazing. Yeah, but when it first opened, it didn't, it was, you know, it was okay, but they, they really, they said, okay, great. So we're not gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna not keep going. We're gonna go work on it more. And they did, and then they came back and it was, you know, it was a really, it was a phenomenal show and a really big hit, so. What do you feel like you've done differently as a producer than other producers you've worked with? I think my, what I've,
00:34:31
Speaker
what I've done differently. But I think my biggest skill is I listen really well. And I'm a very, very good collaborator. Musical theater certainly is the most collaborative art form because everyone really has to understand what the artistic ambition is and be guiding towards, you know, going towards that. And so you are,
00:34:59
Speaker
oftentimes you have to be Big Daddy, you have to be a referee, you have to be a stern hand, you also have to be super creative and understand what you think is right and make the show that you want to make.
00:35:20
Speaker
I think the thing that I do the most is that I put myself in situations that are really, really, really scary and that I'm really afraid of and things that I think, I just don't know how I'm going to do this. I don't know how I'm going to do this. And I do it. So in terms of doing differently, I'm not sure. But I definitely think that
00:35:43
Speaker
because I'm an actor and because I've been a successful actor, that I think that I earn trust with people pretty quickly. But I'm definitely on the unedge all day. Well, I mean, just the story you shared and what your inspiration was behind bringing this show, excuse me, this movie to life on Broadway.
00:36:09
Speaker
I mean, you can just tell, you know, where the heart is. Right. And I'm curious to know, like, from where you started to where you guys are now, does it still have that vision that you initially had when you were. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's definitely an adaptation. And, you know, we are not you never we're not, you know, we're not putting the the movie on stage or the play on stage. We've taken it and we've we've. So.
00:36:36
Speaker
Wow, that's awesome. The music is amazing. When you're creating a musical, you need to have great music and we have great music. So that's really exciting. I feel like this show would have a lot of really good food backstage too. Because of the cultural aspect of it, I'm like, oh my gosh, I wonder what the menu looks like. Best craft services ever.
00:37:01
Speaker
Well, you know, it's funny, we don't have craft forever, so I'm probably not like a movie. Oh, really? No, no, no, it's not like that, you know. Oh, boy. I mean, one can dream. I'm like just thinking about what it would look like. Lots of cheese and lots of rice and beans.
00:37:23
Speaker
So Jack, we covered all this with acting and on stage and screen and TV and producing, but you actually have an actual official day job with Broadway Cares.
Role at Broadway Cares and Fundraising
00:37:34
Speaker
I mean, all this. I don't know how you'd find time to do all this, but Broadway Cares has, I mean, my first experience of it was going to shows in Detroit, the Broadway in Detroit tours and having the red bucket nights where we donate money and they have auctions for
00:37:49
Speaker
Broadway elements that are sold, or sorry, that are signed and sold, and learning more about how Broadway Cares has been supporting the community of the performing arts for years. And now you're one of their officers. So tell us a little bit about what you're doing with Broadway Cares and what the mission of Broadway Cares is. Yeah, sure. So I'm an individual giving officer. And so what I do is I have a portfolio of our annual donors.
00:38:19
Speaker
And those are folks that they make either a once a year or a monthly donation to Broadway Cares. And annual donors can contribute and be part of our annual giving society for $1,000 an app, right? So I manage folks that, I also manage the young professionals group called the NextGen Network. And those donors can donate anywhere between $250 a year and up.
00:38:49
Speaker
And so I manage a portfolio of people that either donate from $250 to $100,000. And so those folks are committed to our organization because I like to think of us as a mutual fund of giving because we serve, we provide grants to 475 social service organizations across the country in Puerto Rico and Washington, DC in all 50 states.
00:39:18
Speaker
Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C. And then we're the largest funder to the to the entertainment community fund and all of their social service organizations, which helps people in the entertainment industry in their time of need. So what I really do is I make I as a development officer, which is my role in the major gifts department, I, you know, I have relationships with my supporters of Broadway Cares.
