Lear deBessonet is preparing to stage a Broadway revival of Ragtime at the Vivian Beaumont Theater this fall, in her debut as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater.
Previews are scheduled to begin September 25 ahead of an Oct. 16 opening, people familiar with the production said.Continue Reading
In 2020, a year in which theaters were dark for nine and a half months, Public Theater Artistic Director Oskar Eustis earned $1.15 million in pay and benefits, more than any other nonprofit theater leader in New York.
Eustis’ 10 percent jump in overall compensation — disclosed in the Public’s 2020-21 tax return filed with the New York Attorney General — runs counter to the company’s messaging about pandemic pay. In an April 2020 New York Times story about the cancellation of Shakespeare in the Park and planned staff furloughs, Michael Paulson reported that much of the remaining staff “will take up to a 25 percent pay cut. Eustis will take a 40 percent pay cut.”
The tax return, which details compensation for calendar year 2020, tells a different story. Eustis, one of the highest-profile figures in nonprofit theater since assuming leadership of the storied organization in 2005, was paid $901,000, up from $807,000 in 2019. Benefits and deferred pay were valued at an additional $255,000.Continue Reading
What started as an existential crisis for Broadway’s nonprofit producers turned into a windfall.
Thanks to a resurgent but fickle stock market, insurance payouts, cost-cutting and emergency grants from the federal government and foundations in response to Covid-19, Lincoln Center Theater and Roundabout Theatre Co. emerged from the 18-month industry shutdown wealthier than when they entered it.Continue Reading
André Bishop, head of Lincoln Center Theater, earned pay and benefits valued at $1 million in 2017. It’s likely the biggest one-year compensation for a New York nonprofit theater leader. Todd Haimes, artistic director and chief executive of the Roundabout Theatre Company, was close behind, with $922,000.
“More people who run theaters are realizing it’s very hard work and want to be paid for it,” said James Abruzzo, a recruiter and compensation consultant who’s hired by arts executives to negotiate their contracts with nonprofit boards. Those at the top who have management and artistic ability are scarce, he said. “Keeping leaders happy and keeping them close are the most important tasks of the board.”
In the previous decade, Bishop’s comp package doubled while Haimes’ rose 74 percent — increases at least four times the rate of inflation.Continue Reading
CORRECTION: This story originally referred to a pro-N.E.A. tweet by Rex Tillerson, U.S. Secretary of State designate at the time. A Trump transition official later said the Twitter account was fake.
Hamilton, Next to Normal, War Horse and South Pacific have something in common besides acclaim and awards. They share a patron in the federal government.
The National Endowment for the Arts, which may face an existential threat from the new administration in Washington, has subsidized the development of many of the most praised shows on Broadway and off-Broadway. (See below for a list of nonprofits that have received notable NEA grants.)
EXCLUSIVE: Andre Bishop, Lincoln Center Theater’s longtime leader, earned pay and benefits of $911,670 in 2014, one of the richest compensation packages at a U.S. nonprofit theater.
Among the components listed in the organization’s latest tax return, Bishop’s salary increased by $99,000, or 16 percent, from a year earlier to $719,621. The return valued his benefits, including retirement and other deferred pay, at $192,049. His compensation more than doubled in nine years as the budget was little changed.
