To spotlight women in leadership, the Broadway Women’s Fund — Broadway’s first impact investment fund — is proud to announce the fifth annual Women to Watch on Broadway.
These extraordinarily talented women excel in their careers in regional theaters, Off-Broadway, as Broadway Associates, and in Broadway offices. This list includes winners of prestigious grants, scholarships, and commissions that are a testament to their outstanding contributions to this industry. Each person recognized is ready to take on a leadership role in their field and shake up the status quo on Broadway.
This list is by no means comprehensive. In fact, no list would do justice to the amount of capable and talented women in our industry, but we look forward to spotlighting additional future leaders in the years to come. We hope that this initiative encourages Broadway industry members to look outside of their networks when hiring, and empower the many women ready to step up into top roles.
We cannot expect the dynamics of this industry to change without the support of our whole community — so please: share this list, hire these women, and invest in their careers, because they are the future of Broadway. And if you’re inspired to do more, ask us about how you can be a part of the Broadway Women’s Fund.
Dria Brown
Producer
Dria serves as Co-Director of Programming at Broadway Advocacy Coalition, Senior Creative Producer of Britton & The Sting, and is the Creative Producer on a new Terence Nance project premiering at The Whitney Museum.
Nicole Capatasto
Press Representative
Nicole is a Partner at Print Shop Public Relations; she previously served as Vice President of Public Relations and Account Services at Matt Ross Public Relations, and was a Publicist at the Hartman Group.
Neko Case
Composer
Neko is a solo and collaborative artist known for The New Pornographers; she is currently writing the musical adaptation of Thelma and Louise alongside bookwriter Halley Feiffer.
Danielle DeMatteo
Artistic Director/Composer/Photographer
Danielle is the Founder of SheNYC Arts a nonprofit that produces NYC’s premiere festival devoted to full-length plays, musicals, and adaptations by women writers and composers in NYC, Los Angeles, and Atlanta; as a composer, her musicals have won the Midtown International Theatre Award, the Chicago Premier Premieres Award, and Westie Award for Best New Musical; her musical Ayn Rand in Love was nominated for the Best Of Chicago 2017 Award.
Cynthia Dorsey
Producer
Cynthia is a 2022 Prince Fellow Award-winner, co-founder of SoulFLY Theatre Society, and a Producing Fellow at P3 Productions; as an educator, Cynthia was nominated for an Excellence in Theatre Education Tony Award.
Brittany Halberstadt Hoffman
Programming General Manager
Brittany serves as the Programming General Manager at Blumenthal Performing Arts, overseeing Broadway national tours, concerts, and events across four world-class venues in Uptown Charlotte; she previously worked at Bond Theatrical Group and on The Lion King national tour.
Amanda Harper
General Manager
Amanda is the Director of Investor Relations at Foresight; she has an MBA from NYU Stern.
Jennifer Jancuska
Choreographer
Jennifer is the Creative Director of The BringAbout, a nonprofit dedicated to integrating dance into the early stages of creating new musicals and plays; she also founded BC Beat as a hub for reimagining dance in musical theater; she is Resident Choreographer for Hamilton.
Tinashe Kajese-Bolden
Artistic Director/Director/Producer/Actor
Tinashe is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Directing; her role as BOLD Associate Artistic Director at the Alliance Theatre includes stewardship of the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab and oversight of the Spelman Leadership Fellowship.
Seonjae Kim
Director/Writer/Translator
Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Seonjae is developing work with Atlantic Acting School, Ma-Yi Theatre Company, Ars Nova, and more; she was the Associate Director of KPOP.
Beth Lake
Sound Designer
Beth is credited as Co-Designer of Camelot and Rachel Bloom’s Death, Let Me Do My Show; her Associate and Assistant Sound Designer credits on Broadway shows include My Fair Lady, The Play That Goes Wrong, Natasha, Pierre, and the Great Comet of 1812, Misery, and The Velocity of Autumn.
Lisa Loomer
Playwright/Bookwriter/Director
Lisa is an alumna of New Dramatists, the recipient of two grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, and a grant from the New York Foundation for the Arts; awards include the Jane Chambers Award (twice), the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays Award, a Garland Award, a Lurie Foundation Award, an Ovation Award, and the American Theatre Critics Association Award (twice).
Amanda Morton
Music Director/Music Supervisor
Amanda was Associate Conductor/Keys 2 for Gutenberg! The Musical!; upcoming roles include Assistant Conductor/Keys 3 for The Who’s Tommy; she was Associate Music Director/Lyric Dramaturg for KPOP, and Music Supervisor for the new musical Anne of Green Gables.
Leah Nanako Winkler
Playwright/Bookwriter
Leah’s notable works include God Said This, Two Mile Hollow, and Kentucky; she is a winner of the Yale Drama Series Prize and the Francesca Primus Prize; her TV credits include “New Amsterdam” and A24’s “Ramy,” for which she won a Peabody Award.
