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[0:00] Martín Acuña: Hi, everyone. I am Martín Acuña, and you are listening to Backstage Talk.

[0:18] Martín Acuña: Hello, everyone. Welcome back to another episode of Backstage Talk. Today, I have Nathaniel Hill with me. He started Broadway Plus back in 2016 as the first and only company to fulfill and promote official VIP experiences for Broadway shows. As a producer, Nathaniel led-produced Cleopatra at Chelsea Music Hall, which played to critical acclaim and was described by the New York Times as, quote, bootlicious. Prior to founding Broadway Plus, he worked as a company manager, management associate, and intern on Broadway and off-Broadway productions, including Hamilton, Wicked, Next to Normal, Billy Elliot, and Rec Time. He also worked for elite theatrical management and production companies, including DR Theatricals, Baseline Theatricals, Serena Cohen, and the Producing Office. Nate, thank you so much for being here. It is an honor and a pleasure. Welcome to Backstage Talk.

[1:22] Nathaniel Hill: You're welcome. Thank you so much for having me.

[1:25] Martín Acuña: I've been following you for quite a while. I've been following your company for quite a while, and let me tell you, it's amazing. The people you have, the performers you have on your side to create these experiences is just amazing. But I want to trace it a little bit back and ask you, what made you choose the thespian path in life?

[1:47] Nathaniel Hill: Sure. Well, like I'm sure many of your listeners, I was a theater kid through and through. And my parents recognized that from a very early age, and I started doing community theater and school theater. And I was lucky that we had a, what's called a summer stock theater in the town I grew up in, in northern New Hampshire, which means 10 professional actors from New York would go up and spend their summer working in that theater. So I got to be like the token little boy for a few years. I was the character of the little boy in Ragtime. I was Winthrop in Music Man and all those 10-year-old boy roles I got to do. So that was really how the bug bit me. And then I started, when it came time to look at colleges, I started looking at acting, and I just got a sense that it wasn't quite the right fit.

And I wasn't meant to be on stage. Plus, I was terrible at remembering lines. And I was just interested in what was going on backstage. And so I started to just look up online and take out some books about what is the business of theater? What does that look like? I was fortunate that my parents ran a business, and so I watched them do that together. And so I thought, well, okay, maybe I'm interested in business. Theater is my favorite thing. What does that mean? And I learned what theater producing is, and then sort of designed in my own major in college to be in theater producing. And that was the beginning of my path to Broadway Plus. I love it. I love it. So tell me specifically about your journey with Broadway Plus. How did it start back in 2016? Where did this idea come from?

[3:56] Nathaniel Hill: I was buying tickets to a Beyonce concert, and I noticed all these different VIP experiences, VIP packages and offerings. And I was working on the ticketing side of Broadway, and I knew that we weren't doing any of that in Broadway. So my idea was to take that business model and apply it to theater. And I spent about a year just talking to everyone in the business who I'd ever met, everyone I'd interned for, theatrical lawyers, accountants, managers, producers, trying to understand why no one had tried this and why it wasn't being done. And there were some answers to that question, but I felt that I was in a good position to try to come up with solutions. And so with that, I got three shows signed on, and I launched the company.

[5:00] Martín Acuña: That is awesome. So Broadway Plus is a site for people to go and have one-on-ones, teaching classes, master classes, or group classes with Broadway performers, right?

[5:06] Nathaniel Hill: That is correct. We do a lot of different things. We still do VIP packages live in the theaters at shows here in New York. And then we have our online booking platform, which is probably how you and a lot of our fans that we picked up in the last two years found us, which is 600 Broadway actors have a dedicated page on Broadway Plus that fans anywhere in the world can use to book their time doing meet and greets, coachings, video greetings, all that good stuff. And then we have an event planning department, which means we work with people planning birthday parties and also big live events here in New York and actually all around the world now where we fly in or bring in top Broadway actors to do performances, concerts, Q&As, coachings, and all sorts of things for groups.

[6:04] Martín Acuña: That's great. So your company is the first ever place that offers these VIP experiences with the greatest of the Broadway industry. How do you think this is affecting the new generation of people that wants to come into the field?

[6:17] Nathaniel Hill: Well, I hope it's making the industry feel more approachable and accessible. I know how hard it was to break into Broadway and more than break in just to understand how it works and what the business is and what an agent versus a manager is, what auditioning is really like. So hopefully we're providing a great resource that people, whether they end up pursuing it professionally or not, they can learn and feel like it's not this big, scary mystery. I hope that people can connect with actors and hone the craft and do a meet and greet or a Q&A where they can ask questions and learn firsthand from actors how things are really set up and how the business works.

[7:08] Martín Acuña: That is amazing. And what I love most about this is making the industry more accessible to people, not only in the United States, but outside, bringing Broadway and our industry worldwide. Because as you said, sometimes it's very hard to break in. And it may seem personally for me, for a long, long time, I saw Broadway so far away. And I do think that companies like Broadway Plus are making them more approachable, more accessible for people outside the industry worldwide to understand how Broadway works and how the type of training you need. And that being delivered by the biggest names in the industry, that is just mind-blowing for me.

[8:03] Nathaniel Hill: Well, thank you. It's been a really exciting evolution the last two years because before I was only working with people who were coming to New York and probably spending a lot of money on VIP experiences. And now, because of the technology and the way that...

