Jeryl Brunner profiles people who are guided by a deep and unshakable passion for what they do. Following their joy inspires them to think outside the box, take risks and triumph. Her publishing credits includes O, the Oprah Magazine, Parade, The Wall Street Journal, InStyle, Travel+Leisure and more. She is also the author of the book My City, My New York: Famous New Yorkers Share Their Favorite Places where hundreds of famous New Yorkers, including Tina Fey, Anthony Malkin, Matthew Broderick and Will Shortz share their favorite locales and things to do. She has been featured on TV and radio. Follow Jeryl on Twitter, @jerylbrunner or visit her website, jerylbrunner.com
Jenny Steingart was a diehard, passionately devoted theater kid. From the fourth grade to her senior year of high school she was in every school play in her native New York City. “I studied at the Neighborhood Playhouse, went to Stagedoor Manor and spent a summer in London at The National Youth Theater of Great Britain studying Shakespeare,” she says.In her early twenties she even tried her hand at acting doing small parts on soaps and commercials.
Since then Steingart has become a producing giant in her own right championing and nurturing hit productions that manage to be entertaining, smart and evocative. In 2002 she co-founded Ars Nova with her husband Jon Steingart. For 17 years the theater has been a beacon for emerging artists and new works. “We recognized a need for an organization that would preserve the ability for young artists to have a safe place to take risks,” she says.
My dear friend Hal Luftig, who had taken on the project as one of the lead producers, asked me to see it. My initial thought was that it probably wouldn’t be something I’d want to produce because my interests usually lie in new work from new voices. That said, I was nostalgic to hear Yiddish again. My grandparents were from Eastern Europe and used to argue in Yiddish so we couldn’t understand what they were saying. It had been a long time since I’d heard it spoken fluently.
Brunner: How did you first know that Freestyle Love Supreme was going to be something special 15 years ago?None of us could have imagined an improv, freestyle, hip-hop show would end up selling out on Broadway. But what was obvious to my husband, Jon Steingart, our partner Jill Furman and me was that Lin [Manuel-Miranda], Tommy [Kail], Anthony Veneziale and the rest of the group were uber-talents.
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