Cody Lassen is an American

theater producer A theatrical producer is a person who oversees all aspects of mounting a theatre production. The producer is responsible for the overall financial and managerial functions of a production or venue, raises or provides financial backing, and hires ...

and consultant. He is best known for producing the revival of '' Spring Awakening'', which won him an

Ovation Award The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...

and a

Tony Tony may refer to: People and fictional characters * Tony (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters * Gregory Tony (born 1978), American law enforcement officer * Motu Tony (born 1981), New Zealand international rugby leagu ...

nomination.

Career

Lassen was born in

Kenosha, Wisconsin Kenosha () is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the seat of Kenosha County. Per the 2020 census, the population was 99,986 which made it the fourth-largest city in Wisconsin. Situated on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan, Kenos ...

. He earned his

MBA A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

from the

University of Notre Dame The University of Notre Dame du Lac, known simply as Notre Dame ( ) or ND, is a private Catholic research university in Notre Dame, Indiana, outside the city of South Bend. French priest Edward Sorin founded the school in 1842. The main campu ...

and graduated from

DePaul University DePaul University is a private university, private, Catholic higher education, Catholic research university in Chicago, Illinois. Founded by the Congregation of the Mission, Vincentians in 1898, the university takes its name from the 17th-centu ...

. He held live entertainment management positions with Nielsen and

NBCUniversal NBCUniversal Media, LLC is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate corporation owned by Comcast and headquartered at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, United States. NBCUniversal is primari ...

. While at NBCUniversal, Lassen was active in their corporate diversity initiatives and was part of the team that led the company to be named one of the best places to work for

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

employees. In addition to producing his own projects, Lassen consulted for major studios, producers, theatres and agencies. He oversaw marketing efforts for Los Angeles'

Center Theatre Group Center Theatre Group is a non-profit arts organization located in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and th ...

and was a production assistant for several films and TV series. His Broadway productions include ''Indecent'' and revival of ''Spring Awakening'' and co-productions include ''

Macbeth ''Macbeth'' (, full title ''The Tragedie of Macbeth'') is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. It is thought to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the damaging physical and psychological effects of political ambition on those w ...

'' starring

Alan Cumming Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a British actor. His London stage appearances include ''Hamlet'', the Maniac in ''Accidental Death of an Anarchist'' (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in '' Bent'', The National Theatre o ...

, " ''Significant Other''", ''

The Band's Visit ''The Band's Visit'' ( he, ביקור התזמורת, Bikur Ha-Tizmoret) is a 2007 comedy-drama film, directed and written by Eran Kolirin, and starring Saleh Bakri, Ronit Elkabetz, Sasson Gabai and Uri Gavriel. It is an international co-pro ...

'', and ''Torch Song''. When Lassen joined the production of the

Deaf West Theatre Deaf West Theatre is a non-profit arts organization based in Los Angeles, California, USA. It is most well known for its Tony Award-nominated productions of '' Big River'' and '' Spring Awakening''. Deaf West Theatre is led by Artistic Director, ...

revival of ''Spring Awakening'' in 2015, it premiered at Inner-City Arts' Rosenthal Theater in L.A. Under his production management, the show went on to win six

Ovation Awards The Ovation Awards are a Southern California award for excellence in theatre, established in 1989. They are given out by the non-profit arts service organization LA Stage Alliance and are the only peer-judged theatre awards in Los Angeles. Winne ...

(with 15 nominations), including best musical in two categories, intimate theater and large theater. The latter was won by Lassen together with the

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts The Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts is a community arts center in Beverly Hills, California, named for philanthropist Wallis Annenberg in recognition for The Annenberg Foundation's major gift to fund the campus. It is colloquially k ...

and Deaf West Theatre. Lassen teamed up with producers Ken Davenport and the Deaf West Theatre, and transferred the show from the 99-seat Los Angeles production to

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street **Broadway Theatre (53rd Stree ...

in just 366 days, an unprecedented feat. The production opened at the

Brooks Atkinson Theatre The Lena Horne Theatre (previously the Mansfield Theatre and the Brooks Atkinson Theatre) is a Broadway theater at 256 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1926, it was designed by Herbert J ...

in September 2015. For the show, performed in both

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

and spoken English, the producers were honored with the Champion of Change Award by the New York Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities for their "efforts to increase diversity and inclusivity on Broadway." The show was a success on Broadway and was even performed at the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. He partnered with

Daryl Roth Daryl Roth (born December 21, 1944) is a Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the Americ ...

