Stage One has announced the 12 UK producers selected for the New York Columbia Exchange Programme 2025.In partnership with Columbia University, the exchange will take the producers, all previous alumni of a Stage One programme, to New York from the 15th – 19th September for a series of industry focused workshops to learn everything about how to produce on Broadway. Marking the 5th annual exchange between Stage One and Columbia University, the programme has now become one of Stage One’s core development programmes offering industry focused training and investment.
The producers selected for 2025 are Bethany Cooper, a producer, general manager, and recipient of the 2022 Nicole Kidman Bursary, designed to support emerging female producers in the theatre industry; Conor Gray, previously the associate general manager at The Old Vic, he has now taken on the role of producer of the Watermill Theatre, and David Shopland, whose 15-year career in the industry has taken him across the breadth of the UK, as well as Vancouver, Sarajevo, Paris, Belfast, Beijing, and beyond.
They are joined by Demid Naumov, the current associate producer (international) for SIX the Musical, whose invaluable work supports the show’s continued global success and London-based producer Gareth Andrews, whose production company, Story Works Live (I Wish You Well: The Gwyneth Paltrow Ski-Trial Musical, Criterion Theatre; Calendar Girls The Musical, Bill Kenwright Ltd.; Disney’s Freaky Friday the Musical, Manchester HOME), is currently developing a slate of new productions, from original work and stage adaptations of globally distributed IPs.
Also chosen for the program is musical theatre specialist James Steel, whose company, James Steel Productions, supports international collaborators across the West End, Broadway, and beyond, alongside Jamie Rycroft, a London-based independent producer. Jazz Lintott Bruce cut his teeth as a producer of film and television but transitioned into theatre with immense success, with his debut stage play, Going for Gold: The Frankie Lucas Story, earning three award wins at the Black British Theatre Awards.
Kate Baiden is currently a producer for London’s Lyric Hammersmith Theatre, producing shows across the Main House Theatre, the Studio Theatre and on tour, and Simon Paris, whose work as founder and artistic director of Say It Again, Sorry?, and producer of the hit interactive show …Earnest?, showcases his mission to disrupt the traditional performer-audience relationship through interactive, immersive, or entirely reimagined theatrical forms.
Completing the cohort are Sophie Visscher, co-founder of Speakerphone Productions, specialising in interdisciplinary queer storytelling across theatre, dance, and comedy, and Winnie Imara, the co-producer for the West End transfer of Retrograde, with previous experience as assistant producer for Talawa on Talawa First, a scheme to bring emerging Black writers and creatives to the stage.
Through the Columbia Exchange, Stage One Producers will be given an intensive education in producing for Broadway, from US labor laws and unions, to fundraising, copyright law, US touring and much more, equipping them with the practical knowledge to make their ambitions of producing for on or off Broadway a reality.
Joseph Smith, Chief Executive of Stage One comments, Stage One is thrilled to be hosting our fifth Producer Exchange in partnership with Columbia University, providing a chance for aspiring commercial theatre producers to build stronger ties with their fellow producers in New York. Creative teams in the US and the UK have a great history of collaboration and we hope this programme continues to inspire these collaborative partnerships and future commercial projects.
The Columbia Exchange is supported by the John Gore Organisation.
Main Image: Courtesy of Stage One
This post was last modified on August 6, 2025 7:10 am