This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:00] Mary Dina: Hey everyone, welcome to Page to Stage.

[0:03] Brian Sedita: A conversation with theater makers.

[0:04] Mary Dina: We're your hosts.

[0:05] Brian Sedita: That's Brian.

[0:06] Mary Dina: And that's Mary.

[0:07] Brian Sedita: Join us as we focus the spotlight back on the theater maker to uncover their process.

[0:12] Mary Dina: We speak with folks in the industry that often aren't heard from.

[0:15] Brian Sedita: Such as stage managers, producers, crew members, marketing professionals.

[0:19] Mary Dina: And everything in between.

[0:20] Brian Sedita: We hope you enjoy this episode.

[0:25] Anant Das: Hi, my name is Anant Das, and I'm the founder of Broadway Boxed Up.

[0:30] Mary Dina: Thank you for coming on our podcast, Anant. I'm excited to chat with you.

[0:34] Anant Das: Now I'm so excited to be here. Thanks for having me. I feel like we should almost have like a cocktail in hand because it's like a late happy hour or something.

[0:42] Brian Sedita: Well, that would like really further Anant's image of me as just like always drinking because every he just always asks me liquor questions and like and I always seem to be drinking when we're talking.

[0:55] Anant Das: Every time I'm in a liquor store and I don't know what to get, I take a picture and I send it to Brian. I'm like, what should I get? Which one is the best one? And he's my go-to guy for this.

[1:04] Mary Dina: No, wait, did you also say that you're a producer, Anant?

[1:07] Anant Das: That's a great point. I'm also a producer of a new musical coming up, and I'm excited to be part of the team.

[1:13] Brian Sedita: And you were part of Fairy Cakes.

[1:15] Anant Das: Yes. I was an investor of Fairycakes Off-Broadway, and I'm one of the investors of the new Museum of Broadway that I'm super pumped about.

[1:22] Mary Dina: Oh, I don't think I knew that. That's amazing. So let's just dive in by telling everybody how what is Broadway Boxed Up and how did it come to be? What inspired you to create this company?

[1:35] Anant Das: So Broadway Boxed Up is a theater-themed subscription box service. So I say we put all things theater and Broadway in a box and ship it out each month. The idea came about during the pandemic, June 2020. I remember it was a really tense time in our country. Social justice protests were just kicking off and getting more heightened, but I wasn't really comfortable going out and leaving the house yet. And I wanted to be able to channel that energy in some way and make a difference. And I sort of channeled that energy by figuring out I could elevate voices of diverse theater professionals and underrepresented theater professionals while also combining my interests and passion for accessibility to theater.

I grew up in Washington, DC, great theater scene, but I didn't know about it till I was an undergrad in college. And I realized if I, a theater lover, didn't know about the theater miles away from me because I didn't come from that background, that there has to be people like me all over the country. So really I wanted to put Broadway in a box and ship it to people's doorsteps so they knew where to find theater and could get that access when they can't come to New York City.

[2:39] Mary Dina: Okay, so you had this idea, but what was like your first step? Did you subscribe to your own subscription box, like you know, theater related or not before this?

[2:49] Anant Das: Great question. I didn't really do too much subscription box research. I knew the general model, I viewed a few other websites, kind of saw how they set things up, but I really took a background that I had in design and ordering merchandise and ordering apparel. And I kind of worked from there of what would I want to have shipped to me each month. And I just ordered things, designed some of my own things, found some playbills online and put it in a box, and I decided to ship it out and see who would bite, really just using whatever knowledge I knew about social media and things like that.

[3:22] Brian Sedita: That's wild. That's like because I mean the only subscription box that I've previously subscribed to was like one for your pets. But I always wondered of like I have a snack subscription box that I do monthly. It's like it's like five bucks a month. It was like a small thing.

[3:35] Anant Das: Yeah, it's like mine is like five dollars a month, and they give you snacks that are worth way more than five dollars because the companies are paying to have their like pretty much just giving these snacks away for free and trying, and they're like luxury snacks too. So some I like those hue bars, you know, those chocolate bars, those are like seven dollars a piece, like already it made the box worth it.

[3:57] Brian Sedita: I've actually never subscribed to a subscription box, like I've never actually received one, but now I think I would have subscribed if there was a theater one.

[4:06] Anant Das: So I think I created my ideal subscription box of what I would have wanted every single month.

[4:10] Mary Dina: Yeah, totally. So you launched this with your family, right?

[4:13] Anant Das: Yep, it's the team is me, my two parents, my older brother. We do everything, and then I was lucky to be able to hire two interns this past summer, and I sometimes still go back to them for design work or some friends to help out with design work.

[4:28] Mary Dina: I love that this is like a family business. Is your whole family into theater or it's in some at some varying degree?