00:39:44
Speaker
And you are, for our organization, folks either decide to support us because of our connection and the start of our organization about helping people with HIV and AIDS. We've shifted, we've pivoted a little bit over the years. We now help through the Phyllis Newman Women's Health Initiative, through the Andrew Damon Community Fund,
00:40:09
Speaker
We help women that are struggling with cancer and a myriad of other, you know, female specific issues. And then when we hit COVID, we then started, we pivoted again and started raising money for folks that were suffering from COVID or the effects of COVID. Now, as we are 33 years,
00:40:32
Speaker
We've been here for 33 years and all of the organizations that we grant, we give grants to, our vetting process is very good. And so many of the organizations that we provide grants to have been with us for 33 years. And so folks donate to Broadway Cares and support Broadway Cares because they know that we are vetting these organizations
00:41:00
Speaker
and we are choosing organizations that are on mission for them as individuals. And they trust that when they make a donation to Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids, or they support us annually, that their money is going to support and help people in need for these food insecurity, HIV and AIDS, again, female health issues. And so they just feel good that they know, oh, I support Broadway Cares. I would often tell people that during the pandemic when you
00:41:29
Speaker
turned on your television set and you saw a parking lot with cars lined up to get a box of food. It's a very, very good chance that that organization was getting a grant from Broadway Cares. And you could take solace in knowing that you saw a homeless person on the street and they need food.
00:41:51
Speaker
you know, they could go to a shelter and be fed or put their hat on a pillow because of your support of Broadway Care's Equified States. So it's, you know, it's very, very rewarding work to know that not only are we helping people, but we are giving access to people to donate to help people. So my role is really as a conduit for folks that want to help people indeed.
00:42:18
Speaker
and provide them with the opportunity through our organization to actually do that. This could be support for any, any one, right? It's not one population of people, correct? No. Okay. No, not at all. So, so no, not absolutely not, not at all. I mean, any, anyone can be suffering from food insecurity or have HIV or have HIV or be exposed to HIV.
00:42:46
Speaker
or any myriad of issues that someone might have. So no, there's not one specific group that we're supporting. And when can, so is it when, I'm just curious for like anyone who might be listening, but when it comes to raising funds through Broadway Cares, when are those opportunities presented to viewers? Is it just online? Is it live after a show? How does this all work? How do people donate?
00:43:14
Speaker
So twice a year, we have what's called our bucket brigade. We're actually in it right now in late October through early December. At every theater, when you go to see a Broadway show, there's people standing out there with a red bucket and there's an appeal made from the stage and audience members can drop money into the red buckets. We do that in the spring and the fall. So we have the red bucket follies and the Easter bonnet competition.
00:43:45
Speaker
And then around the country, we're just getting back to the touring companies actually participating in the Red Bucket Brigade. During COVID, it was very, very challenging because we couldn't have the actors on stage step out into the audience because they were supposed to be exposed to COVID. And we couldn't be responsible for a show getting COVID that was not useful. Right.
00:44:11
Speaker
We still now have volunteers and the shows are just bringing people out into the audience now. It's really a group of volunteers that actually do that. But then we have a number of events. We have an event called Broadway Backwards, we have an event called Broadway Bears. Pardon me. And then we have various other one-off events through the year that also raise money for our organization. In addition to, if people go to BroadwayCares.org,
00:44:40
Speaker
and go to donate, you can see that we have the Angel Circle, the Visionary Circle, and the NextGen Network, and folks can click on to those, to our website, and they can, through online, they can join our annual Giving Society and become annual donors to Broadway Cares as well. That's awesome.
00:45:01
Speaker
What is Broadway Cares there? You mentioned how they had to pivot several times in the last few years. What is the target goal, I guess, from a mission standpoint in the near future here? What is Broadway Cares next obstacle to try and tackle? I think that coming back from COVID is people are
00:45:31
Speaker
exhausted, right? There's just, we call it donor fatigue, because people have just felt so inspired to give that those donation amounts that we were getting in COVID, because it was just so prevalent throughout the world, people just get tired of being asked to donate money.
00:45:58
Speaker
And even though it's marvelous, people still do, and we still do quite well, I think finding ways to continue to inspire folks to understand that people's problems don't go away, people are still hungry. One statistic we often talk about is that 75% of new HIV infections are in the black and brown community in the South.
