What personally motivated you to write a play about Martin Luther King, Jr?

The play started with a story that my mother told me when I was very young. She wanted to go see Dr. King that night at the Mason Temple but she didn’t get a chance to hear him speak, because there was so much talk about violence. Some people said they were going to bomb the church. Someone overheard the mayor say if “Dr. King comes to Memphis he’s not going to make it out alive.” And so my mother was extremely afraid. That story stayed with me. It embedded itself inside of my mind. I started thinking, well, if she was afraid to go to the church, he must have really been afraid. Here was a man who lived with the threat of a bullet all the time. He woke up every day in spite of the death threats. My mother’s story was a point of inspiration for me. It provided a springboard for me to delve into what King was going through at the time of his demise. The character Chamea (played by Angela Bassett) is inspired by my mother because there is a line in the play where she says, “I wish I got a chance to see you.”

How was it working with such A-list stars as Samuel L. Jackson and Angela Bassett as the leads?

I am not very starstruck. So, to me it has been all about the work. It’s really been about working with a new director and new actors versus working with the big name stars that they are. They gave me an amazing amount of respect, especially as a young Black emerging artist. We had conversations about the characters. I got to stay in the room with them for eight hours a day. It was a collaborative process. This play is very much about two people being in a room together and changing one another.

What do you hope The Mountaintop’s audiences will walk away with after viewing the play?

That they will see a very human portrayal of Dr. King as a man who deals with his spirituality and who deals with his temptations just like every other man. They will see that this is an ordinary man who did extraordinary things and changed the world.  By watching this they will see that as regular people they too can do extraordinary things. So, I feel as though audiences will be very much inspired. I think it will also challenge people’s idea of Dr. King and prevent this moral amnesia. A lot of people don’t know that at the end of Dr. King’s life he wasn’t just dealing with the civil rights movement he was dealing with economic injustice (Poor People’s Campaign). He was trying to organize another March on Washington.  He was speaking out against the Vietnam War. So, he was taking up this triple prong approach to equality. During the last year of his life he was very different, he was becoming very radical.

What made you to become a playwright?

There are so many reasons but I started out as an actress. I became frustrated with the lack of extremely complex, meaty roles for African Americans. When I was in acting class, my scene partner and I went to the library to try to find a play that had a scene for two Black women. It was really hard. That was in 2002. Now I focus my plays on bringing my experience to the stage being an African American woman from the South and bringing a unique perspective that I think is missing from American theater right now.

How does it feel to make history, knowing you’re one of three Black women (Lydia Diamond and Suzan Lori-Parks) with Broadway productions this season?

It’s wonderful to be among these sisters. We all know each other. We all support each other’s work. For the three of us to be arriving together at this point in time, it does demonstrate that there may be a possibility of changing Broadway or the Great White Way. But I am also hesitant to celebrate. Across the nation, only 17% of plays written by women all together are produced. I think that is very troubling. Having three Black women being produced on Broadway symbolizes change but the change has to go much deeper and it has to happen more consistently.

Check out Hall, along with other Black playwrights and producers, including Alicia Keys, Whoppi Goldberg, Stephen Byrd, and more, who are celebrated in the Business of Broadway cover story in the December 2011 issue of BLACK ENTERPRISE magazine, which on newsstands now.

Black Enterprise December 2011 cover

Alicia Keys Presents Stick Fly reads the marquee on Broadway’s Cort Theater. The 14-time Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter and the play, written by African American playwright Lydia R. Diamond about a well-to-do black family vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard, are newcomers to the Great White Way. As a co-producer, Keys didn’t just invest money or lend her name to Stick Fly’s marketing strategy. She has been instrumental in bringing the play to the Broadway stage.

Since its 2006 theater debut, the critically acclaimed play has enjoyed successful regional productions in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, and Washington, D.C. “A colleague saw the play and said it was an amazing piece,” says Keys. “When I read it and when I saw it, I was moved.” Keys joins Tyler Perry’s longtime producing partner and casting director Reuben Cannon on Stick Fly’s production team.

