Second Stage Founder Carole Rothman Will Depart After 45 Years

Carole Rothman, the founder of Second Stage, the prestigious theater company that has launched the careers of some of the greatest American Playwrights over the past 45 years, is leaving the company. 

Rothman co-founded Second Stage in 1979 with the goal to create an open, creative space that served to introduce the community to new, emerging talent and to produce new plays by living American Playwrights. Over the past 45 years, Rothman has produced more than 250 inspiring plays and musicals, introducing the world to bold and diverse voices. Her taste as an artistic director, which the New York Times once called, “eclectic and unpredictable,” has resulted in a wide range of premieres and new interpretations of some of America’s best contemporary theater, as well as catapulted shows to hundreds of productions nationwide. 

Having successfully steered the iconic theater through the pandemic, in the two years since reopening, Rothman has produced four plays in the Hayes Theater that have been nominated for 11 Tony Awards, with two wins for Take Me Out (Outstanding Revival, Jesse Tyler Ferguson as Supporting Actor). The current Broadway season, which will be her last, will include Mother Play, a world premiere by Paula Vogel, starring Celia Keenan-Bolger, Jessica Lange and Jim Parsons and Appropriate, by Branden Jacobs-Jenkins and starring Sarah Paulson. 

Over nearly five decades, Rothman has produced some of America’s most lauded theater, including the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; Dear Evan Hansen by Steven Levenson, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul; 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Clyde’s and By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Notes From the Field and Let Me Down Easy by Anna Deavere Smith; This Is Our Youth and Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan; Bachelorette by Leslye Headland; Make Believe by Bess Wohl; Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Ricky Jay and His 52 Assistants by Ricky Jay; Jitney by August Wilson; Jar the Floor by Cheryl L. West; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo’s Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; and Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe.

Rothman is leaving with more than 160 accolades throughout her tenure at Second Stage, including six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, …Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, …Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, 11 Outer Critics Circle Awards, four Clarence Derwent Awards, 17 Drama Desk Awards, 11 Theatre World Awards, one Dorothy Louden Award, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards. 

Since she founded Second Stage in 1979, Rothman has moved it from a 16th floor penthouse to the renovated Walter McGinn/John Cazale theater on the Upper West Side, transformed an empty bank building to become the Tony Kiser Theater on 43rd Street, and purchased the historic Helen Hayes Theater on Broadway in 2015. Today, Second Stage is the only theater company on Broadway dedicated exclusively to developing and producing works by living American Playwrights. 

“For 45 years, I have had the great honor of working with countless incredible artists and playwrights, many at the beginning of their careers, who are now among the brightest stars in the industry,” said Rothman. “The shows we have brought to life have been award-winners, conversation-starters, and groundbreakers. I’m forever grateful to all the people who have helped make Second Stage the creative springboard it is today. I’m so proud of what we have accomplished together.”

Photo Credit: Jennifer Broski