Mandy Greenfield

Last updated
Mandy Greenfield
NationalityAmerican
Alma mater Yale University
Occupation Theatre producer

Mandy Greenfield is an American theatre producer.

Early life

Greenfield grew up in Miami. She attended high school at New World School of the Arts before attending Yale University.

Contents

Career

Early career

From 1998 until 2001, Greenfield was the Producer of the Blue Light Theater Company where she produced several premieres, including Darko Tresnjak's Princess Turandot (which subsequently ran at the Westport Country Playhouse) and Daniel Goldfarb's Adam Baum and the Jew Movie starring Ron Leibman, which won the 1999–2000 Newsday Oppenheimer Award for Best New York Debut. [1] [2] She also produced works for Blue Light by Jessica Goldberg, Helen Edmundson and Philip Ridley.

Manhattan Theatre Club

Greenfield worked at Manhattan Theatre Club from 2003 to 2014, and served as MTC's Artistic Producer from 2011 to 2014. [3] She produced shows at both The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on Broadway and New York City Center off-Broadway. Notable productions include Benjamin Scheuer's The Lion, Tarell Alvin McCraney's Choir Boy , Nell Benjamin's The Explorer's Club , Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash's Murder Ballad , Matthew Lopez's The Whipping Man, David Lindsay-Abaire's Good People , Rabbit Hole , Lynn Nottage’s Ruined , Theresa Rebeck’s Mauritius , and John Patrick Shanley’s Doubt .

In 2006, Greenfield’s essay "First-Person Singular: Female Writers Embrace the One-Person Play," appeared in Women Writing Plays: three decades of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, published by the University of Texas Press. [4]

She was a judge of The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize in 2012 and 2013. [5]

Williamstown Theatre Festival

Greenfield joined the Festival in the fall of 2014. She established a New Play Commissioning Program, a community-immersive theatre initiative, and a Playwright-in-Residence position. [6] [7]

Greenfield is an Artistic Advisor to The Relentless Award, given in honor of the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. [8] In 2017, Greenfield was awarded the Giant in the Theater Award by the Lilly Awards. [9] In 2018, Greenfield joined the board of The Lilly Award Foundation. [10]

During Greenfield's tenure the Festival produced Martyna Majok's Cost of Living ; the Festival production transferred off-Broadway to Manhattan Theatre Club.

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Festival's in-person season was cancelled and instead recorded for Audible. [11] During this season Greenfield "aggressively dismantled the existing training program," an Apprentice program which charged participants, mostly actors fresh out of college, several thousand dollars; and which had long required Apprentices to perform extensive manual labor. [12] Greenfield reportedly celebrated the change, commenting, "now you don’t have to coordinate their education." [13]

In 2021, the sound crew of the musical Row walked out of a tech rehearsal citing low pay, unsafe working conditions, and an unreasonable work schedule. [14] [15] Following the season, the Los Angeles Times reported on the theater's "broken culture." Reports included numerous staff and crew complaints about Greenfield's management: belittling subordinates "as if they had no skills or industry experience," demanding responses to text messages at late hours, and refusal to end the Festival's "80- to 100-hour weeks" "with no rest periods or scheduled days off." [16]

Following these labor controversies, Greenfield resigned in late October 2021. [17]

Personal life

Greenfield lives in Brooklyn, and is married with two sons.

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References

  1. ↑ "'PRINCESS TURANDOT' OPENS A NEW ERA AT PLAYHOUSE". Hartford Courant. 11 June 2001.
  2. ↑ "Goldfarb's Adam Baum Makes West Coast Premiere Jan. 5-Feb. 20 at Seattle's Empty Space". Playbill. 5 January 2001.
  3. ↑ "Manhattan Theatre Club Names Mandy Greenfield Artistic Producer". Playbill. 15 December 2010.
  4. ↑ Women writing plays: three decades of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Austin : University of Texas Press. 2006.
  5. ↑ "Judges". The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  6. ↑ "Wendy Wasserstein's AN AMERICAN DAUGHTER Opens Tonight at Williamstown Theatre Festival". BroadwayWorld. 6 August 2016.
  7. ↑ "Williamstown Theatre Festival Names Its 2018 Resident Artists". Playbill. 15 June 2018.
  8. ↑ "Who We Are". The American Playwriting Foundation. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  9. ↑ "2017 Lilly Awards". The Lillys. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  10. ↑ "Our Board". The Lillys. Retrieved 1 November 2021.
  11. ↑ "Williamstown Theatre Festival's Summer Season to be Produced on Audible". Audible.com. 8 April 2020.
  12. ↑ "THEATER; The Apprentices". The New York Times. 22 August 2004.
  13. ↑ "The Theatre Industry's Internship Problem". American Theatre. 10 September 2021.
  14. ↑ "Williamstown festival crew walks off the job. It's a cautionary tale for outdoor theater". LA Times. 20 July 2021.
  15. ↑ "The Theatre Industry's Internship Problem". American Theatre. 10 September 2021.
  16. ↑ "Inside the battle to change a prestigious theater festival's 'broken' culture". LA Times. 25 September 2021.
  17. ↑ "Mandy Greenfield Resigns From Helm of Williamstown Theatre Fest". American Theatre. 1 November 2021.
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