10 Most Powerful People in DC Theatre

So you might have seen the “Broadway's 50 Most Powerful People” on Broadwayspace.com that was compiled by industry insiders. They wrote, “Who are Broadway’s most powerful people? We put the question to a handful of industry insiders who, on condition of anonymity, ranked Broadway’s movers and shakers for a final and decidedly unscientific list of 50. Is power the ability to get a show up with the scratch of a pen? Is it the person at the very top of the game, or the person you wouldn’t dare put on hold? We let everyone define 'power'" for themselves and let the chips fall as they may.”

So I set out to do the same thing, but with the people inside the Beltway. I asked 50 people to participate from over 10 theatres, giving no one theatre more than 5 potential votes. I gave the recipients the task of naming whom they thought were the most powerful people with no definition of what "power" meant. Half of the people replied, and no one theatre outweighed another, so I feel it is a good list. I should mention that other than local theatre employees, donors, actors, designers and directors who are not affiliated with a particular theatre were also asked to participate. There were exactly 40 different people named as the “most powerful,” but I felt that only the top should be on the list so that we have a list of 10. As it was stated in the Broadway.com version, the insiders have complete anonymity.

10. Helen Hayes Awards honors excellence with one of the most prestigious theatrical honors in the country and also has a mission of outreach and building audiences. It gives awards annually in the DC region with categories in direction, design, acting and more.

9. Victor Shargai serves on the Kennedy Center Community Board, the Studio Theater, The Washington Ballet, and the Laurel Fund for the Performing Arts, and he is the Chairman of the Board for the Helen Hayes Awards. Before he got involved in interior design (Victor Shargai and Associates Inc.) he designed sets and costumes on and off Broadway. Mr. Shargai earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Theater and English from Queens College.

8. Mark Shugoll is CEO of Shugoll Research. In addition, he is a devoted patron of the arts, serving as a Board Chair of Arena Stage, and the national arts scene as a Board member of the Business Committee for the Arts and TCG. He is the founder of various award-winning arts education programs in Fairfax County, including ArtSpeak! and TheaterTrips!

7. Linda Levy Grossman is the Executive Director of the Helen Hayes Awards Society, the premiere professional theatre recognition program. She has also worked with area theatres and resides in Baltimore.

6. Molly Smith is the Artistic Director of Arena Stage and also serves as a member of the Board of the Theatre Communications Group, as well as the Center for International Theatre Development. Arena Stage has helped develop three shows that moved to Broadway in the last year.

5. Michael M. Kaiser has been President of the Kennedy Center since January 2001. Mr. Kaiser created the Kennedy Center Arts Management Institute to provide advanced training for arts administrators at varying stages of development and has created a series of programs to help train others in the field. Mr. Kaiser previously served as the Executive Director of the Royal Opera House. Kaiser launched Arts In Crisis: A Kennedy Center Initiative in early February 2009, which provides free arts management consultation to arts organizations across the United States.

4. Michael Kahn is the Artistic Director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company. From 1992-2006, he was the Richard Rodgers Director of the Drama Division of the Juilliard School, where he has been a leading member of the faculty since its founding in 1968. He has worked all over the country and run many of the nation's leading theatres, as well as directed on and off Broadway.

3. Eric Schaeffer is the Co-Founder and Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in Arlington, VA which won the 2009 Regional Theatre Tony Award. He has directed many shows at the Kennedy Center, and he served as the Artistic Director of their Sondheim Celebration. He is currently directing his third Broadway show. He has directed across the country and in the UK.

2. Peter Marks is the lead theatre critic at the Washington Post.

1. Jaylee Mead and the late Gilbert Mead are huge donors to many area arts organizations. They have been noted as giving the largest individual gift to a theatre in United States when they pledged $35 million to Arena Stage to help build their new building, properly titled The Mead Center for American Theatre. Their interest in theatre stemmed from Gil and Jaylee's involvement since 1970 in an employee theater group at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., where both were employed as research scientists. Jaylee produced many of the shows and performed onstage, and Gil was often the musical director. Beyond their money, they have been said to be the nicest and most caring individuals. Gilbert passed away in 2007.