Industry Pro Newsletter: Broadway League Leadership Awards, ACTF Drops Affiliation with Kennedy Center

Happy New Year! This week, we’re catching up on a few different stories that you might have missed while you were out for the holidays - including the ongoing tumult at the Kennedy Center, multiple Broadway box office records, and the controversial reopening of a theatre in Mariupol.

SUBSCRIBE NOW - Want this newsletter delivered to your inbox every Monday? Make sure and subscribe using the form at the top or bottom of this page to join the Industry Pro mailing list.

Employment Opportunity

Marketing Manager - Florida Repertory Theatre

We’re looking to build our already amazing team. Be part of the fun and joy of creating live theatre. Working in close alliance with Florida Repertory Theatre leadership, the Marketing Manager coordinates all marketing functions for the organization. The Marketing Manager plays a vital role in driving an audience, especially a new audience, to one of Southwest Florida’s premiere arts organizations.

Industry Trends

American College Theatre Festival Suspends Affiliation With Kennedy Center

The American College Theatre Festival (ACTF) announced it is suspending its affiliation with The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts after nearly six decades, stating the current circumstances and decisions at the Kennedy Center no longer align with ACTF’s values. The decision was made by ACTF’s National Committee, which includes leadership across multiple disciplines. ACTF thanked Kennedy Center staff, especially the Education Division, for decades of partnership. The organization confirmed that its eight regional conferences will continue in 2026 and that the festival will operate independently under ACTF Management, Ltd.

Broadway/New York

The Broadway League Unveils 2025 League Leadership Award Honorees

The Broadway League announced its 2025 League Leadership Award honorees during its annual meeting, recognizing distinguished service, lifetime achievement, and community impact. Recipients include Alecia Parker and Allan Williams (Distinguished Service Awards) and Jack Eldon (Lifetime Achievement Award). Impact Awards were presented to Encore Community Services and Project FIND for their community-focused work. The recipients were selected by a League Awards Selection Committee representing all member categories. The awards celebrate contributions to Broadway and touring presentations.

RAGTIME Breaks Box Office Record at Lincoln Center Theater

Ragtime, the 2025 revival at Lincoln Center Theater, has set a new weekly box office record for the organization during the week ending December 28, 2025. The production stars Joshua Henry, Caissie Levy, Brandon Uranowitz, and others. Directed by Lear deBessonet, the revival has drawn strong ticket sales, contributing to the highest weekly gross in the theater’s history.

STRANGER THINGS: THE FIRST SHADOW on Broadway Breaks Marquis Theatre Box Office Record

Stranger Things: The First Shadow has broken the nine-performance house record at the Marquis Theatre with a gross of $2,510,948 for the week ending December 28, 2025. The Broadway production, adapted from the Netflix phenomenon, tells the origin story of the series’ villain Vecna (Henry Creel) and is produced by Netflix and Sonia Friedman Productions. The record comes as Stranger Things Season 5 volumes drove renewed interest in the stage show.

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts Launches Exhibit on History of Magic Performance

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts announced the upcoming exhibition “Mystery and Wonder: A Legacy of Golden Age Magicians in New York City,” opening February 12, 2026 and running through July 11, 2026. Curated by Annemarie van Roessel, the exhibit draws from the Billy Rose Theatre Division’s archives. It will feature more than 300 rare items, including books, photographs, props, and documents detailing the history of magic performance in New York. Highlights include rare magician wands, early printed material, and historic posters from renowned performers of the Golden Age of Magic.

Regional

Why Community Connection Matters More Than Ever for Regional Theater

Cara Joy David reflects on the importance of community engagement for regional theaters, sharing experiences from theaters in cities like Durham, Fayetteville, and Nashville. The article emphasizes that local awareness and meaningful relationships with audiences help build support and attendance. Examples include theaters hosting community events, offering affordable performances, and creating welcoming spaces. David notes that tailored outreach and visibility, such as cafes, local partnerships, and inclusive programming, contribute to ongoing connections between theaters and their communities.

