Broadway Producer Roy Miller Named Surflight Theatre Producer

Surflight Theatre Board President Gene Hammond announced today that Broadway producer (and Surflight alum) Roy Miller has been appointed to the leadership position of Producer at Surflight Theatre.

A New Jersey native, Miller's Broadway producing credits include the current revival of West Side Story (Tony nomination for Best Musical Revival and Grammy Award Winner for Best Musical Show Album), The Drowsy Chaperone (winner of five 2006 Tony Awards; Drama Desk and NY Drama Critics' Circle Awards for Best Musical), and The Pee-wee Herman Show (opening October 26). Before crossing the river to New York, Miller was Associate Producer of the acclaimed Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, NJ, from 1991 to 2004 where he produced over eighty musicals and plays including Animal Crackers starring Kristin Chenoweth, Follies starring Ann Miller, Gypsy starring Betty Buckley and Deborah Gibson, and Stephen Schwartz's new musical Children of Eden.

Miller may be new to the leadership of Surflight, but he is no stranger to the Beach Haven theatre's 450-seat venue. While performing in a high school production of Funny Girl in his hometown of Irvington, NJ, Miller was offered an apprenticeship at Surflight by the show's director and Surflight founder Joseph P. Hayes. That first introduction to summer theatre at the Jersey Shore in 1975 was followed by two subsequent seasons as an apprentice and, eventually, as a member of The Acting Company in 1978. Years later, Miller served as a member of Surflight's Board of Trustees and as a generous contributor to various fundraising initiatives including the construction of the cast house in 2007 and last year's 60th anniversary gala.

Commenting on his longstanding passion for the Beach Haven theater, Miller said, "I have a strong personal connection to Surflight and am deeply honored to carry on the rich legacy of Joe Hayes while taking the organization to the next level of excellence. My colleagues Scott Henderson, Guil Fisher, Eddie Todd and Steve Steiner are to be applauded for following in Joe's footsteps and leading the theater forward after his passing in 1976. My first priority is to get the theater's finances in order while planning a 62nd season that will appeal to Surflight's diverse audience of subscribers and summer visitors."

With that in mind, Miller is turning to the community to assist in his efforts to lay a strong fiscal foundation upon which the theater's future success can be built. As Producer, Miller insisted on donating his salary for the first year so as to challenge the theater's board and community to match his donation, a gesture that he believes will send a powerful message to donors and patrons that Surflight's new leadership is committed to ensuring a future that is worthy of the theater's extraordinary past.

In making the announcement of Miller's appointment, Surflight Board President Gene Hammond said, "Roy is a strong addition to the leadership of our organization. He possesses a great energy and enthusiasm that will serve our theater and the community well. His Broadway know-how combined with his earlier experience in the not-for-profit arena will help attract name talent to the theater while enhancing production values both on and off the stage. In addition, Surflight's mission to train the next generation of performers and technicians will be well served by Roy's passion for arts education, which circles back to those formative years when he was a Surflight apprentice."

"Working at Surflight as an apprentice set the course for a no-turning-back career," said Miller. "The first show I performed in at Surflight was West Side Story, and it's humbling that I return to Surflight in this new capacity while producing the current revival of West Side Story on Broadway." Miller plans to continue producing on Broadway, which the theater's Board supports and recognizes as a benefit to the organization in numerous ways.

In his role as Producer, Miller will oversee all areas of the organization, both artistic and administrative, including the theater's programming and strategic direction. That direction will be modeled around the success of other theatres similar to Surflight's size and scope such as Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts, which traditionally brings a caravan of the industry's greatest talent to its stage each summer. Williamstown owes much of its success to the leadership of another Surflight alum, Michael Ritchie, who previously ran Williamstown and is the current Artistic Director at the Center Theatre Group, a massive three-theatre complex in Los Angeles that includes the Ahmanson Theatre. Ritchie's strategy of attracting top talent to Williamstown has added significantly to the audience's experience and the prestige and financial stability of the organization. Ritchie said "If it wasn't for my connection to Surflight and the four summers I spent there with my friend Roy Miller, the pre-Broadway production of The Drowsy Chaperone never would have happened at the Ahmanson; proof that not a day goes by that I don't refer back to my early days at Surflight. The memories are golden."

Kevin McCollum, Miller's producing partner on numerous Broadway shows, echoed praise for Ritchie's Williamstown strategy. "Wearing both commercial and not-for-profit hats, Roy has the unique ability to transform Surflight into the next Williamstown Theatre Festival. The Surflight Board was wise to attract someone of his caliber." McCollum ought to know. He had great success during his tenure at the not-for-profit Ordway Theatre in Minneapolis while, at the same time, producing the Broadway production of Rent amongst other attractions.

