Mandy Greenfield is an American theatre producer.
Early life
Greenfield grew up in Miami. She attended
New World School of the Arts
New World School of the Arts (NWSA) is a public magnet high school and college in Downtown Miami, Florida. Its dual-enrollment programs in the visual and performing arts are organized into four strands: visual arts, dance, theatre (comprising prog ...
, and
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
.
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
Westport Country Playhouse, is a not-for-profit regional theater in Westport, Connecticut.
It was founded in 1931 by Lawrence Langner, a New York theater producer. Langner remodeled an 1830s tannery with a Broadway-quality stage.
History Con ...
) and Daniel Goldfarb's ''Adam Baum and the Jew Movie'' starring
Ron Leibman
Ron Leibman (; October 11, 1937 – December 6, 2019) was an American actor. He won both the Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Actor in a Play in 1993 for his performance as Roy Cohn in ''Angels in Amer ...
, which won the 1999-2000 Newsday
Oppenheimer Award
The Oppenheimer Award (also known as the Newsday George Oppenheimer Award or the Oppy) was named after the late playwright and Newsday drama critic George Oppenheimer. It was awarded annually to the best New York debut production by an American ...
for Best New York Debut. She also produced works for Blue Light by
Jessica Goldberg
Jessica Goldberg (born 1975) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and television writer. In 1999, she won the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for her play, '' Refuge''. Goldberg is the creator of the Hulu series '' The Path'' and served as the ...
,
Helen Edmundson
Helen Edmundson (born 1964) is a British playwright, screenwriter and producer. She has won awards and critical acclaim both for her original writing and for her adaptations of various literary classics for the stage and screen.
Early life
Edm ...
and
Philip Ridley
Philip Ridley (born 1957 in East London) is an English storyteller working in a wide range of artistic media.
As a visual artist he has been cited as a contemporary of the 'Young British Artists', and had his artwork exhibited internationally. ...
.
Manhattan Theatre Club
Greenfield worked at
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) is a theatre company located in New York City, affiliated with the League of Resident Theatres. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has gr ...
from 2003 to 2014, and served as MTC's Artistic Producer from 2011 to 2014. She produced shows at both The
Samuel J. Friedman Theatre
The Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, formerly the Biltmore Theatre, is a Broadway theater at 261 West 47th Street in the Theater District of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Opened in 1925, it was designed by Herbert J. Krapp in the neo-Renai ...
on Broadway and
New York City Center
New York City Center (previously known as the Mecca Temple, City Center of Music and Drama,. The name "City Center for Music and Drama Inc." is the organizational parent of the New York City Ballet and, until 2011, the New York City Opera. and th ...
off-Broadway. Notable productions include
Benjamin Scheuer’s ''The Lion'',
Tarell Alvin McCraney’s ''
Choir Boy
''Choir Boy'' is a coming-of-age play by American playwright Tarell Alvin McCraney. The play premiered in September 2012 at the Royal Court Theatre, London, before going on to play productions at New York City Center, Alliance Theatre, Geffe ...
'', Nell Benjamin's ''
The Explorer's Club'', Julia Jordan and Juliana Nash's ''
Murder Ballad
Murder ballads are a subgenre of the traditional ballad form dealing with a crime or a gruesome death. Their lyrics form a narrative describing the events of a murder, often including the lead-up and/or aftermath. The term refers to the content ...
'',
Matthew Lopez’s ''The Whipping Man'', David Lindsay-Abaire's ''
Good People'', ''
Rabbit Hole'',
Lynn Nottage
Lynn Nottage (born November 2, 1964) is an American playwright whose work often focuses on the experience of working-class people, particularly working-class people who are Black. She has received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama twice: in 2009 for he ...
’s ''
Ruined
Ruins () are the remains of a civilization's architecture. The term refers to formerly intact structures that have fallen into a state of partial or total disrepair over time due to a variety of factors, such as lack of maintenance, deliberate ...
'',
Theresa Rebeck’s ''
Mauritius
Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...
'', and
John Patrick Shanley
John Patrick Shanley (born October 13, 1950) is an American playwright, screenwriter, and director. He won the 1988 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for the film ''Moonstruck''. His play, '' Doubt: A Parable'', won the 2005 Pulitzer P ...
’s ''
Doubt
Doubt is a mental state in which the mind remains suspended between two or more contradictory propositions, unable to be certain of any of them.
Doubt on an emotional level is indecision between belief and disbelief. It may involve uncertainty, ...
''.
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
The University of Texas Press (or UT Press) is a university press that is part of the University of Texas at Austin. Established in 1950, the Press publishes scholarly books and journals in several areas, including Latin American studies, Texan ...
.
She was a judge of The
Susan Smith Blackburn Prize
The Susan Smith Blackburn Prize established in 1978, is the largest and oldest playwriting prize for women+ writing for English-speaking theatre. Named for Susan Smith Blackburn (1935–1977), alumna of Smith College, who died of breast cancer.
W ...
in 2012 and 2013.
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.
Greenfield is an Artistic Advisor to The Relentless Award, given in honor of the late
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman (July 23, 1967 – February 2, 2014) was an American actor. Known for his distinctive supporting and character roles—typically lowlifes, eccentrics, underdogs, and misfits—he acted in many films and theatrical produ ...
. In 2017, Greenfield was awarded the Giant in the Theater Award by the Lilly Awards. In 2018, Greenfield joined the board of The Lilly Award Foundation.
During Greenfield's tenure the Festival produced
Martyna Majok's ''
Cost of Living
Cost of living is the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living. Changes in the cost of living over time can be operationalized in a cost-of-living index. Cost of living calculations are also used to compare the cost of maintaining a c ...
''; the Festival production transferred off-Broadway to Manhattan Theatre Club.
In 2020, during the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
, the Festival's in-person season was cancelled and instead recorded for
Audible
Audible may refer to:
* Audible (service), an online audiobook store
* Audible (American football), a tactic used by quarterbacks
* ''Audible'' (film), a short documentary film featuring a deaf high school football player
* Audible finish or rush ...
. 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. Greenfield reportedly celebrated the change, commenting, "now you don’t have to coordinate their education."
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. Following the season, the LA 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."
Following these labor controversies, Greenfield resigned in late October 2021.
Personal life
She lives in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, and is married with two sons.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenfield, Mandy
Williamstown, Massachusetts
Yale University alumni
American artistic directors
People from Miami