Zeniba Now
Composer/Lyricist
Zeniba is a winner of The Jonathan Larson Grant and The Richard Rodgers Award; upcoming shows include The Loophole, Take the Lead, and a new musical in development with Disney Theatrical.
a.k. payne
Playwright
a.k. (she/they) is a finalist for the L. Arnold Weissberger New Play Award and the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize; she is the current recipient of the Van Lier New Voices Fellowship, National Black Theatre’s I AM SOUL Playwrights Residency, the Kemp Powers Commission Fund for Black Playwrights, and Atlantic Theater Company’s Judith Champion Launch Commission.
Danielle Perelman
Producer
As a member of Pasek and Paul’s Ampersand producing entity, Danielle produces theatre, television, film, and emerging media; Co-Producer credits include Alex Edelman’s Just for Us and Stereophonic; upcoming projects include Maia Novi’s Invasive Species, Julian Hornik and Adam Chanler-Berat’s Assisted, and Mark Sonnenblick and Dylan Schifrin’s SCAB$.
Tiffany Rea-Fisher
Artistic Director/Choreographer
Tiffany is the Artistic Director of EMERGE125, the curator of dance for Bryant Park’s Picnic Performances, the Director of the Adirondack Diversity Initiative, and is the Resident Choreographer for The Classical Theatre of Harlem; she recently choreographed The Public’s summer production of The Tempest in Central Park and is currently choreographing Gun & Powder at Paper Mill.
Sheela Ramesh
Music Director/Pianist/Composer/Arranger
Sheela has been on the music team of Six, Moulin Rouge, Almost Famous, Once Upon a One More Time, and Merrily We Roll Along; she is Music Director, Music Supervisor, and Arranger for White Rose: The Musical.
Jessica Ryan
Creative Director/Broadcast Director
Through her company All Together Now, Jessica creates live digital programming and revenue streams for brands and influencers; her work includes Dylan Mulvaney’s Day 365 of Girlhood, Between Riverside and Crazy, Clyde’s, and Maestra’s Amplify concert.
Danielle Saks
General Manager
Danielle’s credits include Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Back To The Future, Martin McDonagh’s Hangmen, and various developmental and regional productions; Danielle contributes to the Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion Committee at The Broadway League.
Nikkole Salter
Playwright/Actor
Nikkole co-authored and performed in In the Continuum with Danai Gurira; she is a winner of an Obie Award, NY Outer Critics Circle’s John Gassner Award for Best New American Play, the Seldes-Kanin fellowship from the Theatre Hall of Fame, and the Global Tolerance Award from the Friends of the United Nation.
Zoe Sarnak
Composer/Lyricist
Zoe’s work has been produced at Second Stage, New York Stage & Film, The Public, Roundabout Theatre Company, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Geffen Playhouse, New York Theatre Workshop, 5th Avenue Theatre, Barrington Stage Company, Hermitage Artist Retreat, the Guggenheim, MCC, and many more.
Sarah Slutsky
Stylist
Sarah, a celebrity stylist, has collaborated with artists and brands such as Tory Burch and Givenchy; her Broadway clients include Cynthia Erivo, Sara Bareilles, and Renee Elise Goldsberry; she created Cinematique, a tech startup that enhances interactive video experiences for clients like Net-a-Porter and Stella McCartney.
Celine Song
Playwright/Director
Celine’s play Endlings ran at A.R.T. and New York Theatre Workshop; she directed a live production of The Seagull using The Sims 4 on Twitch for New York Theatre Workshop; her recent film Past Lives, which she wrote and directed, received many award nominations and critical acclaim.
Sanaz Toossi
Playwright
Sanaz is the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of English and Wish You Were Here; she has commissions at Atlantic Theater Company, Roundabout, and MTC; she is a writer on TV shows “Invitation to a Bonfire” and “A League of Their Own”.
Lara Waldner
Accountant
Lara is an auditor, accountant, and consultant at Withum, focusing on both commercial productions and not-for-profit organizations with a focus on GAAP-related issues, internal controls, and digitalization; she leads the firm’s audit team for Theatre, Entertainment & the Arts.
Bria Woodyard
Company Manager
Bria is the Associate Company Manager of The Great Gatsby; Assistant Company Manager credits include Kimberly Akimbo, Topdog/Underdog, and Freestyle Love Supreme.
Amanda Zieve
Lighting Designer
Amanda’s credits include Tommy (Goodman), Cabaret (Goodspeed), I Hate Hamlet (Maltz Jupiter), and Titanic (Signature); she has 14 Associate and Assistant Lighting Designer credits on Broadway, including Hamilton; she is the co-founder of Howell Binkley’s Fellowship Program, aimed at supporting emerging lighting designers.
To nominate women for the 2025 Women to Watch on Broadway, please email [email protected]