[8:39] Nathaniel Hill: Thankfully, it grew a lot. It's the biggest change. We did not have an online booking platform before the pandemic, so we've spent thousands of hours between all of us building that, perfecting it, making sure that it's a safe space for artists and for students, and that it's clear for students and fans how to book, that it's easy. A lot of business now is in building websites and making your website efficient and clear and very user-friendly, so it's really pressured us to think differently that way. Our event planning department has grown a lot because there was, thankfully, huge demand for virtual Broadway events. All the actors were, of course, more available than ever, and when everyone was in quarantine and home, there was a big need for new creative entertainment ideas, so we were able to grow a lot there by creating custom Broadway concerts for people and companies all over the world.

Thankfully, it's just been a quick and strong push forward in terms of our reach, and we also grew our social media a lot, from a few thousand to almost 40,000 followers on Instagram and more than 20,000 on TikTok, which we just hit this week, which we're very excited about. That's been really thrilling, and thankfully, it's just growth, both in terms of the fans we're reaching and the number of people we have working hard here in the office every day.

[10:23] Martín Acuña: That is great. So, anyone anywhere around the globe can go to BroadwayPlus.com, choose their favorite artist, and book them.

[10:32] Nathaniel Hill: That is absolutely correct.

[10:34] Martín Acuña: That is awesome. So, where is the company now headed, now that the industry is reopening and things in New York are moving very fast-paced with all these COVID protocols and safety precautions?

[10:50] Nathaniel Hill: That's a great question. We're working on bringing back the old company, I call it, what we were focused on before the pandemic. We're not able to do backstage tours specifically right now for the rest of 2021, but we're optimistic about the future, and we have a lot of great alternatives. We're booking live coaching. We're booking live meet and greets. We've had a lot of people buying dinner with an actor. It's a really cool experience, really intimate, a great chance to get to know a professional actor. We've been selling that a lot. We've been helping people get amazing tickets that aren't available to the public. And so, it's really just about, you know, we grew so much in the last year, and we have a lot of different verticals in the company, and now we're trying to mature those and, I think, sort of settle into where we now find ourselves. And I'm not trying to start any huge, crazy new projects right now. I'm trying to, you know, really perfect and make more efficient what we're doing now.

[12:04] Martín Acuña: I love it. That is great. I know that whatever comes on Broadway Plus's path will be great. Certainly, for a lot of thespians outside the United States, it's been a great resource to meet people and to meet artists. So, I wish you the best.

[12:24] Nathaniel Hill: Thank you.

[12:25] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I know a couple of friends have booked one-on-ones with performers, and it's been great for them. They've been very happy about it. So, that is, like, first-hand experience.

[12:37] Nathaniel Hill: It's been great. Well, the best part is that both the artists and the fans leave really happy and fulfilled and feeling just a wonderful sense of connection and having learned something. And I just feel really lucky that, you know, what we do is providing a lot of jobs and bringing a lot of joy to the world. I think that's my purpose, and that's my company's purpose. So, I'm very grateful I get to do that.

[13:02] Martín Acuña: Absolutely. So, Nathaniel, before we go, what would be a piece of advice you would tell your younger version?

[13:11] Nathaniel Hill: Oh, boy. So many. I always, you know, I'm a very impatient person, which has been great in a lot of ways. But also, I think when I was younger, you know, your life is shorter, and everything is, like, in four, at least in the US, it's in four-year chunks. And you think that, you know, one year of your life is a huge deal. And I was just in a real rush to get a lot of things done. And I think it's, you know, it's okay to slow down. It's okay to do a job that is maybe not your calling for a year, but you're still learning something from it. I think at the end of the day, you know, you have to pay your dues. And it takes years to learn a business like Broadway or like any industry. And it's okay to enjoy, you know, that journey and the ups and downs that will definitely come with it.

And you just have to play the long game and have faith. And a career in entertainment, you know, there's no guarantee. It's not like becoming a doctor, and then you're a doctor, and then you're set. You just have to have faith and work hard and learn as much as you can over time. And good things will come to you.

[14:36] Martín Acuña: That's great. One final question. And since you've been working with performers from a lot of shows.

[14:42] Nathaniel Hill: Yes.

[14:42] Martín Acuña: Which would be your top five musical theater shows?

[14:48] Nathaniel Hill: My top five shows, Hairspray is definitely my number one. When I was about 12 years old, I fell in love with Hairspray very deeply. And that was how I got, that was another big way I got really excited about theater. So Hairspray, I would say Kinky Boots is a huge fan of. Ragtime is a show that I love. I think it's a beautiful show. And I've actually, I've been involved in three different productions of Ragtime in my life. Into the Woods is a show that I love. Probably my favorite role I ever played was Jack in Into the Woods. And I think my last would be Moulin Rouge. Maybe it's because I saw it last week, but I think Moulin Rouge is awesome. I love it. I think it's such a great, fun time. I like a party show and a good time and a happy, sends you out on a high show. And I think it's a great one.

[15:45] Martín Acuña: Yeah, I agree. Those are great shows. Well, Nate, thank you so much for coming over. Thank you so much for telling us about your journey, your journey with Broadway+. I wish you the best. And thank you so much for coming over to Backstage Talk.

[16:01] Nathaniel Hill: My pleasure. Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.

[16:06] Martín Acuña: Thanks everyone for listening to this new episode of Backstage Talk. Remember to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at Backstage Talk Podcast.