NEW YORK CITY: Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) has announced that 2022-23 will be Barry Grove’s last season as executive producer. This season marks his 48th year working with artistic director Lynne Meadow in what has been the longest-running partnership in the nonprofit American theatre.
Under their leadership, MTC has produced nearly 450 American and world premieres, and MTC productions have earned 28 Tony Awards, 7 Pulitzer Prizes, and 50 Drama Desk Awards, as well as numerous Obie, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Awards and, in 2001, the prestigious Jujamcyn Award. Some of MTC’s recent productions include Skeleton Crew, Ink, Choir Boy, Saint Joan, The Children, Heisenberg, August Wilson’s Jitney, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes, The Father, Fool for Love, and Constellations.
“It has been my joy and honor to partner with Barry for so many decades,” said Lynne Meadow in a statement. “He has sustained MTC with dedication and vision, executing growth, working as a force in creating our reputation for excellence, and fostering integrity in every aspect of our work. In 1973, when I offered him the job of managing director, he turned me down. I’ve never been one to take no for an answer, so I went back and asked him again a year later—from the moment he said yes, he has organized, supervised, led, and inspired. He has led us through our triumphs and our crises and has been by my side for decades as a believer, advisor, and executive. His impact was a gift, making my dream a reality and creating opportunities for hundreds of gifted artists.
“I am forever grateful to him for the starring role he has played to help place MTC at the forefront of the American theatre.”
Grove has guided the organization through several major transitions from a three-story Bohemian social hall on East 73rd Street, to New York City Center, to the renovation of the Biltmore Theatre, now known as MTC’s permanent Broadway home, the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. With Grove’s help over the years, MTC’s annual budget has increased from $172,000 to $27 million. During his tenure, together with MTC’s board and development team, he has raised $350 million to support the organization and help realize its mission.
Before Grove came to the Manhattan Theatre Club, he was general manager of the New Repertory Theatre in Rhode Island. Grove has also served as an adjunct professor at Columbia University and is a lecturer at Yale University. He received the 2000 Edith Oliver Award for sustained Excellence Off-Broadway, the Arts and Business Council’s 1997 Arts Management Excellence Award, and a citation from the New York City Council, which declared June 4, 1990 “Barry Grove Day.” Grove is a member of the LORT Board of Directors and the Tony Administration Committee, and has been a trustee of the Equity-League Pension and Health Trust Funds for over 30 years. He has previously served on the Broadway League Board of Governors, as the second-ever president of the Off-Off Broadway Alliance (now known as A.R.T/New York), and as the second-ever president of the Off-Broadway League, among other positions.
“I am deeply proud, honored, and grateful to have spent the last 48 years in partnership with the incredible artistic director and pioneer in the field, Lynne Meadow,” said Grove in a statement. “I am stepping down to spend more time with my wife Maggie and extended family, and I will continue to explore teaching, mentoring, and consulting projects.
“MTC and the theatre world have been my village, my Anatevka, my Grover’s Corners, and my Brigadoon. Every night and on matinee afternoons, the streets and sidewalks are swarming with literally tens of thousands of theatregoers. They come here, leaving their technology behind and hopefully checking their cares and concerns at the door. And as they sit shoulder to shoulder with loved ones or strangers on either side, they do so with the sure and certain knowledge that they are about to experience something magical. I can’t tell you how happy and humbled I am to have been part of this village.”
The theatre has begun a nationwide search for Grove’s replacement.
The Manhattan Theatre Club is a theatre company in New York City. The MTC aims to create, develop, and produce new works of theatre. As of 2020, MTC had a budget of approximately $22 million.