[4:35] Anant Das: Not at all. They don't know any theater. I've been teaching them a lot about the theater world, and you know, my dad he recognizes Jesus Christ Superstar. He remembers from his time when he grew up abroad, he was like, that was something he recognized. And you know, all Bollywood movies are kind of musicals in a way, so there was always musicality in my family, but when it comes to Broadway and American theater, I think my parents saw Grease in London and maybe the 90s, and that's it. That's the extent of their theater knowledge.

[5:10] Mary Dina: Wow, that's gotta be a fun experience. I wish I could have seen Grease in the 90s in London, right?

[5:15] Anant Das: Oh my god.

[5:17] Mary Dina: So, what was that conversation like with your parents? Of just like, I have this idea. Like, did you have to like investor pitch them in a way?

[5:24] Anant Das: My parents were always super supportive. I think they always said if you had an idea, they would want to help out. If you have an idea done that we want to be there for you and help out and do whatever we can to make your life easier. And I had never really taken them up on the offer, and now they're seeing that's a lot more work on their end than they probably bargained for. You know, I have them helping me pack boxes, I'm bothering them in the middle of the night, and we're talking about things that make sense. They're both super creative people. They were both architects and interior designers. And so they have that sort of mindset that's really beneficial for a subscription box that's focused about design and figuring out how to actually fit things in a box and what makes the most sense mathematically to keep costs low and still provide a lot of value. So like their skills are super transferable, but I think we're all learning this is a lot more time than we expected it would be, but we're loving every step of the journey.

[6:16] Brian Sedita: So like how far out are you planning a box? Can you walk us through the process of just like sourcing material? I mean, I'm sure like once you got rolling, things kind of, you know, just fell into place and you just kind of just had to keep, you know, buying products and like figuring out what month you were gonna put it in a box, or do you like specifically say this month it's definitely like I want in three months, I want this.

[6:41] Anant Das: I try to plan each box very specifically for that month. So I would look three months ahead and say, in April, I specifically want this item, this item, this show, and the sort of formula that we come up with is sort of loose, but the idea is, you know, we want some new musicals and plays, some older musicals and plays to sort of one appeal to a diverse crowd, but also hopefully educate people of shows they may not recognize. Since we have subscribers who are 13, we have subscribers who are 30, you have subscribers who are sixty-five. So we kind of have a lot of different people to appeal to. But we also want a variety of items. So some items are more souvenir-esque, like magnets and keychains and acrylic stands and metal coins and things you show off, while some are what I call the practical items like towels and tumblers and things you can use every day.

So we try to have a good mix of all of that, and then it's making sure it's something that can fit in a box, which is sometimes tricky. We fortunately are able to change our box size every month, and that's been a huge benefit because our boxes change depending on what's in the box and how much they weigh and whatever needs we have. I'd say the hardest part is I think one box is going to be something, and then shipping delays happen or some other COVID delays happen, and I'm changing and swapping things around last minute. But the hardest thing is we can't plan out too far ahead because I don't want to over order too many things. And also you want to stay current with like maybe what's in the Broadway hub league.

For example, we have Tick Tick Boom in our February box. We had West Side Story in our December box when the movie came out. We did a lot of In the Heights stuff when In the Heights came out last summer. And so it's trying to stay current. So I think that's really important. And it helps for me when I see shows, because there are a lot of shows I still haven't seen yet. And what I realized once I've seen a show, I can create a better product or go to someone who's created a product and better understand it. For example, I was fortunate to see the revival of Caroline, or Change. And I understood that musical so well. I was like, we need a gold plated coin of this show. It just makes sense because it's change, but I was able to include some costume design elements from the show on the design that I probably wouldn't have included if I'd never seen the show. So it helps to do that. My market research is actually seeing Broadway shows.

[9:01] Brian Sedita: So, for example, for that product, right? Take us through the process of like you thought of that idea after seeing the show, and so you I don't know what elements of the costumes are in the coin, but now are you designing? Are you hiring some are you going back to those interns and asking them to design this and sending it to somebody to manufacture?

[9:22] Anant Das: Great question. It's a total mix for every single product. Some of them I designed myself, some we're hiring external designers. We use pretty much the same designers, friends of mine or former interns for the other products. I kind of keep a tight-knit Broadway Boxed Up family of designers, and so I go to them and I talk things through and show them my vision, and they create something, and I'm usually blown away. And then oftentimes we are submitting to external manufacturers, just finding the manufacturers who can do this unique kind of product. So for Caroline, or Change, it's a gold-plated coin, but that coin's also in a case that's a keychain. So I was like, I want something different.

