Podcast Episode 103 – The CEO of the American Theatre Wing, Heather Hitchens

When you run the 100-year-old organization that created the Tony Awards, you know you’ve got a big job.

But what I so admire about Heather Hitchens, is that as important of a responsibility as the Tony Awards are, she remains just as focused if not more so on the countless, less-sexy, educational programs that the American Theatre Wing administers.

As the CEO of The Wing, she helps inspire, educate, and endow students, audiences, and theater companies all over the country . . . helping to insure that the theater will not only survive the next 100 years but thrive over the next 100 years.

Tune into this week’s episode with this super-power of an Arts Administrator (wait until you hear all the companies she worked for prior to The Wing), and hear us chat about . . .

• How she transitioned from behind a drum set to behind the American Theatre Wing.
• What keeps her going to the office every day, regardless of how tough it gets.
• The brand new program at The Wing that she’s most excited about.
• The three things she looks for when deciding whether or not to give an organization money.
• Why commercial and non-profit theaters are more similar than you think.

It’s easy for all of us to pay attention to the stuff that happens on the stages.  But Heather is a great reminder that the theater’s future is also dependent on the people that are in offices on the 11th floor of a midtown office building.

And I for one am thankful Heather Hitchens is in that office working on all of our behalf’s.

Click here to listen.

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Download it here.

Sorry about the sound issues in this podcast. We found the bug and fixed it in later episodes. It gets better, I promise 🙂

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