Philip S. Birsh is the President of Playbill, a monthly U.S. magazine for theatregoers. There is a subscription issue available for home delivery, but most copies of Playbill are printed for particular productions and distributed at the door as the show's program. The magazine is now used at nearly every Broadway theatre, as well as many Off-Broadway productions. Outside New York City, Playbill is used at theatres throughout the United States.
In addition to the magazine, and the umpteen other theatrical ventures under the Playbill banners, we also chatted about . . .
- Why he left a career on Wall Street to run Playbill (and what he learned from that world that he applied to ours).
- How Playbill and the theater community worked together during the AIDS crisis.
- They’ve got Design Your Own Playbills, Playbill Cruises . . . what’s next for the company and the fans???
- Why Playbill doesn’t post reviews or have message boards.
- Why producing is like horse racing.
Keep up with me: @KenDavenportBway