You know, we've done a gold-plated coin before. We did a silver plated coin that's a little spinner thing for the Tony Awards. We've done other types of coins, but we haven't done a keychain. Can we do this in some way? So it's going to manufacturers, sending cold emails and messages and finding out what's possible. So sometimes we also buy things straight from other small businesses, and we've started actually partnering directly with productions and getting products from them and doing official merchandise, and that's been exciting too just because you know, Broadway's back, and we can do cool things with people who want to show off Broadway shows.

[10:34] Mary Dina: Well, what I find so interesting about your story is that you didn't come from like a directly theatrical background. You didn't come from like being in the industry and then wanting to just start this idea. You work in a financial public accounting, right?

[10:50] Anant Das: Yeah. So I work for I do financial consulting at a public accounting firm and I've loved theater all my life. You know, I did theater in high school, I sang a cappella show choir in high school. I almost told myself I want to be in the business side of theater, but didn't know what that meant yet.

[11:06] Mary Dina: From an outsider that didn't have like inside Broadway connections and knowledge, how did you integrate yourself into the Broadway community?

[11:14] Anant Das: I think it first started in undergrad. I went to the University of Virginia, and one day I saw a post on our social media feeds for UVA, and it said Drew Gaeling from Waitress is coming to UVA. And I was like, wait, I love Waitress, I know Waitress. Other people out there in the world know what Waitress is, and I went to that, and it was a program called Broadway Talks Back. It was started by another student who became one of my good friends. And I started joining her for these programs where we bring down Broadway actors to UVA, and they'd often do a master class and a talk back and things like that. And I think people had different reasons for going. A lot of people want to sing better, act better, dance better.

But I was just really fascinated to learn how the industry worked. And so that was sort of my in and how I broke that glass ceiling of knowledge of what the industry is like, and I think that helped me get a better understanding of how to navigate the theater world. And once I started Broadway Boxed Up, I found a really great Instagram community of theater people. And people are so helpful, and there's so many great small businesses there, there's so many great performers there. And I really just started shamelessly DMing people and saying, Hey, could I interview you for Broadway Boxed Up and do a postcard on you? Hey, could we collaborate? Hey, could we meet sometime and maybe I could include your products, or we could come up with some sort of partnership. And it's sort of how I met you, Brian, with Clubhouse and Broadway by the Glass. And things sort of just kept growing and growing from there, and it was pretty awesome.

[12:47] Brian Sedita: And it was such a great time for you to be like embarking on this juncture because of how accessible people were during the pandemic.

[12:56] Anant Das: Absolutely. I think what was really interesting is people were more excited in the theater world to do something and try something new, partly because they had the time to finally do so. And it was really exciting to be part of that and sort of form and shape what theater is going to look like moving forward in terms of people's relationship with merchandise and what's actually on the stage and things like that.

[13:19] Brian Sedita: From another outsider's perspective, looking in at you and your company and the brand that you've built, you have been very smart with building the digital audience. I mean, obviously, you launched in the pandemic where everything was virtual. You were filling a need in a time where people were really missing the industry, so you were really serving that audience, and then they just latched. But I think obviously networking with Clubhouse. When you said Clubhouse, I was like, oh my god, RIP to Clubhouse. I don't even know what happened to that platform.

[13:50] Mary Dina: Like literally, I was gonna text our group, Anant and I like had this very tight-knit group of Thursday night regulars that would meet that were all like great theater lovers and people in the industry.

[14:03] Mary Dina: And um, we went strong until like October, November of this past fall, and uh our just our lives got so busy, and like Thursdays ended up not being the most convenient time for everybody anymore.

[14:15] Mary Dina: So it was kind of difficult. But I was gonna text everybody like very soon because I I we need to have another chat. I lots lots to talk about.

[14:23] Mary Dina: Clubhouse is still like Clubhouse, I get notifications every day from Clubhouse, and like I need to turn those off.

[14:31] Mary Dina: Well, okay, so I but I was gonna say, I I think your, and this is how I was introduced to you originally a few months ago, your partnerships.

[14:40] Mary Dina: I feel like you were so smart in in your in your partnerships, but also you weren't just coming at it from a like uh from a greedy perspective perspective, which I think can happen very easily because you're so wrapped up in in serving your audience with your product.

[14:55] Mary Dina: It felt like you were coming at it from a place of like community of like I want to help you, and then I hope you in turn you'll help me and my audience.

[15:03] Mary Dina: I think that's the most important thing that we form a theater community where you know, oh, you want to include something in the box? Let's maybe find a way that you know, every subscriber in their first box, they get this thing.

[15:16] Mary Dina: You know, for example, we have a great partnership with Broadway Murder Mysteries, and every subscriber gets a four-player version of a Broadway murder mystery game.

[15:25] Mary Dina: And that's great because it gives my subscribers something, but it also introduces my all of my subscribers to the world of murder mysteries, and maybe they'll interact with that brand way more.

