Todd Haimes, Artistic Director & CEO Of Roundabout Theatre Company, Dies At Age 66

BroadwayWorld is saddened to report the passing of longtime Roundabout Theatre Company Artistic Director and CEO, Todd Haimes.

Haimes passed away this afternoon in New York at the age of 66. He was undergoing treatment for cancer at the time of his passing.

He is survived by his wife Jeanne-Marie Haimes, his daughter Hilary Haimes, her husband Jonathan Salik and his grandson Corey), his son Andrew Haimes, his wife Stacy Haimes and his granddaughter Josephine, and grandsons Aiden and Alexander, and his stepdaughters Julia and Kiki Baron.

As the leader of Roundabout Theatre Company for the last 39 years, Todd Haimes transformed the company into one of the leading cultural institutions in New York City and the largest not-for-profit theatre in America.

Under Haimes direction, Roundabout has acquired five Broadway and off-Broadway spaces for a rich repertory of both classics and world premieres, runs the most expansive education program of any theatre in the country; and provides opportunities, support, and resources to artists at every stage of their careers.

Haimes has run the institution with a combination of business acumen and artistic leadership. In 1991, understanding the autonomy and potential a theatre company could enjoy operating its own venues, Haimes opened Roundabout's first Broadway home at the Criterion Center at Broadway and 45th Street. Among the company's early triumphs there were Anna Christie, starring Liam Neeson and Natasha Richardson, and New York's first revival of She Loves Me, both in 1993. Then, following a $24-million capital campaign to renovate the historic Selwyn Theatre on 42nd Street, Haimes moved the company to its current Broadway flagship-the restored and renamed American Airlines Theatre-which Haimes opened in 2000 with The Man Who Came To Dinner, starring Nathan Lane. This theatre has also been home to Roundabout's Tony Award-winning and -nominated productions of Big River (2004), The Pajama Game (2006), On the 20th Century (2015), Long Day's Journey Into Night (2016), and A Soldier's Play (2020).

In 1998, Roundabout premiered its acclaimed Sam Mendes and Rob Marshall-directed revival of Cabaret. After a construction accident suddenly shuttered the environmental space where it was playing, it seemed the show might close entirely. Instead, Haimes lit upon Studio 54, uniquely suited to the production's style, and took over the former nightclub-where Cabaret went on to run until 2003, during which time Roundabout negotiated the purchase of the space, making it the company's second Broadway venue.

At this theatre, Haimes produced such hits as Assassins (2004) and Kiss Me, Kate (2019). In 2009, Roundabout also took over the operation of Broadway's Henry Miller Theatre, renaming it the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, where Haimes produced such hits as the Tony-winning Anything Goes (2011).

Under Haimes's leadership, the theatre has also devoted its energies and resources to the development and production of new plays and musicals in the off-Broadway arena. In 2002, Haimes renovated the former American Place Theatre and transformed it into the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre, which now houses the Laura Pels Theatre and the Black Box Theatre; the latter is the home of the acclaimed Roundabout Underground program, now in its 13th year providing emerging playwrights their first New York City productions. Notable alumni of the Roundabout Underground program include Stephen Karam (Tony Award winner), Lindsey Ferrentino, Steven Levenson (Tony Award winner), Joshua Harmon, Ming Peiffer, and Jiréh Breon Holder (now Mansa Ra).

Haimes has also changed the way theatregoers attend performances. Recognizing that Roundabout needed to do more to engage audiences beyond staging great productions, he launched the Early Curtain series-a Tuesday subscription with a 7:00pm curtain-in 1993. That series sold out immediately; two weeks of 7:00pm curtains were added the following year. Over the next two years, he created affinity programs including the Solo Series, Family Club, and LGBTQ+ Series. Today, 30 years later, this approach to audience engagement has been adopted by theatres across the country and around the world.

All told, during Mr. Haimes's tenure as Artistic Director/CEO, Roundabout's shows have won 34 Tony Awards, 58 Drama Desk Awards, 73 Outer Critics Circle Awards, 21 Lucille Lortel Awards, and 14 Obie Awards.

Roundabout Theatre Company has also been recognized at the New York Urban League's 17th annual Champions of Diversity Awards Breakfast for its commitment to fostering diversity, equity, and inclusion in theatre, and was a finalist for Crain's New York Business 2022 Diversity & Inclusion Awards.

Haimes was the former President and served on the Board of The Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, and he is a member of the Tony Awards Administration Committee and the Broadway League Executive Committee. He is the recipient of the 2013 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, was named a Crain's New York Business 40 Under 40 honoree in 1992, and last year received a portrait at Sardi's Restaurant.

He has taught Theatre Administration in the Graduate Program at the Yale School of Drama and the Graduate Theatre Administration Program at Brooklyn College. He holds a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Pennsylvania and a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the Yale School of Organization and Management.