Keys has expanded her creative wings by scouting for film, television, and other projects. This fall she made her directorial debut with “Lili,” part of the short film anthology Five, about breast cancer survivors. It aired on the Lifetime network. “One of my goals is to help bring forth stories that have variety to them, stories that you don’t often get to hear,” Keys says. With a $2.9 million budget, Stick Fly will need an audience capacity of about 60% during its run to recoup its production costs.

Sparks of color are shining on the Great White Way this winter with shows such as Stick Fly. Among roughly 33 plays and musicals to open during the 2011–2012 season, five feature prominent African American characters, actors, or storylines. There’s The Mountaintop, written by Katori Hall, with Hollywood A-listers Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson; and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess, Suzan-Lori Parks’ reimagined version of the folk opera starring four-time Tony Award-winner Audra McDonald. In the works for spring productions are a multiracial revival of A Streetcar Named Desire and Magic/Bird, about NBA legends Earvin “Magic” Johnson and Larry Bird.

This current season may be historic because three African American female playwrights—out of six shows by women—have high-profile productions. Both Hall and Diamond are making their debuts (Parks is the third). Lynn Nottage, an acclaimed author of several plays, is yet to have her work produced on Broadway, but now there’s talk of taking her off-Broadway production, By The Way, Meet Vera Stark, starring Sanaa Lathan, to the main stage next year.

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The pool of hands-on black producers of Broadway shows remains shallow. But among them is actress and ABC’s The View co-host Whoopi Goldberg, who has produced the Broadway musicals Sister Act and Thoroughly Modern Millie, and August Wilson’s play Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.

While more African Americans behind the scenes translates into more diverse material and casting, it also represents potentially boffo box office sales by attracting multicultural audiences and generating increased revenues.

Stephen Byrd is one producer who’s been able to develop such productions. Byrd, a former investment banker, and his producing partner, Alia Jones, has carved out a niche on Broadway by casting classic Tennessee Williams plays with African American actors. Their 2008 revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof starred James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, and Terrence Howard. Their latest production, A Streetcar Named Desire, features Blair Underwood and Nicole Ari Parker.

George C. Wolfe is the only African American writer-director-producer to dominate Broadway over the past two decades. His portfolio includes Angels In America; Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk; Topdog/Underdog; Caroline, or Change; and The Wild Party.

It was Kenny Leon, the African American director of Stick Fly who distinguished himself through his work in regional theater and on Broadway, that brought Keys in as a producer.
Leon also stage-directed Keys’ “As I Am” concert tour. Besides directing regional productions of Stick Fly, Leon has directed the revival of Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun starring Sean “Diddy” Combs and Phylicia Rashad, and three of August Wilson’s plays on Broadway: Gem of the Ocean, Radio Golf, and Fences starring Denzel Washington and Viola Davis. Leon also directed Katori Hall’s much talked-about The Mountaintop.

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Leon called on award-winning film, television, and Broadway producer Nelle Nugent, who is white, and in turn Nugent brought on her friend and colleague Reuben Cannon. The pair had worked together on the film adaptation of Master Harold … and the Boys. Thanks to Leon’s urging, Keys also agreed to compose the score for Stick Fly. “I am definitely looking to be part of Broadway,” says Keys. “I want to do musicals, I want to write, I want to compose. If I find the right piece, I might even act.”

Cashing in on Celebrities
The role of Broadway producers varies, industry insiders say, but typically the lead producer spearheads the charge, raising the initial capital, selecting the director, and bringing on interested partners. Co-producers may have a hand in the marketing, advertising, and publicity of a production. “In the end, it’s really about producing  a successful, entertaining  show that will have a lasting emotional  effect and a long run on Broadway and beyond,” says Cannon.