[15:35] Mary Dina: And so that's one of my favorite partnerships, and I've been excited about that. And just little things like that, I think are really cool and a really great way to engage the theater community.

[15:44] Mary Dina: On the topic of partnerships. How did you start? Were like were you just basing it off of the followers that you were gaining on Instagram, having conversations with people, or were you really being more aggressive from the very beginning with reaching out to people?

[15:58] Anant Das: I don't I don't mean aggressive in a bad way. I mean like aggressive or like purposeful, like of going out there and like, you know, sliding into those DMs.

[16:06] Anant Das: I think some partnerships happen more organically, where people might have seen what we were doing as Broadway boxed up and they'd never seen something like this before.

[16:16] Anant Das: And they wanted to learn more about and figure out how they could play a role. Some started with me really, you know, finding people on LinkedIn if I had to, and messaging them on LinkedIn and being like, you know, I can't reach you in your Instagram DMs.

[16:29] Anant Das: I haven't been able to reach you via email. But LinkedIn, you're checking that inbox, and I'm gonna message you and we've connected in that way.

[16:35] Anant Das: So really it's dependent on the partnership, and a lot of them are still in development. I think a lot of people are really intrigued by this idea of a Broadway subscription box, and they're really curious how they can play a role.

[16:48] Anant Das: But like you said, I think it's important for me that it's a mutual beneficial partnership, and both sides are getting something to help their communities out.

[16:57] Anant Das: And so sometimes that can take a lot of months to form, and it's not as obvious to figure out how each partnership plays a role with the box.

[17:03] Mary Dina: So I'm interested, I'm always fascinated by like the I know and you spoke about this earlier, the postage and the different size boxes.

[17:12] Mary Dina: Like, how do you plan for that kind of stuff? And how does that work logistically with actually like going to the post office with what I imagine 300 boxes?

[17:23] Anant Das: That's quite literally what does happen. We fill up a van with 300 packages, 400 packages, 500 packages, whatever, however many packages there have been in a month.

[17:31] Anant Das: Sometimes it takes two trips or multiple days, but we make sure we ship by the 15th or the next business day every month, and we ship it, we get there, they all know me by name.

[17:41] Anant Das: They know, like, oh gosh, this guy's gonna ask for several carts to lug all the packages in. But that's that's what happens.

[17:48] Anant Das: And I think from a planning perspective, it's really asking manufacturers, hey, what's the size of this? How will this fit?

[17:54] Anant Das: And so, like, okay, this month we need a nine by six by three box. This month we need a 10 by seven by four box.

[18:01] Anant Das: But what's really tricky is you know, I know the exact dimensions that a box will needs to be to be a certain price range, and I try to keep that cost as low as possible.

[18:10] Anant Das: Shipping's actually the most expensive cost of any subscription box business, and so that's what I try to keep as low as possible.

[18:17] Mary Dina: Right, like that's what I was wondering. Like, because it varies month to month. Do those prices like overhead for you in postage vary from month to month?

[18:26] Anant Das: Absolutely. I think it's partly dependent also where the boxes are going.

[18:31] Anant Das: You we ship out from the DC area, partly because it's less expensive to ship up and down the east coast where most of our subscribers are from a central location on the east coast, but we have so many subscribers in California, and that same box is going to be a few dollars more to California than it would be to New York City.

[18:50] Anant Das: And so it does vary each month depending on where our subscribers are located, but we sort of hit have an average that we try to hit every month.

[18:58] Anant Das: And some months we have a really light box depending on the products, and those are the best months because we save you know three, four dollars a box, which is great because we can just invest that back into the business or into products for a future month.

[19:10] Mary Dina: Yeah, I know a little bit all too well about like the shipping cost for things like from like a digital membership, you know, perspective of like if you have to send them a t-shirt.

[19:20] Mary Dina: We we've used um like a a warehouse actually in I think in Utah, but it's so expensive at the same time.

[19:27] Mary Dina: Like it's you know, you're paying for the convenience, but also like you're right. It depends on where they're going.

[19:32] Mary Dina: If they're going across the country or if they're going to a place that just isn't for whatever reason, it just even if they're like in proximity closer, the area with like their post office might be make it more expensive.

[19:44] Mary Dina: I don't know. It's there's so many logistics. So were you prepared for something like that? Or was that something that was like a a stumble as you go and figure that like those prices out?

[19:54] Anant Das: It's definitely been a mix. I remember our first box in October 2020.

[19:59] Anant Das: I definitely overpaid postage because I bought a more expensive kind that I later realized I should not be buying for my boxes.

[20:06] Anant Das: Fortunately, we didn't have that many subscribers then, so it wasn't that big of a deal.

[20:10] Anant Das: But it definitely took me two or three months to really figure out this is the least expensive way to purchase a box that'll ship the fastest, that'll have insurance, that'll have everything I need to make sure that package gets to its destination safely.