International

The Guardian: ‘Dancing on bones’: Mariupol theatre to reopen with staging of Russian fairytale 

The Mariupol Drama Theatre, destroyed in a 2022 Russian airstrike while hundreds of civilians were sheltering inside, is set to reopen under Russian occupation authorities with a performance of the Russian fairytale The Scarlet Flower. The Kremlin presents the reconstruction as renewal of the city, but many former theatre staff and Ukrainians have condemned it as insensitive “dancing on bones” and part of a broader effort to Russify occupied Mariupol. The attack on the theatre remains one of the war’s most notorious incidents, with Amnesty International suggesting it was likely a deliberate strike on civilians. Some displaced former actors continue to perform a play memorializing the tragedy.

The Guardian: Arts funding in England must be protected from politics, Hodge report urges

A report by Labour peer Margaret Hodge urges that public arts funding in England be shielded from political interference and that Arts Council England (ACE) regain trust after controversial decisions. The report recommends reinforcing ACE’s arm’s-length status from government and simplifying funding processes, including revamping or replacing the current Let’s Create strategy. It also suggests extending funding cycles, reducing bureaucracy, ensuring stable core funding for organisations, and reforming tax relief to ease touring costs after Brexit. Arts leaders such as Wigmore Hall and The Royal Ballet welcomed the proposals, and ACE acknowledged it must ease burdens on applicants.

The Guardian: UK arts groups support performers in rejecting the myth of the tortured artist

Numerous UK arts organisations, including English National Opera and the Royal Opera House, are adopting therapeutic support systems to safeguard performers’ mental health and reject the outdated notion that suffering is necessary for artistic brilliance. Groups are partnering with organisations like Artist Wellbeing and the British Association for Performing Arts Medicine to provide counseling and support for stress, burnout, and trauma linked to emotionally intense performances. This move responds to studies showing high levels of work-related stress among actors and aims to help artists work deeply without personal suffering. Leaders and practitioners argue that therapeutic support enhances artistic performance rather than detracts from it.

Missed our last few newsletters?

December 15, 2025 - Near Record Broadway Attendance, Some Good News for Theater Real Estate

This week’s newsletter brings together stories of growth, innovation, and transformation across the theater and performing arts landscape. Inside, you’ll find updates on new BroadwayWorld features and partnerships, strong Broadway attendance figures, and evolving development plans in the heart of Times Square. We also spotlight major real estate and venue news shaping theater communities in New York, Washington, D.C., and Los Angeles, alongside a look at artists pushing creative boundaries in dance.

December 8, 2025 - Woolly Mammoth Announces New AD, RSC Faces ‘financial peril’

This week’s stories highlight a theater landscape in motion, with notable leadership shifts, community celebrations, and major institutional changes shaping the field. Helen Shaw’s appointment as Chief Theater Critic at The New York Times marks a significant moment in arts journalism, while audiences worldwide engage with the newly opened voting for the 2025 BroadwayWorld Regional Awards. Onstage, Broadway prepares for star-studded fundraising at Red Bucket Follies, and regional companies navigate both exciting transitions and unexpected setbacks. Internationally, major UK institutions confront financial challenges and ambitious renovations, reflecting a moment of both reckoning and renewal across the global arts community.

December 1, 2025 - Andrew Lloyd Webber on Broadway Economics, Paddington Takes First Bow on the West End

This week, we look at the record-setting viewership of the 2025 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and renewed efforts in New York and abroad to redefine cultural priorities. Across Broadway, we probe shifting economic pressures on creatives through a new interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber. Meanwhile, with the announcement of a new arts and culture transition committee by Zohran Mamdani, incoming leadership may reimagine the city’s cultural agenda. On a regional level, we follow the pioneering costume exhibition by Cleo Parker Robinson Dance at Denver International Airport — a celebration of decades of creative work — and internationally, we cover a new report revealing post-pandemic shifts across UK theatres, as well as the opening night of Paddington: The Musical in London’s West End.

BroadwayWorld Resources

BroadwayWorld Stage Mag - A Fully Interactive Show Program

The digital solution to your show program needs - want to see what's possible? Check out the Stage Mag's for A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder and for The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)! Then start building your own at stagemag.broadwayworld.com.

Add Your Show to our Regional Events Calendar

As audiences get set to return to in-person performances, and as your company works to market your own return to the stage, make sure you've got your upcoming shows in our regional events calendars. Listings are free of charge, with boosting options available. Get your show listed now

Want this newsletter in your inbox every week? Subscribe here.

Want more information about marketing options with BroadwayWorld? Request a media kit here and a member of our sales and marketing team will reach out promptly.