I went to a high school musical recently.

And it was great! The kids were talented, the energy was electric, the whole thing reminded me exactly why I got into this business in the first place. But then I picked up the Playbill . . . and I noticed something.

I saw the future stars of Broadway.

I did not see the future staff of Broadway.

Every name in that program was a performer. An actor, a singer, a dancer. And look, I love all of those people. We need them desperately. But you know what else we need desperately?

Producers. Press agents. Company managers. Box office treasurers. General managers. Marketing directors.

The business of Broadway doesn’t run on talent alone. It runs on the people behind the talent. And right now, we are training exactly zero of them in high school.

That has to change.

Here’s what I keep coming back to: every single high school musical in this country is a fully functioning theater production. It has a budget. It has a press and marketing challenge (how do you get people in those seats?) It has a box office. It has a company of people that needs to be managed. It has a producer.

Or . . . it should have all of those things.

Why doesn’t every high school musical have a student producer? A student press agent? A student company manager? A student box office treasurer?

Every staff position that exists on a Broadway show (and there are a lot of them) has a direct equivalent in a high school production. The scale is different. The stakes feel lower. But the skills are identical.

And right now, we’re leaving all of those learning opportunities on the table.

I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it: one of the greatest things we can do for the future of this industry is not just cast high school musicals . . . it’s staff them.

Because here’s the thing: the kid who discovers at sixteen that she loves negotiating contracts? She might become the best general manager Broadway has ever seen. The kid who gets excited about designing a poster campaign for the spring musical? He might be running a marketing department on Broadway in fifteen years.

But only if we give them the chance to discover that now.

The actors get their shot every time the curtain goes up. The future business leaders of Broadway are sitting in the audience . . . or worse, they never showed up at all because nobody told them there was a seat at the table for them.

So if you’re a high school theater educator reading this . . .  first of all, thank you. Genuinely. What you do matters more than you probably know. You are growing the next generation of this industry, one production at a time.

But here’s my ask: think about staffing your next show.

You don’t have to overhaul everything overnight. Start small. Add a student producer. Give someone the title of press agent and let them figure out how to fill the house. Appoint a company manager and let them run the company meeting. Let a student handle box office reconciliation.

Let them make mistakes now, when the stakes are low. That’s how you build the people we’re going to need tomorrow.

The Non-Acting Jobs Every High School Musical Should Consider

Are you a theater educator or theater club director not sure where to start? You’re not alone. HUNDREDS of people just like you took to my Instagram post where I started this conversation to let me know exactly where they needed help. 

So I enlisted my team to curate a breakdown of the behind-the-scenes roles that exist on every Broadway show . . . and that your students could be doing right now:

Student Producer: Oversees the big picture of the production: budget, timeline, and making sure all the moving parts are actually moving. This is the role that teaches leadership, decision-making, and what it really means to be responsible for a show.

Student Press Agent: Handles all publicity and media outreach for the production including writing press releases, pitching the local paper, managing social media, and figuring out how to get butts in seats. The press agent is the show’s storyteller to the outside world.

Student Company Manager: The logistical backbone of the company who manages communication between cast and creative team, handles scheduling, and makes sure everyone has what they need to do their job. Think of them as the show’s chief operating officer.

Student Box Office Treasurer: Oversees ticket sales, manages financial reconciliation, and tracks revenue. This role is a crash course in real-world money management and customer service.

Student General Manager: Works closely with the producer to manage the production budget and negotiate with vendors. On Broadway, the GM is the financial engine behind every show — and high school is a perfect training ground.

Student Marketing Director: Leads the campaign to sell the show — designs flyers, runs social media, coordinates promotional events. If your student has ever gone viral on TikTok, this might be their calling. (I actually used this as the example for where to start first. Watch my explanation here.)

Student Casting Director: Organizes the audition process, maintains casting files, and communicates with the director about roles. A great introduction to the art and science of matching the right person to the right part.

Student Production Stage Manager: Runs rehearsals, keeps the prompt book, calls cues during the show, and is the communication hub between every department. The PSM is the glue — and it’s one of the most in-demand jobs in professional theater.

Student Assistant Stage Manager(s): Supports the PSM in all things — tracking props, running lines, taking notes, keeping rehearsals organized. A great entry point for students who want to understand how a production actually runs.

Student Scenic Designer: Conceptualizes and oversees the design of the physical world of the show. This role develops spatial thinking, artistic vision, and project management.

Student Costume Designer: Responsible for the look of every character — researching, designing, sourcing, and sometimes building the costumes. Equal parts art director and logistics coordinator.

Student Lighting Designer: Designs the lighting plot, programs the board, and creates the visual atmosphere of the show. An incredible entry point into technical theater and a skill with real-world demand.

Student Sound Designer: Manages microphones, sound effects, and the overall audio experience of the show. Sound design is one of the most technically complex — and underappreciated — departments on Broadway.

Student Props Master: Sources, builds, and tracks every prop in the show. Organization is everything in this role, and attention to detail is non-negotiable.

Student Hair and Makeup Designer: Manages the hair and makeup looks for the production — an artistic role that also requires strong people management during the chaos of show call.

Student Production Manager: Coordinates across all technical departments to make sure the design vision can actually be executed on budget and on schedule. The PM is the person who makes the impossible . . . possible.

Student House Manager: Oversees the front-of-house operation — ushers, programs, audience flow, and everything that happens before the show starts. This role is the first impression the audience has of your production.

Student Social Media Manager: Documents the production journey in real time — behind-the-scenes content, show announcements, cast spotlights. This is a job that barely existed a decade ago and is now essential on every Broadway show.

The future of Broadway isn’t just standing in the wings waiting to go on.

A lot of it is sitting at a production table, staring at a budget spreadsheet, figuring out how to make the numbers work.

Let’s start training those people now.

Are you a theater educator who’s already doing this? I’d love to hear how you’ve structured it. And if you’re not doing it yet . . . what’s stopping you?

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