When Stacey Mindich graduated from Syracuse University, she didn’t think she would end up being a theater producer.

Mindich, a 1986 alumna, graduated from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications with a degree in magazine journalism, and began her career as a reporter for The New York Times. In the course of her 20-year career as a journalist, she also worked for the magazine Town & Country, where she was a senior editor, and later became a freelancer for several publications.

It was only about 10 years ago that she changed course and began producing Broadway plays and musicals. The Tony Award-winning producer was recently chosen as this year’s Newhouse convocation speaker and will receive the Commercial Theatre Institute’s Robert Whitehead Award in March, honoring her achievements as a producer.

The Daily Orange spoke with Mindich about being chosen as the Newhouse convocation speaker and her transition from journalism to theater.

The Daily Orange: How did you react when you were chosen as the Newhouse convocation speaker?
Stacey Mindich: It literally came out of the blue, and I was very surprised … I initially felt really guilty because I was a journalist for so many years, and then I became a theater producer. When the dean first asked me, my first thought was, “but I left the field.” But she made me realize that what I do is another form of storytelling, that I’ve always been in the storytelling business, and I’ve really kind of managed to combine my love of theater and writing and stories and journalism. More and more, I find that the theater reflects true people, and how these authentic stories wind up on Broadway …

The D.O.: What do you love about being a theater producer?
S.M.: Every single thing. I get to surround myself with artists who are established — really wonderful artists who have given our culture so much — but I also get to discover new voices and new artists. It’s something I’m doing right now with a pair of 30-year-old composers that I think have more talent than anybody I’ve ever met in my life. And I get to go to theater shows all the time — I’m a Tony (Award) voter, so I have to see every single Broadway show every year. I mean, what a punishment.

The D.O.: While you were at Newhouse, did you ever think you would end up as a theater producer?
S.M.: No. Never. Never ever, ever. My old beloved professor, Bill Glavin, who is sadly no longer with us, always used to say that the great thing about magazines is you can choose a subject you love, and write about that. I guess that always stuck in my head. I’m not exactly writing journalism anymore, but I certainly find myself writing all the time — just not quite with a byline. …

The D.O.: What was the transition like from being a journalist to a theater producer?
S.M.: It actually wasn’t that much different or difficult because being an editor at a magazine, especially a senior editor where you’re in charge of a variety of sections, you tend to use the same skills that you use in putting together a show. A show is just a larger, more costly, sometimes much more dramatic kind of venture. You’re looking for the right writer — the right idea — and pairing that person with an illustrator in a magazine, or pairing the writer, the composer and the director in a show. You’re nurturing it, and you’re helping it grow. In magazines you edit, but in theatre, you guide and make advertising decisions … Once the show is running or the magazine is out there in the world, you’re just constantly looking for new audience members, and you need to have a battery of ideas every single morning of your life. It’s very similar in some ways, and surely after I made the transition, I actually felt very much at home.

The D.O.: You’re producing “Hughie,” which opened on Thursday with Forest Whitaker making his Broadway debut. How has that been?
S.M.: It’s been an unusual project. It’s an old forgotten Eugene O’Neill play, and it’s only an hour long, so most people are surprised because shows are usually longer. As far as Forest, he hasn’t been on the stage in 30 years, so it took him a long time to sort of get used to it … With these big starry revivals, the star only stays for 14 or 16 weeks, so it’s less of an emotional investment and more of a kind of exciting flash in the pan. …

The D.O.: Do you have any favorite plays or musicals?
S.M.: Back in the day, I saw “Chorus Line” about 28 times. I loved it and the way it reinvented the medium. I always loved the old Rogers and Hammerstein musicals. In my sort of recent years, I’ve been crazy about the music of Jason Robert Brown, and I was very, very fortunate to produce his work, “The Bridges of Madison County.” I think he’s a modern genius. As a fan, I’ve seen “Hamilton” five times. I love it, a lot of my friends have been part of creating it, and I think it’s changed not only Broadway forever, but the world.

The D.O.: In terms of convocation, do you know what you’re going to talk about come May?
S.M.: Oh, I am so not ready to think about that … But I think the sort of natural thing is to talk about storytelling in all of its forms — how I did it as a newspaper journalist when I was first out of college, then I went into magazines where it was a different form, and in theater where I was telling it in a more live action way. In choosing the stories that I want to tell, it feels very much like journalism to me …

Published on February 28, 2016 at 9:04 pm

Contact Clare: clramire@syr.edu