Elephant Eye / AAIP

Proctors as Broadway producer

Schenectady theatre invests in An American In Paris, The Addams Family productions with others 

Proctors became a partner in Elephant Eye Theatrical in 2006, a consortium of 15 theaters from across the country and Canada that came together to create and produce new musicals. Its first success was The Addams Family, starring Bebe Neuwirth and Nathan Lane. It opened April 2010 on Broadway, where it was staged for 35 previews and 722 performances.

The national tour stopped at Proctors in November 2011 for eight performances before the show closed on Broadway the following month. There have also been productions in Australia, the United Kingdom, Mexico, Italy and elsewhere.

“I wanted Proctors to become integrated into the creation of work,” Proctors CEO Philip Morris told the Times Union in a 2011 interview. “We are always in the position of hoping, praying for good product. There never seems to be enough. The opportunity to participate in helping add to that basket of options seemed pretty important to us.”

Proctors was an above-the-line producer of  An American in Paris, and was additionally represented as a member of the Independent Presenters Network and Elephant Eye Theatrical, both of which are producers of the show. The show was nominated for 12 Tony Awards® in 2015 and won four. The touring edition of An American Paris kicked off at Proctors, where it held technical rehearsals for four weeks in September and October 2016 before hitting the road.

Elephant Eye CEO is Stuart Oken, a former executive vice president at Disney who co-developed and co-produced Aida and The Lion King.

Link:
The story behind how technical rehearsals for touring Broadway shows came to Proctors.