[20:23] Mary Dina: How do you keep things safe and not gonna break? Because sometimes you have like glass in there and um other things that could break so easily.

[20:31] Anant Das: And like playbills, especially, like I'm I'm a playbill freak. Our listeners know that.

[20:37] Anant Das: And I I would I would go a little crazy if like a playbill was kind of like scratched or like wrinkled if I got it.

[20:43] Anant Das: So that's a great question. Our box size, our normal box size is actually nine by six because a playbill is slightly smaller than nine by six, so it fits perfectly on top.

[20:53] Anant Das: So this month, for example, we're actually really lucky to be working with the woolly mammoth theater and we're getting the pre-Broadway programs in every box for a strange loop that's coming to Broadway in the spring.

[21:04] Anant Das: And those programs are eight by eight, so we had to re-get new boxes that are just the right size, that everything can fit correctly without those bending, but that's like a top consideration for me.

[21:16] Anant Das: But even getting things to places safely, I'm really fortunate to work with a great uh women's owned uh Prinkle Paper Company that all the crinkle paper is also recyclable and that sustainability aspect's really important to me.

[21:28] Anant Das: So crinkle paper is the primary primary way that we make our boxes look good but also protect items.

[21:35] Anant Das: And then I use biodegradable or recyclable bubble packaging for things like ceramics or glass to help protect them if they need a little bit more protection.

[21:45] Anant Das: And then fragile stickers often go on the outside of the box. Hopefully that makes a difference.

[21:50] Anant Das: I don't really know. But if there's anything fragile in there, we'll definitely be sticking on lots of stickers.

[21:54] Mary Dina: Now that Broadway and national tours and regional theaters are back up and running, which is probably one of the biggest shifts in like just the industry since the time that you started, how has that shifted your outlook on the business or maybe some part of the business?

[22:11] Anant Das: I think the business has dramatically changed since September 2021 when live theater sort of started its comeback.

[22:19] Anant Das: I'd say before that point, in almost the entirety of our first year of business as Broadway boxed up, a lot of theater organizations they're really excited about what we were doing, they were willing to have conversations, but they weren't really willing to fully collaborate with us in any way just because you know their business wasn't running and their organization was not at full speed and they couldn't really contribute in any way.

[22:43] Anant Das: But now that live theater is back, people are excited and able to participate with us in some way.

[22:50] Anant Das: For example, I want to partner with current Broadway shows and developing Broadway shows for months when I first started to have them in the box in some way, but without them selling tickets, they really can't include their merchandise in the box.

[23:02] Anant Das: But now they're open to having those conversations, being like, oh yeah, you know, we're a musical about queer issues. Can we be in your June Pride box?

[23:10] Anant Das: We'll send you a bunch of merchandise or things like that. And so I'm really excited that people are willing to have the conversation now that their businesses are back and running too.

[23:18] Mary Dina: I I do really love that because I think that that's only just gonna, first of all, it serves many purposes.

[23:23] Mary Dina: It opens up your whole world to their audience, right?

[23:30] Mary Dina: Because they're gonna be the they're you hope at least that they're gonna be promoting the fact that they have stuff included in your box.

[23:36] Mary Dina: But then also it like it serves a purpose of like pe you know what you said at the beginning of this conversation of you're introducing new potentially new shows, new work, new theater makers to to your audiences.

[23:48] Mary Dina: And so there is no, in my opinion, there is no downside to partnering and getting you know stuff, either getting a box or including your work in into the you know, boxed up.

[23:58] Anant Das: For example, with Woolley Mammoth Theater, you know, all of those programs are gonna go in the trash.

[24:02] Anant Das: Hundreds of programs wasted when they can find a good home and one, those people can learn about this nonprofit theater.

[24:09] Anant Das: Maybe they live in the DC area and they never knew about Wooly Mammoth and they were like me growing up. Now they know where they can find theater one, but they know about a new great show that's coming to Broadway and they can learn more about that.

[24:20] Anant Das: And so I think it's a great way to one have a sustainable impact, but just increase accessibility.

[24:25] Anant Das: And people don't really think about increasing accessibility in that way.

[24:29] Mary Dina: And I love how you said earlier that your subscriber base, the demographics are as is a wide net, right?

[24:37] Mary Dina: You got like teenagers to, I don't remember how old you said the the oldest group was, but is there any sort of pressure that you find of trying to make sure that you're serving them from month to month?

[24:49] Anant Das: Or do you f do you find that there's some sort of ease because people are probably subscribing for a multi-month so that you know that they'll get a range of experiences through the boxes?

[25:00] Anant Das: I think because we have such a wide range of subscribers and every box each month is the same.

