People ask me all the time what I look for when I’m hiring an employee.

That’s a complicated question, especially when you need someone with expert knowledge and specific skill sets, never mind someone who will not only hit goals but crush them . . . and fit in with your company culture.

But the simplest answer is . . . I like to hire people who have the same entrepreneurial spirit that I do and have had since I started a candy selling business in my Dad’s doctor’s office when I was seven years old.  (Yes, that’s right, I sold chocolate bars to heart patients.)

In other words, I like to hire people who want to build stuff.

Including their own businesses.

That’s why my Producers Perspective Pro Community Manager has her own photography business, why my Marketing Director has her own custom coloring book business . . . and why when my Davenport Theatrical General Manager, Ryan Conway . . . who helped me bring Spring Awakening to Broadway in 83 days, who helped me figure out how to live stream Daddy Long Legs, and who came up with a workable budget for Once On This Island with its 20 Actors in a theater with only 700 odd seats . . . came to me and said, “I want to run my own General Management Company and take outside clients,” I said . . . “Absolutely, yes.  How can I help?”

Honestly, it’s hard to let go of something you built.  I founded our Management Company with the same style that I used to Company Manage and General Manage shows, thanks to the mentorship I got from folks like Nina Lannan, Wendy Orshan, Charlotte Wilcox, Frank Scardino, and so many others.  So it means a lot to me.

And it’s hard to think about sharing someone like Ryan (I was an only child, after all).  But frankly, I was so supportive of Ryan heading up this endeavor because . . .

1) He wanted to, and he has been so helpful with the many things (some of them nuts!) I wanted to do.

2) He has been so instrumental in getting my shows off the ground, that I know he can help many others do the same.  And by unleashing his industry knowledge, crackerjack negotiating style, and unflappable positive attitude on shows with other Producers, he can help me with my #5000by2025 mission.

So it is my pleasure to announce that DTE Management has been spun off to create a new Broadway and Off-Broadway General Management Company called Architect Theatrical, run by President Ryan Conway.

And they’re open for business.

I took a chance on Ryan years ago when he walked into my office to interview for the Company Management position on Macbeth.  And that chance has turned into one of the most successful business partnerships and friendships I’ve ever had.

If you have a show you’re looking to get on Broadway, Off-Broadway, on tour, or frankly, you don’t know where it should go yet, I’d give him a chance as well.

Because (like he did with me) I guarantee he’ll help guide you to where you want to go.

You can reach Ryan and the folks at Architect here.