The Front Row Productions Fellowship, in association with Columbia University School of the Arts, has awarded the 2022 producing fellowship to Lamar Richardson. The annual fellowship focuses on increasing diversity on Broadway.
Richardson, an actor and producer, will soon make his Broadway debut as a co-producer of the upcoming Death of a Salesman revival starring Wendell Pierce, Sharon D. Clarke, and André De Shields. He previously starred in Phylicia Rashad's 2016 production of August Wilson's Ma Rainey's Black Bottom at the Mark Taper Forum and on screen in Weird City, Black Terror, Straight Up, and New Amsterdam. He also co-founded Ivy Lion Productions to center and produce underrepresented voices and empowering stories.
As a fellow, Richardson receives a $10,000 stipend and $20,000 budget for developing his project, support from mentors and advisors, access to resources and courses at Columbia University, and the opportunity to participate in the Theatre Management & Producing Concentration’s Producer Exchange Program with Stage One in the U.K.
Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones-Harvey established Front Row Productions to bring major works with diverse casts to the stages of Broadway and the West End. The Front Row Productions Fellowship was created in 2021 to support the development of gifted theatrical producers of color and further support Front Row Productions' mission of increasing diversity on Broadway.
“We are thrilled to announce Lamar as 2022 Front Row Productions Fellow at Columbia University," mentors Byrd and Jones-Harvey said in a statement. “The enthusiasm, innovative approaches to theatre, and acumen of the applicants this year made our selection process a challenge. Along with our mentors, advisors, and Steven Chaikelson, we look forward to working with Lamar on his journey to bring his project to the commercial theatre, and expand upon his very intention to be a catalyst for change.”
The Front Row Productions Fellow is supported by Fellowship Mentors Byrd, Jones-Harvey, Steven Chaikelson, Willette Klausner, Eva Price, and Jordan Roth. Fellowship advisors include Jeffrey Richards, Ira Pittelman, Jackie Alexander, Saheem Ali, Maria Manuela Goyanes, Amy Jacobs, Jonathan McCrory, Anthony McDonald, Nick Scandalios, Stephen Sosnowski, Thomas Distler, Tamara Tunie, and LaTanya Richardson Jackson.
Visit FrontRowFellowship.com.