[25:06] Anant Das: We don't really customize based on a subscribers' interests or their favorite musicals.

[25:11] Anant Das: We tend to attract the more general theater super fans and they're the ones who appreciate our box the most.

[25:18] Anant Das: Because if you're only really looking for golden age musicals, you know, we'll feature some here or there, but you're also gonna get some mean girls, some Beetlejuice, some be more chill from time to time, and you have to be okay with that.

[25:29] Anant Das: So it's really for the hard care hardcore theater super fans who love theater and want to learn more about shows that they don't know about.

[25:37] Anant Das: So I think I've really embraced that that's our target theater audience, and there are tons and tons of those types of people.

[25:44] Anant Das: And so I've realized, you know, if I don't cater to one specific age group or one specific theater fan, things work out well.

[25:50] Mary Dina: Okay, so this kind of really reflects where I'm at in my own life, but I'm I've been like studying people who ha who run their own businesses.

[25:58] Mary Dina: Um I I believe that any everyone is capable of having uh, you know, running and having their own business.

[26:05] Mary Dina: That doesn't necessarily mean that it's like easy and that anyone could just do it.

[26:08] Mary Dina: I think you have to like study and you know, make some mistakes along along the way.

[26:13] Mary Dina: So I'm curious as to what you think after almost completing, almost starting three years with this business, maybe two maybe maybe two and a half years now, um, of what skill sets do you think have helped you launch your business, but then also sustain the business for several years?

[26:29] Anant Das: Because also before the pandemic, you lived in New York City. During the pandemic, you moved back home to Virginia.

[26:36] Anant Das: And I know you're not back in New York, but maybe that's on the horizon for you.

[26:41] Anant Das: Maybe that's in the in the pipeline. So I'm wondering, you know, you know, to piggyback off of Mary's question, like your own personal future is also plays a big part in how the business is run, unless you keep employing your parents and brother and so I think to start a business, you have to have vision.

[27:04] Anant Das: And I think vision is more than just what you want to do, it's really where you want it to go at some point.

[27:11] Anant Das: You know, I didn't think I want to start a theater themed subscription box. My vision was more so increasing access to theater, but also giving diverse theater professionals a platform where they can connect with fans.

[27:27] Anant Das: I think that's what you need to start a business. But I think you also to sustain it, you also need to have a few things.

[27:36] Anant Das: One, you need to figure out what you personally get from it.

[27:41] Anant Das: So for me, I love Broadway Boxed Up. One, I really enjoy interacting with the subscribers and finding other theater fans all over the country, but I also really enjoy interacting with people in the theater industry. You know, for me, as someone who wants to be a producer, producing is all about connecting people. And I've realized Broadway Boxed Up is also really about connecting people. So the skills are really similar, and so it's been a really great training ground for me to connect with people. So I kind of have that personal benefit where I get to work on my producer muscle a little bit and connect with people in the theater world. And I think also to stay in a business, you have to realize that sometimes you're absolutely gonna hate it, you're gonna be tired, you're not gonna want to do it, and you have to realize that that's gonna happen no matter what you do.

You know, work is work. You know, they often say, I hear a saying, if you love what you do, you won't work a day in your life. I don't really believe in that mantra because I think work is work, and at times this job is work, but I find ways to enjoy it. I really love designing merchandise, I love thinking about it, I love interacting with fans, I love doing Instagram live interviews with actors and things like that, and I figure out how to make the work feel less like work and to really elevate the parts I enjoy. And I think also to sustain a business, you have to keep evolving your vision and know that what you started with isn't necessarily what you're going to achieve. For example, I think where Broadway Boxed Up is going is very different than what I thought 18 months ago when I started.

I think we're going to start going more into retail. We started a Broadway pop-up shop, and we are one of the producers of it. And how can we sell a subscription box in a retail space that's not digital? And I hope to get more involved with other in-person spaces and interact with fans in an in-person way, and we sell a lot of one-off items, we call them add-ons or subscription, where people can just purchase an additional item and add it on to their box. And so, how can we evolve what we sell in a new way? And how can we evolve our partnerships? And so I think you have to be nimble in changing your vision as well. I mean, I'm like, I'm genuinely very interested in like the business idea versus like a freelancing idea.

And so that just got me thinking a lot. It's really interesting too, being in the theater world coming with a business and computer science education background. Because I think I think very differently than people who have a theater background think. And I don't think that's a bad thing or a good thing. I just think it's a different thing. So it's really interesting to see how I approach communicating and writing emails. I approach designing and thinking about merchandise than some of my friends who do similar work in the theater field. And I think, you know, learning and learning about different ways to think is beneficial because it's a way you can figure out how to interact with more people and just put yourselves in their shoes.