Miller's other Broadway producing credits include the revival of Ragtime, [title of show], Mark Twain's Is He Dead?, High Fidelity, and the revival of I'm Not Rappaport. He also produced the tours of A Chorus Line in 2002 and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in 2000. Miller's upcoming projects include the new musical My Own Song starring Clint Holmes, and opening November 26 at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in Seattle, and the new musical A Christmas Story, based on the classic 1983 motion picture.

As for Surflight, Miller said "Surflight is poised to take the next step in its long and illustrious history, and I intend to create a season that would make Joe Hayes proud."

ABOUT SURFLIGHT THEATRE
Surflight Theatre is located on Long Beach Island, a popular barrier island off the coast of New Jersey, forty-five minutes north of Atlantic City. The Beach Haven, NJ, troupe was founded by Joseph P. Hayes in 1950. His dream was to offer theatre and theatre training for actors and technicians. Today's programming, sixty-one years later, reflects the accomplishments of his extraordinary vision-an achievement that is found in the success of actors and technicians who credit their good fortune in a challenging industry to the early training they received at Surflight.

For Surflight, the past 61 years have been a journey-a journey that transported the theater's patrons from the simplicity of early productions to the sophisticated staging that today's audiences have come to expect at Surflight.

The Surflight venue evolved from its first performances under the stars to later performances under a tent, eventually moving into a local garage that became the theater's first permanent home. At each step along the path to the future, Surflight remained faithful to its core mission which is to provide high-quality professional theatre to the residents and vacationers of Southern New Jersey, while serving as a training ground for young performers and technicians. Because Surflight has remained focused on that mission, today's audiences have every assurance that the standard of excellence they have come to expect will continue to evolve in the future.

Joe Hayes passed away unexpectedly in 1976. The candle flickered momentarily, but it did not die. Fortunately for Surflight and the Beach Haven community, Scott Henderson, a local businessman and banker, stepped in to provide the next generation of leadership for what, despite its growing popularity, was still a fledgling theatre company that continued to struggle financially from one season to the next. Joined by Eleanor Miller as Artistic Director, the Henderson-Miller management team transformed the dreams of Joe Hayes into the reality of a semi-professional theatre company whose reputation started to reach well beyond the quiet intersection of Engleside and Beach Avenues in downtown Beach Haven.

Upon Eleanor Miller's retirement, Guil Fisher joined the company as Artistic Director, and was subsequently followed by Eddie Todd. It was during these years that Surflight productions began to take on a more professional look. In 1987, a two-million dollar investment towards a brand new theatre turned Surflight into a state-of-the-art facility that paved the way for new management and a new generation of audiences. That new management came with Scott Henderson's retirement in 2001 when he passed the torch to Producing Artistic Director Steve Steiner. For the next nine years, Surflight's star continued to shine brightly, powered by young apprentices and interns.

Joe Hayes' mission continues to guide over 300 Surflight performances each year-performances that include not just Main stage and Children's Theatre productions, but also a full schedule of performances by Surflight's educational theatre troupe Surflight To Go, which introduces young audiences to the joy of theatre through age-appropriate productions that are placed into over 100 elementary and middle-schools each academic year.

Today Surflight is owned by the not-for-profit The Joseph P. Hayes Corporation, which operates the theater and the Show Place Ice Cream Parlour, where over 100,000 patrons are entertained each summer by singing waiters and waitresses who help create life-long memories for families who make Surflight and Show Place their favorite LBI destinations.

Surflight is a 61-year stewardship for the development of future artists, artisans and audiences as well. Surflight is as true to its promise of family entertainment as it is to its claim of Broadway at the Beach.
It is this environment that Surflight welcomes its next generation of leadership; its next Producer, Roy Miller.

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND INFORMATION ON Roy Miller
Miller discovered The Drowsy Chaperone in Toronto, and introduced it to American audiences in 2005 at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles where it won five Los Angeles Stage Alliance Ovation Awards and five Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards. The show opened on Broadway in 2006 and went on to win five Tony Awards (out of a near-record thirteen nominations), seven Drama Desk Awards (including Best Musical), the NY Drama Critics' Circle Award for Best Musical, four Outer Critics' Circle Awards, and a Grammy nomination for Best Musical Show Album. He also produced the national tour and London production (five Olivier Award nominations).

During his fourteen-year tenure as Associate Producer at the acclaimed Paper Mill Playhouse in New Jersey (1991-2004), Mr. Miller produced over eighty musicals and plays including Crazy For You (broadcast nationwide on PBS' "Great Performances" series and Emmy nominated); Follies starring legendary performer Ann Miller (recorded on TVT records and is considered the definitive Follies recording); Gypsy starring Betty Buckley and Deborah Gibson; Animal Crackers starring Kristin Chenoweth; and Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden (recorded on RCA Records).
Miller serves as a panelist for the ASCAP Foundation Musical Theatre Workshop and guest lecturer for the Commercial Theatre Institute and Broadway Speakers' Bureau. He is a member of the Broadway League, the national trade association for the Broadway industry.

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