Raising funds is a huge challenge in mounting any Broadway show, and it’s said that only one show in five ever earns its money back. This makes investing in black shows even riskier. On average it costs between $1.5 million and $3 million to produce a play, and anywhere from $5 million to $13 million to mount a musical. A lead producer may bring on investors (often other producers) who invest from $10,000 to $300,000 or more.

So when they need to raise the profile and viability of a show, producers approach celebrities. It took nearly 10 years to bring The Color Purple to Broadway. But after producer Scott Sanders, who is white, managed to raise $10 million upfront, national media icon Oprah Winfrey called and offered to help. Besides contributing $1 million, the billionaire entrepreneur agreed to have her name displayed on the marquee. The show ran from 2005 to 2008, and recouped its $11 million initial investment in its first year before going on tour, grossing more than $100 million and reaching nearly 1.5 million theatergoers.

At the time of his death in 2005, the two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson was one of the country’s most esteemed dramatists, though his plays have had mixed commercial success. The 2010 revival of Fences starring Denzel Washington grossed more than $12.9 million. To date, Fences is Wilson’s only play to make a profit.

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Stick Fly’s cast includes television stars Mekhi Phifer (ER), Dulé Hill (Psych), and Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Castle, Law & Order). It also features Condola Rashad, the daughter of Phylicia Rashad. “Casting TV stars gives it a hip factor, especially among young people,” says Leon.

The Mountaintop’s producers, Sonia Friedman and Jean Doumanian, who are white, are banking on the star power of Angela Bassett and Samuel L. Jackson to attract huge New York audiences. But it’s about more than celebrities, says Friedman. “We thought this was an original play that would resonate with American audiences.”

The Mountaintop is the fictional account of an encounter between Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (played by Jackson) and a chamber maid (played by Bassett) in Memphis the night before his assassination. One of the most highly anticipated plays this fall, The Mountaintop is an import from London’s West End, where it won the Olivier (West End’s equivalent to Broadway’s Tony Award) for Best New Play.

Investors in the London show also invested in the Broadway production. The Mountaintop is already making money: In its first seven weeks of previews and performances, Hall’s play has reached 83% to 98% of audience capacity, according to the Broadway League, a trade group of producers and theater owners.

Because of the limited time commitments of many actors, some plays have limited runs, 13 weeks compared with 52. “The casting process is crucial to the potential box-office success of a play,” says Cannon. “While it doesn’t guarantee it, casting well-known, talented actors goes a long way toward marketing, publicity, and ticket sales.” A coveted Tony Award win or nomination can also bump up box office sales and potentially extend a show’s run or save it from closure.

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Actress Tamara Tunie

Producing for Passion and Profit
African American producers aren’t just taking on black shows. Tamara Tunie, best known from the NBC series Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, has deep connections to the Broadway stage as a performer in shows, including the revival of Julius Caesar starring Denzel Washington. Tunie was also one of the Tony Award-winning producers of the Broadway musical Spring Awakening and an investor in Legally Blonde, The Musical. She also produced August Wilson’s Radio Golf, the final work in the playwright’s epic 10-play cycle chronicling 20th-century African American life.

When Tunie signed on as a producer for the 2007 Broadway production of Radio Golf, she committed to raising a considerable portion of its $2.1 million budget. She enlisted the help of Wendell Pierce (HBO’s The Wire), making him the second African American on the producing team. Pierce had co-produced Wilson’s Jitney off-Broadway. After an 11-week run Radio Golf grossed $1.8 million.

“For Radio Golf my goal was to get more black folks into the theater, and I did that,” says Tunie. “For me, it’s not just about the money.”

First-time producers Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones broke all the rules with their 2008 star-studded production of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Their initial budget was $3 million, but they came in under budget, at $2.1 million. Byrd and Jones targeted high net worth individuals who were willing to take risks. It took 13 years to bring the show to the stage because of delays in acquiring the cast, a director, and a theater.

