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04/14/2023 10:58 AMYou may not recognize Barry Grove’s name, but you’d certainly recognize the hundreds of shows he’s produced both on- and off-Broadway or the many talented actors Barry has worked with or helped get their start trodding the boards. From Denzel Washington to Laura Linney to Nathan Lane and to productions such as Fool For Love, The Country House, and Drowning Crow, Barry has had an illustrious 48-year career in the theater, and he says it all goes back to the encouragement he received while he was a student at Daniel Hand High School (DHHS).
This past January, Barry announced that he would be stepping down as executive producer of Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC) after the 2022-’23 season. The current theater season marks Barry’s and Artistic Director Lynne Meadow’s 48 years working together, no mean feat in such a competitive realm.
Barry says his initial love of the theater was instilled by his mother’s passion for the arts, but he credits his teachers at DHHS for inspiring him and further planting that seed of passion for the theater.
“My mom loved the arts, and so from an early age, I was her date going to the theater. We went to the Stratford Theatre and the Shakespeare festival there, into New Haven to the Shubert, or to Goodspeed, so I got my start in loving the theater from her,” says Barry. “By the time I got to Hand and in the Madison school system, I already had that experience.”
Barry particularly credits his English teachers, Bill Minor and Chuck Collins, and notes that Minor ran the drama program.
“Then a woman named Ms. McGilicuddy came into our lives for two years and was the runner for the drama program there,” Barry says. “She cast me in the play January Thaw. All of this really began with my mom; the two gentlemen, Bill and Chuck; and Ms. McGilicuddy, who took the time to help us with the drama program.”
Barry’s professional career got off to an impressive start. While working at the Eugene O’Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Barry was asked if he wanted to be a company manager of a pending tour.
“I had no idea what that was, but I raised my hand, and they picked me. So, I did that, and I guess I did an okay job because I got home and was getting to go back to the winter term up in the snow in Hanover…when the phone rang, and they said, ‘How would you like go to New York and assist on a Broadway show?’ I said that sounds great, how long do I have to decide and they said, ‘You got to be at rehearsal in two days!’ So, two days later, I was sitting at Sardi’s having lunch with a Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright, Paul Zindel, this great director Melvin Bernhardt, Julie Harris, and Estelle Parsons — how bad is that?” jokes Barry.
Barry says after that experience, his time as a performer didn’t last long, and he was soon drawn into the management and production side of the business. He says that his limited time on stage helped him identify more strongly with his casts and provided an appreciation for what actors can bring to a production.
“I was never a good actor,” Barry jokes. “I am happy that I got a few meager attempts on stage, so I know what it feels like to perform. I have profound respect for actors who do it for real. I thought for a little while I would be a director…which is a road I began down, but my mom was a bookkeeper and my dad was a salesman…and I never thought I’d do what either of them did, but as a producer, I seem to have ended up doing what both of them did.”
Barry rose through stage manager positions, some directing, and eventually found that calling as a producer, but to call Barry’s career impressive doesn’t do justice to his legacy or the legacy of MTC itself. Under Barry’s production and Lynne’s direction, MTC has produced nearly 450 American and world premieres, and MTC productions have earned 28 Tony Awards, seven Pulitzer Prizes, and 50 Drama Desk Awards, as well as numerous others, including Obie, Outer Critics Circle, and Theatre World Awards and, in 2001, the prestigious Jujamcyn Award.
If all that dedication wasn’t enough, Barry somehow managed to rack up even more accomplishments outside of MTC. Barry was an instructor at both Yale and Columbia universities and also served on the boards of the Tony Awards, the League of Resident Theaters, and the Broadway League.
According to his colleagues, Barry helped guide MTC through several major transitions from its original space at a social hall on East 73rd Street, to New York City Center, to the renovation of the Biltmore Theatre, which became the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre and is now MTC’s permanent Broadway home. During Barry’s tenure, MTC’s annual budget went from $172,000 to $27 million. Together with the board, Barry has raised more than $350 million to support MTC and help realize its mission.
As a producer of a nonprofit theater, Barry raised the $50 million a year needed to keep the three theaters that MTC now owns functioning and producing works.
“We have an amazing board, and raising that money every year and helping our education programs get their traction is a credit to everyone who is part of our theater,” says Barry. “I’ve been asked many times what my favorite memory or having produced over 500 productions is, what is my favorite play, and it is the one question that I answer the same: the next one. Having said that, there are countless numbers of writers whose careers we have helped launch, plays we’ve helped develop, and early work with new artists on our stages like Nathan Lane and Mary Louise Parker…and a host of other actors. So, I have wonderful memories. There was always something exciting going on.”
Barry says when he announced his decision to retire, he received hundreds of well wishes and thanks, but one of those stood out because Barry at first did not recognize the name.
“Most of the people, I knew right away. They were board members and donors and performers and students I taught, former staff, and fans of the theater. And I got one from a woman named Barbra Bolton, whose name I did not recognize,” says Barry. “Turns out this was Ms. McGilicuddy, and she had been a subscriber in the earliest days of our theater. She had cast me in two plays at Hand and had really given me that start on the path.”
According to Barry, in a recent full circle moment, he and his former mentor Barbara McGilicuddy Bolton celebrated Barry’s accomplishments together at a matinee performance in New York City.
Barry says his decision to step down will allow him to spend more time with his wife, Maggie, and his extended family back in Madison, where he and Maggie have lived with relatives and have called home since the early 2000s. According to Barry, he will obviously miss the career he has immersed himself in for close to five decades, but he plans to continue to explore teaching, mentoring, and engaging in consulting projects.
“I’m going to miss almost everything about it. What I’m not going to miss is the time and energy it takes to do it. I’ve been happily married to Maggie for 49 years, and we just haven’t had enough time together…I am looking forward to spending more time in Madison with Maggie and our extended family,” says Barry.
Barry Grove got his start a Daniel Hand High School. He will step down at the executive producer of Manhattan Theatre Club at the end of the season. Photo by Jason Bell