Sally Cade Holmes

Noah Taylor

Above: Sally Cade Holmes (left) discusses the work of a producer in a Friday keynote interview by SETC President Maegan McNerney Azar at the 2022 SETC Convention in Memphis, TN.

Producing Is Her Superpower

Sby Amy Cuomo Sally Cade Holmes (she/her) had no idea that carrying a refrigerator up a flight of stairs 15 years ago would propel her into a career as a Broadway producer. But that simple act, designed to ensure a show she was working on had a proper setting, helped launch a producing career that has won her two Tony Awards (for

Hadestown and The Inheritance) and numerous other awards, including Drama Desk and Critics Circle Awards for an off-Broadway production of Little Shop of Horrors. On March 11, SETC President Maegan McNerney Azar sat down with Holmes, the Friday keynote speaker at the 2022 SETC Convention in Memphis, TN, for an intimate discussion of her work in the theatre. Holmes emphasized the importance of saying yes to what interests you, showing up authentically, staying curious and relying on your values to guide your leadership strategies.

From actor to producer

As she began her discussion from the keynote stage, Holmes credited her 2004 trip to the SETC Convention as a high school student from Anderson, SC, with helping her realize that the theatre she had loved since third grade might be the key to her future.

“I was like, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow, wow – this could be a career,” Holmes recalled. “This could be something that I can do with my life.”

While participating in that convention, Holmes said, she began learning the skills needed to pursue her dreams in theatre.

“SETC was my first opportunity to connect with professionals, and it was the first time that I was asking, ‘How do I show up? How do I do this?’ ” Holmes recalled in an interview with Southern Theatre following her keynote. “Early in my career, SETC gave me the opportunity to stretch my professional wings – and they were certainly gawky.”

Like many theatre professionals, Holmes started out as an actor. After realizing that wasn’t her forte, she started a theatre company with friends who were designers. Not seeing a clear role for herself in their first production, she decided “to do everything else. I’ll make sure contracts are signed. I’ll get butts in seats, and make sure we have a place to do the show, and that the refrigerator can get up the steps for the set. Then, on opening night, I had a full breakdown. I said, ‘I can’t point to anything I have done on this stage.’ And my scenic designer friend was like, ‘Are you kidding me? You be quiet, ma’am. This wouldn’t have happened without you.’ And I realized that’s producing, No. 1. And No. 2, that it’s my superpower.”

Later, Holmes went to graduate school to pursue a degree in arts administration, viewing that as a possible route to becoming a producer. While there, she had the opportunity to work as a producing associate for the Williamstown Theatre Festival, where she met Tom Kirdahy, a producer and lawyer who is a multiple Tony Award nominee and was the husband of playwright Terrence McNally. Kirdahy couldn’t work the copier, so Holmes lent a hand.

Broadway’s The Inheritance, which was produced by Sally Cade Holmes, won both a Tony Award for Best Play and a Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Play in 2020.

SALLY CADE HOLMES: Bio and Career Highlights

EDUCATION:

BS, Theatre Studies, University of Evansville MFA, Arts Administration, Certificate in Arts Enterprise, Boston University

BROADWAY CREDITS:

Producer, The Inheritance (2019 – 2020) Producer, Hadestown (2019 – March 2020; reopened September 2021) Producer, Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune (2019) Producer (LD Entertainment/Sally Cade Holmes), Anastasia (2017 – 2019)

AWARDS, BROADWAY:

The Inheritance: Tony Award, Best Play Drama Desk Award, Outstanding Play, 2020

Hadestown: Tony Award, Best Musical, 2019

AWARDS, OFF-BROADWAY:

Little Shop of Horrors: Best Musical Revival, Drama Desk Award, Drama League Award and Outer Critics Circle Award (2020); reopened September 2021

More Info: sallycadeholmes.com

“So, I was helping him, and then when I got back to New York and my contract at Williamstown ended, I just asked him to coffee,” Holmes said.

This bold move led Holmes to work as an associate producer at Tom Kirdahy Productions, where she helped shepherd shows such as White Rabbit Red Rabbit, The Jungle and It’s Only a Play to the stage. Her experiences and hard work there put her on the path to a successful producing career.

The producer’s job

Producers are problem solvers, but the specific job description of a producer varies from production to production and depends on where the show is in its path toward the stage, Holmes said.

“If the show is about to go into a developmental workshop, I’m going to be talking to artists and I’m going to be asking questions,” she said. “I’m going to be reading the script. I’m going to be listening to the music and diving into that world. If we’re about to go into a fundraising round, I’m going to be talking to the lawyers. I’m going to be talking to my producing partners. I’m going to be reaching out to investors and getting them investment packets and, you know, really talking up the artists and putting on that fundraising hat. … I describe producing in a commercial sense as if each production is a company, and the producer is the CEO.”

In addition to Broadway shows, Holmes also produces plays that go on national tours. One company does the fundraising to produce a show on Broadway, she said, and if the show does well, another company will form to raise the funds to take it on tour.

“In most cases, the investors and the initial production [company] get the first right to invest in the touring production because they took the risk on the original version,” Holmes said. “And the touring production is likely going to be less risky because it already has the Broadway stamp of approval.”

Holmes noted that “theatrical producing is not necessarily the most lucrative profession. So, I have several gigs, which is ideal for me because I don’t want any one day to look exactly like another day.”

