League President's Abrupt Departure Leaves Industry Talking

Last week, the Broadway League announced that Charlotte St. Martin would be “retiring” after 18 years. An email from St. Martin went out to League members shortly before the public announcement. And I’m not sure I’ve ever received quite so many theater-related communications before noon.

Although she will “serve in an advisory position for special events through the 2024 Tony Awards,” St. Martin is leaving her position effective February 16, 2024, which is soon. Jed Bernstein, the last League head, announced his departure in September with an end-of-the-season effective date. Regional theater leaders, without immediate next jobs, usually also announce departures tagged to season ends. So, needless to say, most were surprised and rumors have been making the rounds. But to publish them would be irresponsible. Instead, I’m going to discuss more general realities.

Established in 1930, the Broadway League (which has had a few names) has had six heads (now called “President,” previously called “Executive Director”), including St. Martin; average tenure 15 years, four months. The Broadway League is a trade association. Basically what that means is it is an organization founded and funded by businesses related to Broadway. Its purported job is to “increase interest in commercial theatre throughout North America.” It co-sponsors the Tonys. Its foundation arm presents the Jimmy Awards. I can list more. Honestly, a lot of what it does is herd cattle. It keeps the official opening nights calendar. It tries to organize industry-wide responses when crappy things happen—from the passing of a community member to the pandemic. It negotiates with unions so the standard contracts are the same for all League members. It lobbies the government. It shepherds DEI efforts, though the head of those initiatives, Gennean M. Scott, left last week.

The League operates with varying degrees of success. It’s also an easy target. Ticket prices increase, blame the League. Refund/exchange policies decrease, blame the League. I’m still angry about the botched relaunch ad campaign. However, as it is a trade association, not a traditional company, the President of it doesn’t actually run Broadway; that person in theory is more a steward of the Broadway brand. Some of the things we think a League head should be able to do—insist on a light dimming, for example—are not totally within that person’s power. And while it is definitely fair to place part of the blame for Broadway's poor attendance figures on the trade organization designed to promote it (and I do), no one credited the League during the 2018-2019 season with its record-breaking attendance.

St. Martin does oversee the League’s own initiatives. For example, I’ve heard her speak passionately about Broadway Bridges and the League’s High School Broadway Shadowing Program, two cool programs created during her tenure.

Whether the League's chief executive should be an industry person has always been debated. Broadway is too insider. That favors bringing someone from the outside, with ideas that have perhaps worked in other industries. Also, it is partially a role focused on branding, not something theater producers are particularly known to be spectacular at. Neither St. Martin nor Bernstein were theater producers before they got their League positions. St. Martin came from the hospitality industry, having worked her way up the ladder at Loews Hotels, where she was for almost 30 years; Bernstein was an advertising guy. (I wasn’t around when Bernstein started, but I’ve heard, while some balked at his structural overhaul of the organization, he was more embraced in his early years than St. Martin was in hers. St. Martin was the first female head of a male-dominated organization and also has a southern accent, neither of which worked to her advantage I suspect. The criticisms of her now might be valid, the snarky remarks I heard about her right away were less appropriate.) Although there are reasons for giving the role to a non-industry person, St. Martin’s non-theater background was frequently brought up as a negative, especially as she made several interview comments in recent years that led to criticism both on social media and behind closed doors. And Broadway is niche. The business is not a typical one. There is a certain appeal to having someone baked into the industry promote it. (The person before Bernstein was a theatrical press agent before joining the League.) I asked a dozen producers who should be the next League president and all of them favored an insider, while admitting it might not be one. The only name that got more than one vote was producer and attorney John Breglio.

I’d personally favor someone with some industry knowledge at this juncture. It’s a perilous time for theater in general and the Broadway League as an organization. Prior to the pandemic, the organization typically had positive net income. However, it has been in the red since the pandemic, reporting a negative net income of -$866,703 in 2020, -$4,918,661 in 2021, and -$1,140,110 in 2022. St. Martin’s salary was reduced during this time, albeit slightly. Her overall compensation was around $569k in 2019 as compared to around $542k in 2022 and did take quite a dip in 2021, down about $80k from the 2019 figure, before inching back up. (These figures may seem high, but that is less than many artistic directors and NYC executives make. Bernstein made way more in overall compensation at Lincoln Center.) I’d think the next person would get paid around the same.

There will be a search. A broad one. In the meantime, Jason Laks, League Executive Vice President and General Counsel, will serve as Acting President. A former big law attorney, he has been at the League since 2021 and immediately before that worked at NBCUniversal. The folks I spoke to did not see him continuing in the role permanently.

Industry Trends Weekly is a short column that runs in the weekly Industry Pro Newsletter. To read past columns and subscribe Click Here. If you have an idea for the column, you can reach the author at cara@broadwayworld.com.