[30:44] Mary Dina: Yeah, I was gonna say that, you know, for you, and you're so creative and your day job is so analytical, and it's so interesting that you have both of those skill sets and you're so successful in both of them. And I think that must be so fulfilling for you to have both in your life.

[31:03] Anant Das: My day job is I'm staring at Excel spreadsheets all day and working in Excel. It's so very different than Broadway Boxed Up, but I think having Broadway Boxed Up is my creative outlet that allows me to do my day job or first, I like to call it first job because Broadway Boxed Up is my second full-time job. So I like to say my first full-time job. And they both feed each other, and sometimes it's hard, but I think it's really rewarding because I love doing both.

[31:29] Brian Sedita: Yeah, I was just thinking like your first job or whatever is a full-time job. So and but also it's not like you're just like freelancing where you're just like, you know, doing a few things on the side that take you maybe a few minutes. Like you are running a full business from start to finish, like you have boxes, you have hundreds of boxes. Like, wow, where do you I mean that's like the question of like how do entrepreneurs like find the time of the day to do all of the things? It's like I have no idea the answer to that.

[31:57] Anant Das: You know, entrepreneurs don't want to work in nine to five, so they work 24/7. And I always say with the subscription box, it's great. There are a lot of benefits. I think subscription is the way over the future of how people want to interact. Think about you know, Amazon, think about all the streaming services. You know, subscriptions are great, but the downside to subscription box is it's every month. You know, people always say start your own business because then you can take off, you know, when you want. And I don't really have that luxury with a subscription box because I have to make sure I ship a box every single month. So that's been probably the biggest challenge with how can I streamline my processes more so sustainable, but I can figure out more months in advance and figure out how I can take breaks and take vacations and things like that.

And I think that's been a fun challenge for me to figure out. And it's been exciting because it gets harder every time we grow and we have to figure out how to do more products and more people and more partnerships and things like that.

[32:51] Brian Sedita: Well, I almost think that like the answer to that is like is almost a question of like when are you gonna scale your business next, you know? So like that's I mean, because what I imagine of like when do you take vacation is like when you can scale your scale your business enough to like have a bigger staff or at least one more additional person.

[33:13] Anant Das: Exactly. And it's what part of the business to hire for, too. I think that's a tough thing, and I think it varies per business. And I have to figure out I think I'm reaching the point where I have to figure out you know, some of the things I really enjoy doing. Can I still be doing those while being at the top of the ladder? And I think that's a really tough thing people go to when they love a job and as they get promoted to those higher levels they realize they don't do what they originally fell in love with. So I'm starting to reach that point where I kind of do everything but outsource I figured out I can outsource the design and be okay with it. But like what else can I hire for bring people on that I'm okay letting go and that's something personally I'm working on.

[33:53] Mary Dina: Yeah, I hear you. I know a few like VAs who are all about like just give me the work. Like let me like take it off your hands and like just exploring what that means. You know, but also like even if you were to speak with like three different entrepreneurs like everyone scales differently and everyone scales at different paces. You know, someone could take five years to scale someone could take five months to scale their business.

[34:17] Anant Das: We're very controlled with our growth at Broadway Boxed Up. I think part of that is you know I don't I don't want to sell out any month because that means I probably should have ordered more. So if I sell out that means I didn't plan that month well. So my goal is always to be almost selling out where I have a few extras but I don't also want to order too many. Like I'm not ordering just thousands and thousands of things months ahead of time because you know that's not great for in terms of cash flow from a business perspective. And I don't have that kind of money to be just buying things and not having them as inventory. You know I want to sell most of my items. And so it's been really interesting how we scale and you know could I put a lot more money into advertising and marketing?

Maybe, but I think with the pandemic and how uncertain the world has been, it's really tough to scale. Like how one month our ads do really, really well, and the next month there's an Apple privacy change, and that changes everything. And the next month theaters open and that changes how people interact with our ads. I mean to change our marketing strategy. So I think the world is very volatile right now that I'm still figuring out a good pace to scale. Building a like a nice foundation of loyal people and you know, cultivating that community.

[35:30] Mary Dina: Mm-hmm. I was gonna say we didn't even really like touch or go too much into like the marketing aspect. With the return of Broadway, will definitely come the return of the events that happen around Broadway. Um, include um with the first one that comes to mind is obviously BroadwayCon. Are you planning on attending those events? Those types of events, those conventions.

[35:53] Anant Das: Yeah, absolutely. I think BroadwayCon is going to be a very huge part of our sort of summer plan and effort and engaging with those super theater fans. I think they're our ideal target market really. And I'm just excited to meet those people because I think a lot of our subscribers inform what goes in our box, and it's been great to interact with them and realize what people like, what people don't like. And you know, I read every single email, every single piece of feedback, every review. You know, we're a small business, we read everything, and I take those things to heart, and I really do try to improve what people don't like and what they want.

