The Theatre Leadership Project (TTLP), an ambitious nonprofit aimed at providing resources to programs that seek to diversify commercial theatre leadership, has launched its latest endeavor designed to develop BIPOC company managers and assistant company managers for Broadway productions. TTLP’s Company Management Program will offer fellowships featuring supplemental opportunities for continued learning and mentorship to up to five employed BIPOC company managers and assistant company managers already working on Broadway shows as New York’s hard-hit theatrical industry reawakens.
This latest initiative adds to the groundbreaking three-year fellowship programs TTLP announced in April to train, mentor and place the next generation of Black producers, general managers, company managers and stage managers in commercial theatre management or production. In contrast to the previously announced fellowships, the new Company Management Program will see company managers already working on Broadway have the chance to augment their job experience and increase their skills with support from TTLP. If there is a lull between shows, fellows will get 20 weeks of income and the ability to apply for additional funds as available for childcare, student loan help, moving assistance, etc., during which they will continue their learning and mentorship.
“TTLP is seeking to blast away the barriers that undermine retention of Black talent in commercial theater by delivering individual programs to each participant that address their specific needs, whether they be additional skills like accounting for stage or other growth areas like networking, conflict management or executive leadership training,” said Travis LeMont Ballenger, a TTLP founder. “As a person-centric organization, we recognize that one size does not fit all, so we will give our Company Management fellows room to envision and chart their own destiny.”
TTLP founding members are producers Barbara Broccoli (Once, The Band’s Visit), Lia Vollack (MJ the Musical, Almost Famous), Alecia Parker (Waitress, Chicago), Patrick Daly (The Mountaintop; August: Osage County) and Ballenger (MJ the Musical, Almost Famous). Whoopi Goldberg, Kamilah Forbes, Whitney White, Aaliytha Stevens, Brian Moreland, Robert Fried, Stefan Schick and Oliver Sultan serve as advisory council members. Leah Harris, formerly of Dallas Theater Center and Milwaukee Rep, is program manager.
Prospective company managers and assistant company managers and their producers will together need to fill out the application form for the program. Applications will be available on August 2 and will be accepted on a rolling basis. Those interested should email info@ttlp.org with the subject line Company Management Program” to receive an application for the program.
BIPOC company managers or assistant company managers interested in the program, but not currently contracted with a show, should send an email and resume to info@ttlp.org with the subject line “CM Program Applicant.”
For more information, visit the TTLP website, www.theatreleadershipproject.org.
TTLP has been generously supported by the Dana & Albert R. Broccoli Charitable Foundation; Diana DiMenna; John Gore, Lauren Reid and the John Gore Organization; K Period Media; MGM Studios; Scott Delman; and the Shubert Organization, Inc. All donations are tax-deductible through The Theatre Leadership Project’s 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor, the Entertainment Industry Foundation (EIF).