Cody Renard Richard is backstage at the Hudson Theater eight performances a week, wrangling actors and calling cues at “Once Upon a Mattress.”
When he has free time, he crams in as many fashion shows, museum visits, board meetings, teaching gigs and other cultural events as possible.
“My entire journey in New York is about trying new things and expanding my reach,” Richard, 36, who grew up in Waller, Texas, said in a phone conversation on a Monday, the one day of the week he isn’t working on “Mattress.”
Richard has been stage managing since his teenage years, when he was a self-described “troublemaker” before his high school’s theater director, Carrie Wood, encouraged him to channel that energy into a role backstage.
He’s now managed nearly 50 television, opera and stage productions in New York, including the MTV Video Music Awards, the Broadway productions of “Lempicka” and “Sweeney Todd,” and “Ragtime” at New York City Center earlier this month. He’s next headed to Los Angeles, where he’ll oversee a monthlong “Mattress” run.
Richard tracked a week of his cultural life in October, which included visiting the Banksy Museum in Lower Manhattan, teaching a graduate theater class at Columbia University and an unexpected run-in with Beyoncé. These are edited excerpts from our conversations.
Monday: Art Adventures
Monday is my day off from “Mattress” — well, from performances at least! I have seven different email accounts, and I started the day jumping through them for a couple of hours. In the afternoon, I checked out the new Banksy Museum in SoHo. When you create art for a living, sometimes you take for granted how much more art is out there. I love Banksy’s art, but I walked through it in 45 minutes. I’m not a stay-and-stare-for-a-long-time kind of person.
Tuesday: Star-Struck
My morning started with a meeting at New York City Center to prepare for the next show I was stage managing, “Ragtime.” I met with the director, Lear deBessonet, and we talked through the show.
My schedule was a little crammed in October — I was rehearsing “Ragtime” during the day and at “Mattress” in the evenings. I try not to do double duty too much, but it comes up every once in a while. If it’s a show I’m really passionate about, I make it work.
I took tonight off, though, to attend Glamour magazine’s Women of the Year awards at the Edition Hotel near Madison Square Park. My friend Nicki Hunter was directing the event, and she wanted someone in the room who was used to going to galas and wouldn’t freak out around celebrities.
My task for the evening was to be the mommy wrangler — specifically, for Tina Knowles, Beyoncé’s mom, who was being honored — which meant I helped them up and down the stairs and made sure they had microphones to give their speeches.
After the event, I got a surprise bonus: A run-in with Beyoncé! I was a little star-struck, but I played it cool.
Wednesday: Double Duty
I had two performances of “Once Upon a Mattress” today, one at 1 p.m. and another at 7 p.m.
I don’t have to be at the theater until 11:30 a.m., but if someone is hurt or sick and needs to call out of the show that night, they can call me as early as 8 a.m. Stage managers are the people who keeps the show afloat. I’m the right hand of the director; I work with the designers, the front-of-house staff, the crew, the cast — if you picture a Ferris wheel, we’re like the center axis, working with everyone to give them the tools and information they need.
I had a break between shows, so I went for a walk to Bryant Park while listening to the original Broadway cast recording of “Ragtime,” with Audra McDonald and Brian Stokes Mitchell.
After the curtain came down on the second show, I headed home, poured myself a glass of wine and watched an episode of “Heartstopper.” I worked with Joe Locke in “Sweeney Todd,” and he was delightful.
Thursday: Bowling Night
I started the afternoon by attending a fashion show for my friend Curtis Cassell’s fashion line, Queera Wang, for New York Bridal Fashion Week. It was cool to see his new line — he flirts with androgyny, which is part of my style as well.
Then I headed to a board meeting for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights Aids. This meeting was special because it was our last with Tom Viola, the longtime executive director who’s retiring after this year. We also got to honor Gavin Creel, who died in September and was a friend of mine.
After tonight’s performance of “Mattress,” I popped over to Frames at 40th and 9th. It’s an industry secret — on Thursday nights, cast and crew members from Broadway shows come together and bowl. It’s a great way to build community. I get to meet people like the ushers, who I never really get to interact with other than at the top of the show.
Friday: Unwinding With RuPaul
I teach a stage management class at Columbia for first-year graduate theater students.
This is my fifth year teaching at Columbia. I think it’s valuable for students to be able to talk to someone who’s out in the field, because I can pull in real-world scenarios that we can talk through.
After the show that night, I unwound with RuPaul’s memoir, “The House of Hidden Meanings,” which I’d just started. I’m also reading “My Own Directions,” by Sheldon Epps, who led Pasadena Playhouse for 20 years as one of the few Black artistic directors in the country. I’d love to be an artistic director somewhere, so I wanted to see what his journey was and how he was able to shift the culture at that institution.
Saturday: Mani-Pedis Between Shows
During my afternoon break between shows, I met up with one of my friends, Aisha Jackson, who was getting ready to take over the role of Middle Allie in “The Notebook.” We got mani-pedis at Plié on 49th Street and talked about how the rehearsal process had been going.
Saturday-night shows are the highest-energy performances of the week. We call them SNOBs, the Saturday Night on Broadway audience. The audience is usually a little bit intoxicated or they’re just excited to be there on Saturday night, so we feed off that energy.
Sunday: One Last Show, Then Lady Gaga
The Sunday matinee is our last show of the week. Sometimes people wonder if it gets boring working on the same show every night, but I never do, and it’s because of the people. The “Mattress” cast is full of comedians, and I’m constantly laughing offstage as well as onstage.
I met up for dinner with one of my best friends, Richard Riaz Yoder, in Hell’s Kitchen. We rode bikes home, and then I tidied up a bit and listened to Lady Gaga’s new album, “Harlequin.” I love that she’s making these old musical theater songs so popular.
The post 7 Days in the Cultural Life of a Broadway Stage Manager appeared first on New York Times.