to transfer the critically acclaimed

Paula Vogel Paula Vogel (born November 16, 1951) is an American playwright who received the 1998 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for her play ''How I Learned to Drive.'' A longtime teacher, Vogel spent the bulk of her academic career – from 1984 to 2008 – at Bro ...

play ''Indecent'' to Broadway in the 2016/17 season where it was honored with two

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual cer ...

s for Best Direction and Best Lighting, and nominated for Best Play. Lassen's upcoming projects include ''How I Learned To Drive'', a Pulitzer-winning play by

opening on Broadway in 2021, with much of the original cast and creative team from its off-Broadway debut 23 years prior, ''Alice By Heart'', a new musical by

Duncan Sheik Duncan Sheik (born November 18, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and composer. Sheik is known for his 1996 debut single " Barely Breathing", which earned him a Grammy Award nomination for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. He has composed ...

Steven Sater Steven Sater is a Tony Award, Grammy Award, and Laurence Olivier Award-winning American poet, playwright, lyricist, television writer and screenwriter. He is best known for writing the book and lyrics for the Tony Award-winning 2006 Broadway mus ...

and Jessie Nelson, premiering at

MCC Theater MCC Theater (Manhattan Class Company) is an off-Broadway theater company located in New York City, founded in 1986 by artistic directors Robert LuPone, Bernard Telsey and William Cantler. Blake West joined the company in 2006 as executive direc ...

in February 2019; and ''Some Lovers'', a new musical by

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gra ...

and

opening at the Adirondacks Theatre Festival in June 2018.

Other activities

Cody serves on the board of New York's

Vineyard Theatre The Vineyard Theatre is an Off-Broadway non-profit theatre company, located at 108 East 15th Street in Manhattan, New York City, near Union Square. Its first production was in 1981. It is best known for its productions of the Tony award-winning ...

and is a member of

The Broadway League The Broadway League, formerly the League of American Theatres and Producers and League of New York Theatres and Producers, is the national trade association for the Broadway theatre industry based in New York, New York. Its members include thea ...

The Recording Academy The Recording Academy (formally the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences; abbreviated NARAS) is an American learned academy of musicians, producers, recording engineers, and other musical professionals. It is famous for its Grammy Aw ...

Academy of Television Arts & Sciences The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences (ATAS), also colloquially known as the Television Academy, is a professional honorary organization dedicated to the advancement of the television industry in the United States. It is a 501(c)(6) non-prof ...

, the National Association of Musical Theatre and the Off-Broadway League. He serves as vice-chair of the board of

GLAAD GLAAD (), an acronym of Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation, is an American non-governmental media monitoring organization originally founded as a protest against defamatory coverage of gay and lesbian demographics and their portrayals ...

, an

advocacy organization.

Private life

Lassen lives in New York.

Productions

* 2013, ''

'' (Broadway) * 2015, revival of ''Spring Awakening'' (Broadway) * 2016, revival of ''Merrily We Roll Along'' (Los Angeles) * 2016, ''Significant Other'' (Broadway) * 2017, ''Indecent'' (Broadway) * 2017, ''The Band's Visit'' (Broadway) * 2018, ''Torch Song'' (Broadway) * 2019, '' Alice by Heart (musical)'' (Off-Broadway) * 2019, ''Tootsie'' (Broadway) * 2019, ''What The Constitution Means To Me'' (Broadway) * 2019, ''The Flamingo Kid'' (Regional) * 2020, ''Indecent'' (London) * 2021, ''Thoughts Of A Colored Man'' (Broadway) * 2021, "A Commercial Jingle For Regina Comet" (Off-Broadway) * 2022, ''How I Learned To Drive'' (Broadway) * 2022, Hyprov (Off-Broadway)

Recordings

* 2022, ''A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet'' (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording), Producer *2021, '' Some Lovers (musical)'' (Concept Album), Producer * 2019, '' Alice by Heart (musical)'' (Original Off-Broadway Cast Recording), Executive Producer * 2017, ''Indecent'' (Original Broadway Cast Recording), Executive Producer

Film and television

* 2023, ''Summoning Sylvia'' (feature film), Producer * 2020, ''Indoor Boys'' (digital series), Executive Producer

Awards and nominations

* 2015: winner of a Champion of Change Award for ''Spring Awakening''

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lassen, Cody University of Notre Dame alumni American theatre managers and producers People from Kenosha, Wisconsin DePaul University alumni Year of birth missing (living people) People from Malibu, California Businesspeople from California LGBT people from Wisconsin LGBT theatre managers and producers Living people 21st-century American LGBT people