The audience makeup was 60% black, 40% white, says Byrd. In the end, Cat grossed $12.6 million after its limited run, among only five shows to recoup their investment during the 2007–2008 season. The duo repeated their success in 2009 when they took the all-black production to London’s West End theater district. “Normally shows are imported to Broadway from London,” says Byrd. The move paid off. Cat brought home the Olivier Award for Best Revival.

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Byrd and Jones maintained most of their investors for A Streetcar Named Desire. “Most of our original investors came back, except for one,” says Byrd. To produce Streetcar, $2.5 million has been raised.

Capitalization isn’t the only concern. “Finding a show that will keep my interest is my biggest challenge,” says Whoopi Goldberg.” I became a producer because I am interested in seeing certain things. I figured, ‘Well, if you want to see it, you are going to have to do it yourself because your sensibilities are a little quirky.’”

Goldberg’s first production, Thoroughly Modern Millie, was a musical she loved as a child. It won six Tony Awards in 2002 including Best Musical, and grossed $75.6 million before touring. It was Sister Act’s lead producer Joop van den Ende who sought out Goldberg as a producer. “I was taken aback because three years prior when some other people had the property, I said I would love to come on and help. They basically told me to get lost.”
Goldberg didn’t simply attach her name to Sister Act. “Literally from London to here we changed the book, taking out some things I thought were wrong with the piece. We changed the dialogue. We changed the feeling of Deloris. We changed some of the characters, because they were a little cliché.”

There is no formula for what makes a Broadway show a hit. “It’s a crapshoot,” says Goldberg, who is working on a documentary and a solo show about African American stand-up comedian Moms Mabley. “It can be the greatest book, the greatest musical, and nobody wants to see it. I always say to people if you are passionate about the piece do everything you can for it, but keep in mind that because theater is so subjective, no one knows if it will work, no one knows if it will last.”

Taking Stock and Ownership
Broadway has 40 theaters ranging in size from about 600 seats to 1,900, with 80% of these houses owned by three entities: Shubert, Nederlander, and Jujamcyn.

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(Photo: Lonnie C. Major)

Producers encounter problems licensing a Broadway theater, especially when so many are dominated by long-running productions, because theater owners don’t just rent space, they also have a financial interest in a show’s success.

“Owners get a percentage of the box-office receipts, and if they think a show isn’t going to make money, you aren’t going to get that theater, even if you have the money,” says Woodie King Jr., who in 1970 founded the New Federal Theater on New York’s Lower East Side.

King says young black playwrights and producers no longer have mentors and champions like the late Joseph Papp, who helped Ntoshake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf transition from King’s New Federal Theater to Papp’s own Public Theater to Broadway’s Booth Theater. “I was 33 when I produced For Colored Girls, written by a 25-year-old Shange. One person put up all the money to bring the show to Broadway,” says King, who also produced and directed the play Checkmates with Denzel Washington on Broadway in 1988.

As producer at the Public Theater (1993-2004), George C. Wolfe moved Topdog/Underdog to Broadway. The Pulitzer Prize-winning play by Suzan-Lori Parks was her first to appear on the Great White Way. “I was interested in taking shows to Broadway that in theory didn’t belong there and proving that they did belong,” says Wolfe. “So, let me take this tap dancing show centered around young black men to Broadway, which was Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk.” He notes that at the Public he had the advantage and the artistic vision to “bring to Broadway plays and musicals that didn’t necessarily adhere to a prescribed commercialized vision of what a Broadway show was supposed to be.” Wolfe also directed and wrote the 1992 Broadway musical Jelly’s Last Jam.

There is growing investor interest in Broadway, where box-office revenues reached a record $1.1 billion during the 2010–2011 season. Attendance was up more than 5% compared with the previous season, when overall attendance was down more than 2%. From Fela! to Fences, several productions featuring a black cast were nominated for a record number of Tony Awards.

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“I think one of the reasons we broke so many records is that we have such diverse offerings on Broadway,” says the Broadway League’s Executive Director Charlotte St. Martin. “There used to be three kinds of shows: musical, comedy, and serious play. Now, there’s something for every audience. The number of black productions has grown and continues to grow. This season is a strong reflection of that.”