00:46:26
Speaker
and often folks that are compromised in terms of their economic status. And so it's about creating awareness, it's about creating resources, it's about creating education and stigma and making stigma go away. So getting people to understand that the world's problems don't go away,
00:46:50
Speaker
COVID happened, but we still need to continue to support and help organizations like Broadway Cares, Equity, Fights, AIDS. And then also people are just coming back into the theater and feeling safe into the theater. It's still taking time. And so building that confidence back and seeing that the red buckets are back in the theater
00:47:14
Speaker
and getting folks to understand that, no, no, no, we still need to donate. So really, it's that. It's continuing to create awareness and getting folks to understand that we still need their help.
Importance of Mental Health and Self-Care
00:47:31
Speaker
Um, so you've taken on a ton of roles and something I really want to know is how you keep yourself mentally healthy with producing, even with acting family. There's a lot that you're juggling. So how do you do it all? And, you know, do you ever take, do you even take breaks? Like, do you take vacation? How does it work? Self-care.
00:47:58
Speaker
is something I'm working on. During the pandemic, in December of last year, I got my master's degree. So I was also going to school to get my master's degree while I was doing all this stuff. And I have a child. I'm raising a child. So we have a five and a half year old.
00:48:27
Speaker
I'm not sure. I often think, God, I really would love to just take a week and, like, everything go away and clean the slate. I don't know when that's going to happen, and I definitely need it. But you find that if you have a couple of hours where you feel like everything's settled and you can, you know, I don't know, go have lunch with a friend.
00:48:55
Speaker
It's definitely something that I need to work on more, is that kind of self-care and vacation. And when I finally get one and I don't see one in the future, I'm not quite sure I'm going to know what to do.
00:49:15
Speaker
I feel like I really need like a month where I don't have to do anything. Yeah. Will you get actors in your shows that you work with that ask you for advice on that? I mean, are people more open to talking with others about this? Have you seen that in the performing arts world? I think when I was really acting, when that was my job,
00:49:43
Speaker
You spend a lot of time, so you spend a lot of time in between jobs, which I've realized now that I actually really like, like you work three months in a movie or whatever, and then you might have three months off. So I actually really got to like that, you know? And so you're able to have some self care, but the pressure of when you're gonna get your next job is also something that you struggle with. I think that actors help each other through those periods.
00:50:12
Speaker
I have a colleague here at work that I'm very good friends with, so we have a good work relationship and a good off-work relationship. But yeah, I think that they really push mental health and resting, and they want you to do that. It's certainly no one's fault that I have a full-time job as a development officer at Broadway Care.
00:50:38
Speaker
a full-time job as producing Broadway shows or wanting to produce Broadway shows, a full-time job as a dad. So, you know, I've kind of taken on those things myself, but I often think about those times when I was between jobs, when I was acting, and I wish I had something to do besides go to the gym. And, you know, now I've just, I'm sort of making up for that time period, and eventually I think
00:51:03
Speaker
If I'm lucky enough to have a real woman have curves be a hit, maybe I'll be able to take a week off somewhere. Well, Jack, I hope you get that week very soon. Until then, keep up with the amazing work you're doing and very impressed with what you've done so far and your dedication to socially conscious projects and with the dedication to the performing arts community.
Closing Remarks and Acknowledgements
00:51:24
Speaker
We're so happy to have you on the show. Thank you so much for your time.
00:51:27
Speaker
Thank you, Steve. Thank you so much and thank you, Yasi. I really appreciate talking to both of you. It's a pleasure and it's a thrill to sort of think about all these things and hope that like you all and the work you're doing with athletes and helping them have their own physical and mental health in good shape,
00:51:47
Speaker
I hope that the art that I'm bringing into the world and the work we're doing for Broadway Cares helps people the way you people are helping people. So thank you. It certainly has. Yep. Thank you. Right on. All right. Thank you, guys. Talk to you later. And that wraps up another episode. We'd like to thank our sponsor, School Health, again for supporting the show. And if you like what you hear, please click Subscribe and leave a review.
00:52:12
Speaker
For Yossi Ansari, I'm Stephen Karaginas. This has been the Athletes in the Arts Podcast.