Don't Stop Believin'
This year has been nothing short of difficult for our industry. Through all this year’s challenges I am grateful to have this moment to...
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Read Our Blog
In addition to our work with students, Open Stage Project strives to build a strong network of female backstage professionals in the current Broadway community. Check out some of their stories below!
Want to be featured on our blog? Email info@openstageproject.org for more information.
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Sarah G. Harris, AEA Stage Manager
- Feb 16, 2021
- 7 min
Keep Learning, Have Faith, & Empower Others
If you take a long hard look, there are fundamental values — internal choices — pivotal moments that got you to where you are right now. ...
452 views0 comments
Vanessa Coakley, Stage Manager
- Jan 14, 2021
- 2 min
Stage Managing: from Brooklyn to Broadway
I grew up in Brooklyn with Broadway right over the river. I’d wake up to performances from Broadway shows on morning TV, and take buses...
166 views0 comments
Brittany Halberstadt, Chief Administrative Officer
- Jan 6, 2021
- 3 min
Working on Tour… From NYC
HOW IT ALL BEGAN My first experience working for a Broadway tour began in 2013, when I was a freshman at Duke University in Durham, NC....
28 views0 comments
Shelly Cohen, Company Manager
- Oct 28, 2020
- 4 min
Making a Family Out of Strangers
When I was in college, my mentor, Robin Gray, taught me two key phrases that I still hold close to my heart: Never Burn Any Bridges The...
264 views0 comments
Twi McCallum
- Oct 1, 2020
- 2 min
*Taps Mic* Ode to a Sound Designer with Stage Fright
My favorite love language is the concept of words of affirmation. Even at 24 years old, I am constantly worried about if I am offending...
28 views0 comments
Jenni Gilbert, IATSE Local 706 & Local 488
- Sep 20, 2020
- 2 min
Making Over My Life
If I’ve done my job well, no one knows that I was there. People think the actors just look that way naturally, or that they did their own...
32 views1 comment
Kendra Moore, NMAM Member
- Dec 14, 2019
- 3 min
The End of the Road, But Not the Journey
On February 24, 2019, I celebrated 16 years with Disney’s The Lion King. It is by far the longest I have worked with any company, and I...
52 views0 comments
Katelynn Cooper, AEA Stage Manager
- Nov 29, 2019
- 3 min
“A Diva is a Female Version of a Hustla'”-Beyonce
HUSTLE During college, I hustled. Hustled to make rent with three different box office jobs. Hustled for internships. Hustled for...
38 views0 comments
Saori Yokoo, Stage Manager
- Apr 20, 2019
- 2 min
Stage: Managed
Since I was a teenager I have loved Musical theatre. After years of performing in my high school productions I decided to look at...
103 views0 comments
Mary Ragus, Audience Engagement Manager
- Mar 16, 2019
- 2 min
Ditching the Desk Life
I've always been a talker. A loud talker. A loud talker with, what some might call, an obsessive love of Broadway. I picked...
24 views0 comments
Lindsay Kiernan, Assistant Company Manager
- Feb 9, 2019
- 2 min
Getting the Show on the Road
I’ve always loved traveling, and I dreamed of finding a job I enjoyed that allowed me to see the country. I never thought it would come...
9 views0 comments
Melanie Wallace
- Jan 26, 2019
- 4 min
The Diary of a Broadway Merch Manager
“Remember, you are meeting people on what is quite literally, for some of them, the best day of their lives.”
47 views0 comments
Maxine Gutierrez, Local ACT
- Jan 12, 2019
- 2 min
Why I Show Up and Reach Out
“Your reputation precedes you…” You know what it means, sure. Its impact, though, I had never really grasped until more recently.
15 views0 comments
Margaret Skoglund, ATPAM
- Dec 29, 2018
- 2 min
Musings of a Broadway Company Manager
I got the call in 2013. Or, more accurately, I missed the call. Working as the department coordinator for ICM, I rarely had downtime
17 views0 comments
Elsa Ward, USA Local 829
- Dec 8, 2018
- 1 min
The Accidental Costume Designer
When I came to NYC in 1986, fresh out of graduate school with an MFA from Rutgers in theatrical design, I was offered my first job
16 views0 comments
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