Diversity is also reflected by a growing number of productions in recent years that aren’t traditionally black shows but cast black actors and draw black audiences, such as Race and The Motherf***er With The Hat, starring comedian Chris Rock. Even the 2011 Tony Award-winning The Book of Mormon, about Mormon missionaries in Uganda, features a significant black cast. The Tony Award-winning musical Memphis, about 1950s rock and roll and race relations, has attracted large diverse audiences.

“Any producer, general manager, or theater owner I talk to is in favor of more diversity in general, including diverse stories and audiences,” says Sharon Jensen, executive director of Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts, an organization that promotes diversity and inclusion in American theater, film, and television. “Things are changing, though nobody thinks we’re where we ultimately need to be. Do we need more producers who are diverse?” “Absolutely.”

Overall, about 76% of Broadway theatergoers are white, while the remaining 24% are people of color. Broadway attendance among black audiences increased between 1999 at 2.4% and 2007 at 6.7%, the highest to date with a season lineup that included The Color Purple. The percentage of black theatergoers dropped by the end of 2009, representing 2.4% of 12.2 million ticket buyers, as did overall attendance affected by the recession.

Byrd believes there is a Broadway audience out there between Tyler Perry and August Wilson that has not been addressed. Donna Walker-Kuhne, president of Walker International Communications Group, says, “People want to see shows that reflect their interests or culture. It also depends on how they’re being engaged and marketed to.” Her organization specializes in strategic marketing and audience development, and Stick Fly is one of her clients.

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Black theatergoers will be critical this season. No doubt, from investors to producers to theater owners all eyes will be on the numbers—how many seats are sold at shows like The Mountaintop, Stick Fly, Porgy and Bess, and Streetcar. The commercial success of these productions could open up doors for even more African Americans behind the scenes as writers, directors, producers, and composers.

“There are huge opportunities for African Americans to become more involved with the business side of Broadway,” says Leon. “Yes, it is a gamble, but when you do make your money back, you do very well.” He suggests that investors diversify their investment pool among three or five shows to minimize risks and maximize profits.

“The black community must take responsibility in terms of how our culture is preserved and how we curate it,” adds Walker-Kuhne, also a co-founder of Impact Broadway, a nonprofit that engages multicultural young people around theater. “We must be willing to take risks and take ownership on Broadway.”

Here’s a behind the scenes look at the December 2011 Black Enterprise cover shoot

One of last season’s biggest success stories was the all-black cast of Cat On A Hot Tin Roof starring James Earl Jones, Phylicia Rashad, Terrence Howard, and Anika Noni Rose, and directed by Debbie Allen. The revival of the Tennessee Williams classic grossed $12.6 million on a final budget of $2.1 million before it closed last month after a limited run. It generated a spectacular return for its investors, led by the African American producing team of Stephen C. Byrd and Alia M. Jones, both of Front Row Productions. A made-for-television film is now in the works, as well as a production in London’s West End.

While theater-like movies and art are undeniably risky investments–;reportedly 80% to 90% of Broadway productions lose money–;the success of Cat on A Hot Tin Roof proves that an investment in a theatrical production can generate high returns when the elements and the stars align properly, making theater a hot property for people with the appetite to see their investment live or die on the whims of the public and theater critics.

Cat’s stellar ride is a great case study of what an investor needs to contemplate when considering an investment in a play or musical. “Ultimately the investors are investing in a producer,” says Jones, the co-producer on Cat. Jones underlines the fact that a producer’s job is to not only raise the financing, but to be a sound money manager while selling ticket inventory. “The investors must have confidence in the producer’s ability to bring the production in on budget or under budget and to get audiences to the theater,” she says.

