The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Reveals 2024 Scholarship Recipients

Broadway Advocacy Coalition (BAC) and Broadway stage manager and producer Cody Renard Richard has announced the next cohort of The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program. The program is dedicated to building a bridge into the industry for emerging theatrical leaders of color working behind the scenes.

This year's recipients include Uchenna Agbu (Rutgers University), Genevieve Bellavance (University of California, Berkeley), Shavante Brogley (Webster University), Paul Molina (Carnegie Mellon University), Meili Monk (University California, Irvine), Phanésia Pharel (University of California San Diego), Tia Smith (Yale University), Natalia Jiménez Torres (Florida State University), Joshua Treviño (Texas State University), Mary (MK) Ware (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).

Each student will receive a financial grant of $10,000, mentorship through various online seminars focusing on community building, leadership, and social justice, and an all-expenses paid trip to New York City to meet with mentors and experience Broadway and New York's theater scene in person.

“Thrilled that we are now in our 4th year of the program," says Richard. “I'm looking forward to sharing space with this incredibly diverse group of young leaders. With each year we deepen our community and I have no doubt that these students will be invaluable to

Past Scholars from the program are now working across the industry on Broadway in shows like Hamilton, Hell's Kitchen, Lempicka, Sweeney Todd, and Disney's Aladdin, on tour with Jagged Little Pill and Tina Turner: The Tina Turner Musical, and across the country at Regional Theatres like Utah Shakespeare Festival, La Jolla Playhouse, Lincoln Center and The Public Theatre.

The program is supported by the Jeffrey Seller Family Foundation as well as The Miranda Family Fund, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids, Jujamcyn Theaters, Tiger Baron Foundation, The Theater Leadership Project, Kevin McCollum, Thomas Kail, Junkyard Dogs, Jenny Steingart, Lee Perlman, Heather Gilbert, Gavin Creel, and Jill Furman. The Jeffrey Seller Family Foundation and The Miranda Family Fund serve as lead sponsors.

This year's selection committee featured prominent BIPOC theatrical professionals including Richard, Lawrence Bennett, Jhanaë Bonnick, Dria Brown, Yang-Yang Chen, Ann James, Zhailon Levingston, Tina McCartney, Kenneth McGee, and Nzinga Williams.

For additional information, please visit CodyRenard.com/Scholarship.

ABOUT CRR SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM

The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program strives to:

• Encourage more Black, Asian, Latinx, Indigenous, and other students of Color to pursue degrees in the theatrical management and artistic fields, such as Stage Management, Technical Theatre, Theatre Design, Playwriting, Directing or Theatre Management.
• Cultivate and provide a space for the next generation of BIPOC artists, while honoring, recognizing and welcoming their future contributions to the theatrical world.
• Connect our scholars with theatrical and community leaders of color, to help cultivate their leadership and advocacy skills to encourage them to be change agents in their own communities and within the industry.
• Create a community of scholars who will learn and grow together throughout their various educational journeys.
• Remind BIPOC individuals that their voices and talents are needed and will be supported.

ABOUT Cody Renard Richard

Cody Renard Richard is a Tony Award winning Producer, Advocate, Educator, and professional Stage Manager with a career that spans many genres including Broadway, Television, Cirque du Soleil and Opera. On Broadway, he has worked as a full time and substitute Stage Manager for 17 productions and is currently the Production Stage Manager for Lempicka on Broadway. Other favorite SM credits include: Sweeney Todd ('23 Revival) Into the Woods ('22 Revival), Freestyle Love Supreme, Hamilton, Jesus Christ Superstar Live!, Annie Live!, VMAs, Tony Awards and 10 productions with NY City Center Encores!. As a producer, Cody has Co-Produced the Broadway revival of Parade (Tony Award), A Strange Loop (Tony Award), Thoughts of a Colored Man, as well as the National Tour Moulin Rouge. On top of his production credits, he is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University after previously serving as adjunct faculty at New York University and Fordham University. He has actively worked with numerous organizations including Broadway Advocacy Coalition where he founded The Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program for aspiring BIPOC theatre makers. He is also a founding member of RISE Theatre Directory; a theatrical database geared to uplift underrepresented individuals in the theatre. As an advocate for change and equity, he has appeared live on CNN and has been interviewed on WNBC and NY1. Cody was profiled as the cover story for SWERV Magazine in 2023 and has been featured by Variety Magazine as one of their 2020 Broadway Players to Watch, Out Magazine as a 2020 OUT100 honoree and in Forbes, among other publications. He was recently honored by the Kennedy Center as a part of their Next 50 list and is the recipient of the 2020 Webster University's Young Alumni Award and the 2020 Native Son Next Award. He holds a BFA in Stage Management from Webster Conservatory and is a member of Actors' Equity Association and the Directors Guild of America. www.codyrenard.com @codyrenard.

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