In theater and live entertainment, there are a multitude of backstage roles that ensure the show always goes on. Hear from creatives and managers who share what it takes to produce successful live performances, often multiple times a week.
Jenny Gersten, VP & Artistic Director, Musical Theater, New York City Center
JENNY GERSTEN is the VP & Artistic Director of Musical Theater for New York City Center where she programs and produces the renowned Encores! series. She sometimes produces commercially including on Broadway: Liberation, Beetlejuice, Just For Us (also Executive Producer of HBO capture), Laura Benanti: Nobody Cares (Edinburgh Fringe), the award-winning “pie shop” production of Sweeney Todd, and Gavin Creel's Walk on Through. Upcoming, Jonathan Spector's new play, Birthright at MCC. Previously, she was Artistic Director of Williamstown Theatre Festival, Executive Director of Friends of the High Line, Associate Producer of The Public Theater, Creative Producer for Virgin Voyages, and spent her early years at the grassroots theater mentoring organization, The 52nd Street Project.
Stephanie Sciandra Smith, Vice President, Creative, Situation
Stephanie Sciandra Smith is Vice President, Creative at Situation—a dynamic agency built for experience-based brands. In her current role, she oversees the agency's evolving multi-platform creative strategy and campaign development for live entertainment, arts and culture, and attractions clients.
With a deep understanding of fandoms ranging from musicals to Marvel, she’s spent her 15+ year tenure at Situation spearheading innovative campaigns for clients including NBCU Cable Entertainment, One World Observatory, Ringling!, One Times Square, New York City Center, Roundabout Theater Company, The Tony Awards, and Broadway hits like MJ, Mean Girls, Dear Evan Hansen, Jagged Little Pill, and The Color Purple. Her work—balancing inspired creative choices with grounded business impact—has won recognition from the Clio Awards, Webby Awards, OMMA Awards, Telly Awards, and Shorty Awards.
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Prior to her time at Situation, Stephanie spent her early career at Sony Pictures Entertainment (The Social Network, How Do You Know, Just Go With It), the Drama Desk Award®-winning TADA! Youth Theater, and the Tony Award®-winning New Victory Theatre.
She is proud to be on the Advisory Board for Maestra, a member of Broadway Women’s Alliance, and a New York University alum.
Alex Volckhausen, Stage Manager (Wicked, Hamilton); Trustee (New York Philharmonic, The Public Theater)
ALEX VOLCKHAUSEN A native New Yorker raised in Brooklyn, Alex graduated from Princeton University’s School of Architecture. His Broadway credits include Three Sisters, Hedda Gabler, James Joyce’s The Dead, 42nd Street, Flower Drum Song, the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Next to Normal, Avenue Q, Dracula the Musical, The Little Dog Laughed, All My Sons, Guys and Dolls, Promises Promises, The Scottsboro Boys, Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo, Mike Tyson: The Undisputed Truth, The Assembled Parties, Glengarry Glen Ross, Mamma Mia! and the national tour of The Lion King, as well as Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theater Club, Second Stage, the Atlantic Theater Company, the Williamstown Theater Festival, the Old Globe, The Mark Taper Forum, and the Huntington.
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Alex has been a member of the stage management team of the Broadway company of Wicked since 2015 and the Broadway company of Hamilton since 2025. He also has an active career as a corporate event stage manager for such clients as the Clinton Global Initiative, Oath/Verizon, MIT, Cisco Systems, Google, Goldman Sachs, Carlyle Group, Apollo, Riverstone, the New York Times, NCAA, LG, Samsung, Univision, Essence Magazine, Samsung, Amway, MasterCard, Nike, Target, Ralph Lauren, Casio, NBC Broadcasting and NBC News, Fox Broadcasting, Martha Stewart Omnimedia, JCPenny, The Onion, Skybridge Capital, FIFA, Norwegian Cruise Lines, and the U.S. Open. He was an adjunct professor of stage management at Columbia University and has also guest lectured at Princeton, Carnegie Mellon, Fordham, Boston University, and Rutgers. Alex is a trustee at the New York Philharmonic, The Public Theater, and an advisor at the Lewis Center for the Arts at Princeton University.
Moderator: Adam Natale, Director, SVA Theatre
Adam Natale (Director, SVA Theatre) has been at the helm of the School of Visual Arts’ SVA Theatre since late 2012. During his tenure, he has worked with the majority of Hollywood’s major film and animation studios and many of New York’s top film festivals. He founded and annually produces both SVA’s alumni film festival, After School Special, and their student film festival in Los Angeles, SVA Premieres. He has been a guest speaker at many events and conferences, including for SXSW, Sundance Film Festival, Americans for the Arts, NewFest, Theatre Communications Group, NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, Dance/USA, and the National Performing Arts Convention, among others. Prior to SVA, Adam worked with the national arts nonprofit Fractured Atlas and for the National Endowment for the Arts.
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He is a former chair of Americans for the Arts’ Emerging Leader Council and was awarded the American Express Emerging Leader Award in 2012. Adam has served as an awards panelist for the NEA, Alternate ROOTS, The Playwrights’ Center, and The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. He was an Associate Producer with the New York Musical Theatre Festival and has directed several off-off-Broadway plays and musicals. He is an Associate Member of the Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC) and serves on the Board of Directors of NewFest, NYC’s leading LGBTQ+ film and media organization. He previously served on the boards of off-Broadway's Red Bull Theater and the Association of Teaching Artists. Originally from Philadelphia, Adam holds a BA in Directing for Theatre and Film from American University and an MA in Artistic Producing, Presenting, and Curation from Goddard College.
Presented with the Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment and SVA Theatre
This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.
The Center's programs are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature.
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