In evaluating Jones’s advice, it should help to know that Byrd and Jones are not your typical Broadway producers; both have backgrounds in the corporate sector. Before venturing to Broadway, Byrd, who worked 13 years to bring Cat to the stage, was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, specializing in mergers and acquisitions. He’s currently a principal and co-founder of StoneHedge Capital Inc., a private equity firm. Jones, like Byrd, has an MBA, and serves as a vice president at Front Row. She is also a principal in AMU Services, a business development consulting firm, and she worked in interactive marketing at Proctor & Gamble.

With demonstrated business acumen, Byrd and Jones are the types of producers in whom investors, particularly those new to the theater world, might find some level of comfort in spite of the inherent risks such investments present.

In raising the initial estimated budget of $2.8 million, the producers targeted high net worth individuals who had an appetite for risk, each making a minimum investment of $280,000. The producers and the play’s general manager found ways to cut costs, bringing the budget down to its final number of $2.1 million, a 25% savings.

The savings included opting out of traditional theater marketing techniques such as direct mail; cutting the number of children in the cast from five to three; and using corporate sponsors for travel and lodging. “I was able to secure sponsorships with companies such as Continental Airlines, Korman Properties, and Verizon,” Jones says. She estimates that eliminating direct mail alone saved the production upwards of $150,000.

Fifty percent of the investors were African American, according to Jones, and mostly included individuals new to Broadway investing. “The investors we found have an affinity for the arts and the prestige of Broadway,” Jones points out. The producers sold the investors on the all-star cast, Allen’s involvement, the idea of the play being a “must-see event,” and the fact that no production of Cat (four preceded the most recent) has ever lost money on Broadway, dating back to the original debut in 1955.

In getting people in the theater, Byrd and Jones sought to bring new audiences to Broadway in much the way recent productions of The Color Purple and A Raisin in the Sun did, making black radio, local newspaper advertising, and Internet advertising more effective tools in reaching the targeted theater-goers compared with direct mail. The production also used the group marketing firm Walk Tall Girl Productions to get church groups, fraternities, and service organizations to attend. Jones also attributes the savings to the play’s general manager, Nina Lannan Associates, which included a reserve in the budget of 10%, which the production ultimately did not use.

In evaluating theatrical productions for investment opportunities, caution is the name of the game. Actor and producer Wendell Pierce, who was a producer on August Wilson’s final play Radio Golf, suggests that it is critical that investors understand how the play will generate income and repay investors. “It’s very important to see the recoupment schedule,” says Pierce, perhaps best known for his role as Det. William ‘Bunk’ Moreland on HBO’s The Wire and who has produced productions with investment units in the $10,000 to $25,000 range. “Look at the schedule, then assume the worst.” Radio Golf, though critically acclaimed, failed to recoup its investment.

Pierce explains that the recoupment schedule illustrates to investors how many weeks it will take the play to break even, and at what theater capacity. He advises potential investors to know the play and to know the product as part of their due diligence process. “Read the reviews for the previous productions of the play,” suggests Pierce, who also encourages would-be investors to attend a backer’s audition at which investors can watch the entire show.

Further, in evaluating the investment agreement, it is also important to understand the various platforms on which the production can play and seek to partake of any pertaining revenues. “You want to make sure that as an investor you are participating in all secondary and tertiary revenue streams worldwide,” Pierce says, “including film and DVD, as well as the licensing agreement with a publisher for productions at colleges and regional theaters.”

Pierce underscores the fact that given the high price tag of Broadway tickets today–some productions can run at $120–the biggest lesson he learned on Radio Golf is that casting and good marketing are vital. “You need a recognizable name today and you need to demand focused marketing initiatives to the community most likely to support the production,” he says, citing the success of A Raisin in the Sun, with P. Diddy, and the cast of Cat. Pierce further explains that the first month of a commercial play’s life is crucial for winning theater-goers and building momentum. “You need people to come early. You need that critical mass,” he adds.

George Alexander’s column on the business of entertainment appears weekly at blackenterprise.com. He is the author of Why We Make Movies (Doubleday Harlem Moon, $15.95).