Before Cody Renard Richard traveled to New York City during his sophomore year of college, he had never seen a Broadway show. In fact, before Richard joined his middle school drama club, he had never seen any kind of theater. But, he said, “Sitting in the audience of ‘Avenue Q’ and completely overtaken by the magic of Broadway, I leaned over to my friend and pointed to the stage manager’s name and title in the Playbill and said, ‘My name is gonna be in here one day,’” Richard recalled. “And ever since that moment, I was very intentional about making it happen!”
Indeed, since then, Richard has been on a mission. His high school theater teacher, Carrie Wood, and college professor and mentor, Peter Sargent, encouraged Richard to pursue a career in stage management. During two summers in between his studies at Webster University’s Sargent Conservatory of Theatre Arts in St. Louis, Richard served as assistant stage manager and production stage manager for Hope Summer Repertory Theatre in Holland, Michigan. “HSRT worked as a repertory theater, so we were in rehearsal for one show during the day and performing another one at night,” Richard said. “It was wild but I learned so much in terms of time management and prioritization.”
In 2011, the year after he graduated from Webster, Richard got his Broadway break. Earlier that year, he had been hired as a stage management production assistant (PA) for the Transport Group’s new Off-Broadway musical “Lysistrata Jones.” When the show announced a Broadway transfer, the stage management team was going to be replaced with Broadway veterans. Richard fought for his chance to remain with the show, writing to director Dan Knechtges, associate choreographer Jessica Hartman and star Patti Murin. He interviewed with the Broadway team and was hired as an assistant stage manager.
Following the early closing of “Lysistrata Jones,” Richard served as assistant stage manager on five Broadway shows and subbed for six others. But he felt a pull towards the role of production stage manager (PSM). “I realized that my leadership skills and mindset were perfect for the role,” Richard said. “I’ve always been more of a big-picture person, and I am a natural born leader.” He sought out PSM jobs to much rejection, at first. But in 2019, Richard earned his first Main Stem PSM credit with “Freestyle Love Supreme.”
Since then, he has also been the PSM for 2021’s “Pass Over” (the first play to open on Broadway after the pandemic shutdown), 2022’s “Into the Woods,” 2023’s “Sweeney Todd,” 2024’s “Lempicka” and the current revival of “Once Upon a Mattress.” His stage management résumé extends beyond theater, having supervised the Tony Awards telecast, MTV’s Video Music Awards and more.
On top of his backstage work, Richard has served as a co-producer on Broadway. He is an adjunct assistant professor at Columbia University School of the Arts, teaching stage management, and founded the Cody Renard Richard Scholarship Program with the Broadway Advocacy Coalition for students of color pursuing offstage theater-related degrees.
Here, he breaks down the responsibilities of a theatrical PSM, shares an unforgettable memory from his early stage-managing days and more.
