The primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral history Project

Celebrating the visionaries who created New York's vibrant Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theater.

Barry Grove

Barry Grove

Executive Producer, Manhattan Theatre Club

Interviewed on: Tuesday, May 8, 2018
Location: Office of Manhattan Theatre Club
Interviewed by: Casey Childs
Interview #132
Photo Credit: Joan Marcus
"The audience is there for the journey, not for a hit play. There’s a wide array of possibility now in this city. Just as Broadway is the largest concentration of theatrical real estate in the world, Off-Broadway has to be the largest concentration of theater artists in the world."
Barry Grove Highlights
Video Length: 6 Minutes, 40 Seconds
Barry Grove Interview
Video Length: 2 Hours

Barry Grove has served as the Executive Producer of Manhattan Theatre Club since 1975.  Notable credits produced at MTC include: CATSPLAY (1978), STATEMENTS AFTER AN ARREST UNDER THE IMMORALITY ACT (1978), CRIMES OF THE HEART (1980), END GAME (1980), MASS APPEAL (1980), TRANSLATIONS (1981), THE SINGULAR LIFE OF ALBERT NOBBS (1982), IN CELEBRATION (1984), THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST (1984), OLIVER, OLIVER (1985), IT’S ONLY A PLAY (1986), LOOT (1986), CLAPTRAP (1987), FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE (1987), URBAN BLIGHT (1988), EASTERN STANDARD (1988), ARISTOCRATS (1989), THE LISBON TRAVIATA (1989), THE TALENTED TENTH (1989), WHAT THE BUTLER SAW (1989), ABSENT FRIENDS (1991), LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART (1991), BOESMAN AND LENA (1992), MAD FOREST (1992), SIGHT UNSEEN (1992), FOUR DOGS AND A BONE (1993), THE LAST YANKEE (1993),PRETTY FIRE (1993), PUTTING IT TOGETHER (1993), LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION! (1994), SYLVIA (1995), GREEN HEART (1997), THREE DAYS OF RAIN (1997), CORPUS CHRISTI (1998), Y2K (1999), PROOF (2000), THE WILD PARTY (2000), GARDEN (2002), HOUSE (2002), DOUBT (2004), RUINED (2009), MURDER BALLAD (2012), CHOIR BOY (2013), THE COMMONS OF  PENSACOLA (2013), HEISENBERG (2015), PRODIGAL SON (2016), SELL/BUY/DATE (2016), VIETGONE (2016), and COST OF LIVING (2017). Grove has produced nearly 450 American and world premieres. 

Barry Grove was born in Madison, Connecticut. He received his degree in Theater from Dartmouth College. During his time in college, Grove completed the inaugural National Theatre Institute semester at the Eugene O’Neil Theater Center. There he was a member of the touring ensemble and the company manager. He later went on to serve as the Assistant to the Director for Miss Reardon Drinks a Little (1971). Grove was the summer stock advance director, general manager and professor for the University of Rhode Island before finding a home at Manhattan Theatre Club in 1975. MTC productions, under the guidance of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Mr. Grove, have earned 23 Tony Awards, 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 48 Obie Awards, 39 Drama Desk Awards, and several Outer Critics Circle Awards. Grove serves as a member of the Broadway League Board of Governors, LORT Board of Directors, the Tony Administration Committee and is a trustee of the Equity-League Pension and Health Trust Funds. He previously held the positions of President of the Off-Broadway League and the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York, and as a Treasurer for Theatre Communications Group (TCG). In 2000, he received the Edith Oliver Award for his work in the Off-Broadway world, and in 2007 was awarded the Arts and Business Council’s Arts Management Excellence Award. He is an Adjunct Professor in Theatre Management at Columbia University and Yale.

Mentioned in Interview

David Auburn, B.H. Barry, Melvin Bernhardt, André Bishop, Mark Brokaw, Charles Busch, Joseph Chaikin, Gordon Clapp, Theodore S. Chapin, Blythe Danner, Joe Dowling, Geraldine Fitzgerald, Brian Friel, Athol Fugard, Richard Greenberg, A.R. Gurney, Julie Harris, Beth Henley, Jim Henson, Errol Hill, Holly Hunter, Woodie King, Jr., Arthur Kopit, Nathan Lane, Paul Libin, Kristin Linklater, Laura Linney, Andrew Lippa, Mary-Louise Parker, Cameron Mackintosh, Martyna Majok, Richard Maltby, Donald Margulies, Nancy Marchand, Terrence McNally, Lynne Meadow, Arthur Miller, Robert Moss, Qui Nguyen, Peter Nichols, Lynn Nottage, Clifford Odets, Tina Packer, Joseph Papp, Sarah Jessica Parker, Estelle Parsons, Amanda Peet, Hal Prince, Condola Rashad, Lloyd Richards, David Rudkin, John Patrick Shanley, Stephen Sondheim, David Storey, Richard Wesley, August Wilson, Jerry Zaks, Porter Van Zandt, George White, Robert Whitehead, Richard Winslow, Charlayne Woodard, Paul Zindel, Circle Repertory Theatre, Circle in the Square Theatre, The Eugene O’Neil Theater Center, La Mama E.T.C., Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, New World Stages, Playwrights Horizons, Promenade Theater, ABSENT FRIENDS, AIN’T MISBEHAVIN’, ARISTOCRATS, ASHES, THE BLOOD KNOT, BOESMAN AND LENA, CATSPLAY, CHEZ NOUS, CHOIRBOY, CLAPTRAP, A CLASS ACT, THE COMMONS OF PENSACOLA, CORPUS CHRISTI, COST OF LIVING, CRIMES OF THE HEART, DOUBT, EASTERN STANDARD, END GAME, FOUR DOGS AND A BONE, FRANKIE AND JOHNNY IN THE CLAIR DE LUNE, GARDEN, GOLDEN BOY, GREEN HEART, HEISENBERG, HOUSE, IN CELEBRATION, IT’S ONLY A PLAY, KINDER TRANSPORT, THE LAST YANKEE, LIPS TOGETHER, TEETH APART, THE LISBON TRAVIATA, LOOT, LOVE! VALOUR! COMPASSION!, MAD FOREST, MASS APPEAL, MISS REARDON DRINKS A LITTLE, THE MISS FIRECRACKER CONTEST, MURDER BALLAD, OLIVER, OLIVER, PRETTY FIRE, PRODIGAL SON, PROOF, PUTTING IT TOGETHER, RUINED, A SMALL FAMILY BUSINESS, SCENES FROM SOWETO, SELL/BUY/DATE, SIGHT UNSEEN, THE SINGULAR LIFE OF ALBERT NOBBS, STATEMENTS AFTER AN ARREST UNDER THE IMMORALITY ACT, SYLVIA, THE TALENTED TENTH, THREE DAYS OF RAIN, TRANSLATIONS, URBAN BLIGHT, WHAT THE BUTLER SAW, THE WILD PARTY, and Y2K

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