[36:26] Mary Dina: Do you want to move to the lightning round?

[36:30] Anant Das: Yes, I'd love to.

[36:31] Mary Dina: What is uh one thing in the theater industry that confuses you?

[36:34] Anant Das: Playbills.

[36:35] Mary Dina: My jaw just dropped.

[36:36] Anant Das: Yeah, Brian's heart just stopped.

[36:39] Mary Dina: Okay, and I'm actually gonna have to ask you to expand upon that answer and tell me what confuses you.

[36:47] Anant Das: Two things. One, I think, as an I love playbills, they're integral part of our subscription box. I collect every playbill I ever get, but at the same time, I think that's like the only part of the theater industry that hasn't changed since like theater first began. But also, who pays for the play? It's weird to me that the financial model, you know, playbill charges some productions for to get the playbill, but then they make money on advertising. So should Playbill really be giving the programs to free to some theaters and how that varies versus Broadway versus off-Broadway versus out of town. That whole relationship is confusing on the business model, and I just don't get it. I would love to understand that better. I feel like it's very hidden also.

[37:30] Mary Dina: We're gonna get Playbill on here and we're gonna.

[37:35] Anant Das: I would love just to learn what it is. I think they hide it very well, and I'm just so curious about it. They have a whole warehouse in Queens, right? A whole warehouse for their playbills, isn't that crazy? I'm dying just for a I'm just dying for a tour. Anyone out there can hook me up with that tour. Um I'm there.

[37:52] Mary Dina: Um what are three adjectives that describe your ideal working environment?

[38:00] Brian Sedita: And what I think is so interesting for you is that because you don't work in the industry per se on a daily basis, but what you do is theater-centric.

[38:11] Anant Das: So in a theatrical...

[38:15] Anant Das: Flexible, excitable, and zesty.

[38:20] Mary Dina: Was not expecting that one for sure. Um is there something in your process as an entrepreneur that you find unique to you?

[38:30] Anant Das: I think it's pretty unique that I run decisions that are probably only mine to make with my older brother and my parents. I always love to hear their thoughts. I don't always agree with them, I don't take them into consideration, but I love hearing my family's thoughts, and I trust them with any aspect of business.

[38:49] Mary Dina: What's a job in the theater industry that you would trade jobs with for one week if you had to pick anything?

[38:56] Anant Das: I would love to be a lighting designer for a week. I think that's just such a fascinating art form, and I would love to try it out.

[39:05] Mary Dina: What is one hobby you have outside of theater?

[39:09] Anant Das: I really oh my gosh, I don't even know. Do I have hobbies? Okay, let me think first. That's one thing you have in common with theater people. Everyone says the same thing. Everyone's like, oh no. No, I definitely have things. Like I have things at the bottom of my resume. What do I write? Let me. Oh, you do. I love anything to do with Pokemon. I like still play Pokemon video games. I'm obsessed. I'm still to this day.

[39:33] Mary Dina: And Anant, this is our final question. What is the last great piece of theater that you saw? And you see a lot of really great theater.

[39:41] Anant Das: The Lehman Trilogy blew my mind. It's a masterclass of acting. Phenomenal work.

[39:50] Mary Dina: And slightly related to your actual job, right? Didn't have to do with finance.

[39:54] Anant Das: Yeah, the Lehman brothers kind of founded what we think of or helped found the modern day stock market and finance. You know, it didn't really go into the last 60 years of financial history, but it was just absolutely fascinating. You know, I think it's a very competitive year for best play. So many great plays, and I've seen maybe like 60 to 70% of them. But the Lehman Trilogy, just those act three actors skill, what they can do with the stage blew my mind.

[40:24] Mary Dina: How can our listeners connect with you, find you, find Broadway Boxed Up on socials, all that good stuff?

[40:31] Anant Das: Yeah, we are at Broadway Boxed Up on all social media platforms, and you can also check out our website, www.broadwayboxedup.com.

[40:40] Mary Dina: Thank you so much. This was so enlightening. I mean, I maybe this is selfish, but this was quite zesty.

[40:47] Anant Das: Yes.

[40:48] Mary Dina: I found it. I mean, I think I said I think it's a little bit selfish from for me personally, but I found it very fascinating.

[40:53] Anant Das: No, totally.

[40:55] Mary Dina: No, it's I really I really enjoyed it. I feel like this was a good one. I enjoyed this.

[40:59] Brian Sedita: Thanks everyone for listening to this episode of Page to Stage. To keep up with us, you can find us on Instagram and Facebook at Page2Stage Podcast. And if you're enjoying these conversations, we would really appreciate it if you could take a couple minutes to rate and review us wherever you're listening to this podcast. Until next time. That's Brian. That's Mary. We will see you later. Bye.