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Jeffrey Richards (born March 16, 1947) is an American Broadway theatre producer who has presented both new and revived works for the Broadway stage. His most notable productions include Spring Awakening, August: Osage County, Will Ferrell's You're Welcome America, and Porgy and Bess, as well as numerous premieres by Tracy Letts and David Mamet. He is the recipient of eight Tony Awards.

Richards was nominated for a 2020 Primetime Emmy Award as one of four executive producers of the dramatic film American Son, an adaptation of the 2018 Broadway play of the same title. The film premiered in 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival, debuted in November 2019 as a television drama, and was nominated for the 2020 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.

Early life

Born and raised in New York City, Richards' mother, Helen Stern Richards, worked as a press agent and manager of many Broadway shows, a long list of which included notable musicals such as West Side Story and Shenandoah.

He attended Wesleyan University and Columbia Journalism School with the intention of becoming a journalist but changed direction, and chose instead to work a public relations job which led to his working on the revival of The Pajama Game (1973).

Career

Richards initially worked as a press agent on and off Broadway for nearly two decades, and in 1995, ventured into theatrical production with the initial Off-Broadway production of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged).

In 2000, Richards presented his first production on Broadway with a revival of Gore Vidal's The Best Man. He has since produced over 50 shows on Broadway (many in partnership with producer Jerry Frankel), receiving Tony Awards for his productions of David Mamet's Glengarry Glen Ross (2005); The Pajama Game (2006), Duncan Sheik and Steven Sater's Spring Awakening (2007), Tracy Letts's August: Osage County (2008), Hair (2009), Porgy and Bess (2012), Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (2013), and Robert Schenkkan's All The Way (2014). He has been nominated for an additional 14 Tony Awards.

Richards was one of four executive producers who presented the 2019 American dramatic film, American Son, along with Rebecca Gold, and Kerry Washington and Pilar Savone under their Simpson Street banner. The film is an adaptation of the 2018 Broadway play of the same title, written by Christopher Demos-Brown. The movie premiered in 2019 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and made its television debut on Netflix in November 2019 as a "Netflix Television Event". Despite the film's critical reception, it was nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Television Movie.

Broadway stage

References

1. "Jeffrey Richards – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB". www.ibdb.com. Retrieved 2020-12-15.
2. "Jeffrey Richards". Television Academy. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
3. ^ "Kerry Washington in 'American Son': Netflix Releases Trailer During Emmys". The Hollywood Reporter. 22 September 2019. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
4. ^ Keveney, Bill (2020-07-28). "Emmys 2020: The nominations list". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
5. Robertson, Campbell (16 January 2008). "A Broadway Producer is Bringing Back Drama". The New York Times.
6. ^ Rothstein, Mervyn (2007-12-21). "A Life in the Theatre: Jeffrey Richards". Playbill. Retrieved 2018-11-25.
7. "Complete Works to Close Off-Broadway May 26".
8. "Jeffrey Richards – Broadway Cast & Staff | IBDB".
9. "Review: 'American Son' Puts Kerry Washington in a Maternal Nightmare". The New York Times. 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
10. "'American Son' Review: Kerry Washington Stars on Broadway in New Play". Variety. 5 November 2018. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
11. Robinson, Jacob (2019-10-16). "American Son: Netflix Release Date, Plot, Cast & Trailer". What's on Netflix. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
12. "Netflix's 'American Son' Adaptation Exposes The Play's Flaws". NPR.org. 2019-10-31. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
13. Defoe, John (2019-09-05). "'American Son': Film Review - TIFF 2019". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 2020-08-13.
14. Wilkinson, Alissa (2019-11-01). "With American Son, Netflix brings Broadway to the screen in an intriguing new way". Vox. Retrieved 2020-08-13.

External links

• Jeffrey Richards at IMDb
• Jeffrey Richards at the Internet Broadway Database

• People from New York City
• American musical theatre producers
• Tony Award winners
• 1950 births
• Living people
• American theatre managers and producers
• Wesleyan University alumni
• Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism alumni