Stuart Thompson, two-time Tony® award-winning and six time Tony award-nominated Broadway producer, will be presented The Commercial Theater Institute’s Robert Whitehead Award for “outstanding achievement in commercial theatre producing” at a reception at Sardi's Restaurant on Tuesday, March 9, 2010.
CTI is the nation’s only formal program, which professionally trains commercial theatre producers. A joint project of The Broadway League and Theatre Development Fund, CTI was founded in 1981 by the late Frederic B. Vogel. The current program director, Jed Bernstein, took on leadership of the program in 2006. The five decade long career of legendary producer Robert Whitehead, who died in 2002, inspired this award.
In the last two seasons on Broadway, Stuart Thompson has been producer of A View from the Bridge, Exit the King, and God of Carnage, which won the 2009 Tony Award for Best Play.
“CTI is committed to training the great Broadway producers of the future, so naturally it gives us great pleasure to honor, Stuart Thompson, one of the great ones of the present,” said Jed Bernstein, CTI's Program Director.
“Of all the talented producers and general managers on Broadway, Stuart Thompson is one of the busiest and smartest. He knows the business, has a sincere passion for theatre, and is loved by all,” commented Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director, The Broadway League.
"I am delighted that Stuart is this year's honoree," said Victoria Bailey, TDF's Executive Director. "Stuart Thompson worked alongside Robert Whitehead for many years. Stuart's illustrious career, with his commitment to producing new plays on Broadway, is a testament to Robert Whitehead's legacy as the producer of over 80 Broadway productions including original works by some of the greatest playwrights of the 20th century."
Thompson began his producing career on Broadway with David Mamet’s The Old Neighborhood in 1997and went on to co-produce The Chairs, which received a nomination for the 1998 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Revival of a Play and Not About Nightingales, which was nominated for the 1999 Tony Award and Drama Desk Award for Best Play. He subsequently produced The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife, The Play What I Wrote, The Retreat from Moscow, Proof, On Golden Pond and Deuce. Off-Broadway, he has produced Neil LaBute’s The Shape of Things and Adam Rapp’s Red Light Winter.
Stuart Thompson is an expatriate Australian who moved to New York in the early 1980’s, initially as a graduate student at NYU. Robert Whitehead was his mentor, as was Lewis Allen. They hired him as general manager for their production in 1989 of A Few Good Men by Aaron Sorkin. Since then, Stuart Thompson’s general management company has been responsible for over fifty Broadway, Off-Broadway and National Touring productions, including Tru, Blood Brothers, A Doll’s House, Take Me Out, Art, An Ideal Husband, Faith Healer, Caroline, or Change, Three Days of Rain, Boeing-Boeing, Shrek The Musical, You’re Welcome America, The Seagull. In addition, Thompson also general managed five of the ten longest running Broadway plays of the last 20 years including: Doubt, Proof, Art, Master Class and The Tale of the Allergist’s Wife. He was the general manager for five plays by David Hare: The Blue Room, Amy’s View, The Judas Kiss, Skylight, The Vertical Hour and also The Year of Magical Thinking, directed by David Hare. This season, he is represented as general manager for All About Me, Next Fall, Lend Me a Tenor and Fences.
The Commercial Theater Institute presented the first Robert Whitehead Award in 1993 to Benjamin Mordecai (seven August Wilson plays on Broadway) and Susan Quint Gallin (Angels in America, Monty Python's Spamalot). Subsequent honorees include: Dennis Grimaldi (Other People’s Money, Annie Warbucks) in 1994; Kevin McCollum (Rent, West Side Story) in 1995; Randall L. Wreghitt (The Miracle Worker, Grey Gardens) in 1996; Marc Routh (A Little Night Music, The Norman Conquests) in 1997; Liz Oliver (Wait Until Dark, Last Night of Ballyhoo) in 1998; Eric Krebs (The Dinner Party, Electra) in 1999; Anne Strickland Squadron (Bill Maher: Victory Begins at Home, The Herbal Bed) in 2000; David Binder (A Raisin in the Sun, 33 Variations) in 2004; Nick Scandalios (Executive VP of the Nederlander Organization: Wicked, In the Heights) in 2008 and Dori Berinstein (Legally Blonde: The Musical, Thoroughly Modern Millie) in 2009.
THE COMMERCIAL THEATER INSTITUTE (CTI), now in its 29th year, is a project of Theatre Development Fund (TDF) and The Broadway League. The nation's only formal program that specifically professionally trains commercial theatre producers, CTI provides resources and guidance to individuals interested in the various paths one can take towards creating commercial productions for the stage. For details and schedules of all CTI programs, visit
www.commercialtheaterinstitute.comor call 212.586.1109.
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THEATRE DEVELOPMENT FUND (TDF) has played a unique role in strengthening live theatre and dance in New York City for the past 42 years. This not-for-profit service organization's programs have filled over 76 million seats at discount prices (with theatre lovers who would normally not be able to attend live performance) and returned nearly 2 billion dollars in revenue to thousands of theatre, dance and music productions. Best known for its TKTS Discount Booths, TDF's membership, voucher, access and education programs as well as its Costume Collection, help to make the unique experience of theatre available to everyone. For more information, go to: www.tdf.org.
THE BROADWAY LEAGUE, founded in 1930, is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. The League’s 600-plus members include theatre owners and operators, producers, presenters, and general managers in over 240 North American cities, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the theatre industry. Each year, League members bring Broadway to nearly 30 million people in New York and on tour across the U.S. and Canada. Visit www.BroadwayLeague.com.