Say yes to what interests you

During the keynote, Azar asked Holmes what advice she would offer her high school self about getting started in the industry.

“I know my high school self wouldn’t listen,” Holmes quipped. “So, everybody in high school, I’m sorry, but I would tell my high school self that every career you’ve had thus far has been four years long. You start your freshman year; you have four years to be a success until you’re a senior. Time is a story we tell ourselves. And when you graduate from wherever you graduate, or if you don’t go to college and you go out into the world, there is no four-year timeline.

“The things that you do when you are 22 years old are going to come back and

help you when you’re 45 years old. … That’s one thing I would tell my high school self. The trajectory is long. It is not a four-year career. And then the other thing is, there is no one path. … Every single human has a different path. And all you have to do is say yes to the things that interest you, that authentically interest you.”

It was this attitude that led Holmes to produce Hadestown. Holmes had heard the concept album for Hadestown, released in 2010, before she knew that playwrightsongwriter Anaïs Mitchell initially had developed it as a play and was continuing work on a stage version. Holmes was passionate about the show’s sound and its message.

Fast forward to 2016 and her mentor Tom Kirdahy had called a meeting on Hadestown, which made it to Broadway in 2019. The trajectory for the project was a long one, but that’s not unusual. Getting the timing right is key in producing, Holmes noted.

“It’s important to allow the story to unfold itself – not pressuring it because that just causes suffering,” she said. “It’s a mix of letting go of control and knowing you have to control everything you can!”

Progress after the pandemic

Like most theatre professionals, Holmes has felt the impact of the pandemic. But she sees the pandemic pause as an interruption that may present opportunities for people to look more deeply at themselves and set in motion a power shift that leads to more equity, diversity and inclusion in theatre.

“I feel like in this very specific time where our industry has just lived through a pandemic, we are faced with an opportunity to change it,” Holmes said. “And that takes a lot of individuals looking inwards and learning who they are and what it means for them to show up authentically.”

Holmes has tried to show up authentically herself and has relied on her values to guide her decisions. She shared with the audience an example of how she led with her values during the confusing days at the start of the pandemic.

“Actors were without jobs,” she said. “Nobody knew what was happening. I was working with this company who had reserves, and they were able to pay people but neither SAG [the Screen Actors Guild]

Broadway’s Hadestown, which was produced by Sally Cade Holmes, won eight Tony Awards, including Best Musical, in 2019.

nor Equity had figured out jurisdiction over Zoom readings. And I told this company, ‘I don’t care. We’re just going to pay actors because nobody knows where their next paycheck is coming from. Union jurisdiction cannot get in the way of paying actors in this moment.’ And that feels like a moment of valuing humanity, not union jurisdiction. Unions are very important, and we support them. But these people have to eat.”

Similarly, conversations “surrounding equity and the need to lift the veil of opacity from commercial theatre, all of those moments feel really, really important, and they are something we’re taking out of this pandemic time,” she said.

Holmes hopes that in five years “the lead producers on Broadway are going to look incredibly diverse.” While there have been advances, Holmes notes it will take time for more broad changes to occur.

“I think that the shows on Broadway already look more like our country looks,” Holmes said. “At one point, there were seven Black playwrights represented on Broadway, and that’s the most that have ever been represented at once. … I know that the content that’s being produced is shifting, and that the leadership is shifting. And then I think that all of these wiggly things under the surface, like how we lead our meetings, and how we structure our teams, are going to take longer just because some of these leadership ideologies are so deeply programmed within us. … But there are positive changes. I don’t think it’s acceptable to anyone to not have a diverse creative team anymore. And that’s perfect and as it should be.”

Leading with creativity

Currently, Holmes is sharing her insights with students at Furman University, where she teaches an Advanced Seminar in Creative Leadership. She encourages students to embrace curiosity – and a willingness to shift gears.

“I think nimbleness is a part of leadership and curiosity,” Holmes said. “We were talking in the seminar about how goals might have to change when you’re a leader. If you learn something along the way that changes what the outcome is, it forces you to shift the trajectory, to shift your mindset, to be nimble about how you’re going to get there.”

Holmes shared a recent example of a podcast where a significant amount of money had been invested, but things were not falling into place for the project.

“We were supposed to start last Monday, and artistically we just did not have everything in pocket, and we had to pause production,” she said. ”And that was a moment of leadership that was brave and right. The authentic thing to do was to say, ‘We can’t do this the way we want to. So, let’s be still and let’s reevaluate and then move forward.’ ”

Producer as storyteller

At the center of it all, Sally Cade Holmes is someone who tells stories – and has specific criteria for the types of narratives she wants to share going forward.

“No. 1, it must be entertaining,” she said. “I feel like I have had to unlearn some programming that said, ‘If it’s artistic, it’s good.’ … I want it to be entertaining. … We have to acknowledge that audiences are being inundated with so many images right now. … How do we make the audience experience cater to this moment? That feels really important, as does expanding that experience to digital platforms.

“No. 2, it needs to have a sense of social justice or subverting some status quo. I want it to be entertaining so that my family in South Carolina will come in, and then I want them to sit and enjoy it and have several questions in the back of their mind when they leave, wondering and being curious about something that they might not have thought about before. Those are the kind of stories that I want to tell.” n

Amy Cuomo (she/her) is a professor of theatre at the University of West Georgia whose play Happy was a finalist for the Heideman Award. She is a member of the Southern Theatre Editorial Board.