The following blog post was written by fellow UHPer and Spring 2024 SURE Award recipient, Lydia Melka (Business with a concentration in Information Systems and Technology Management; Theatre, ’24). Read on about Lydia’s research and how she plans to utilize the SURE Award funding to further expand upon her experience!
My research project aims to address two objectives: to demystify the arcane world of theatre producing with the hopes of identifying high-potential areas for innovation and to present a preliminary business plan and prototype for my theatre entrepreneurial venture.
My thesis idea sprouted from a conversation I had in October 2023 with GWU Theatre alumni Kyra Armstrong who recently graduated from Columbia’s Masters of Fine Arts in Theatre Management & Producing. She shared how the program exposed her to a side of theatre that is completely unseen – producing. She described the process of finding investors who are willing to add Broadway or off-Broadway shows to their portfolio, the interdisciplinary excellence it takes to identify high-potential new shows, how to prepare artists for show pitches, and more. I was immediately fascinated by producers’ crucial role in shaping the theatre landscape of the past, present, and future, largely defining what’s considered ‘successful.’ When doing personal research after my conversation with Kyra, the information I found online was highly vague or inaccessible. I quickly realized that institutional knowledge and insight on this side of the theatre industry is much less public, with most information being passed by word-of-mouth.
This increased context helped me brainstorm relevant solutions, allowing me to develop my entrepreneurial concept called StageStocks. StageStocks is a theatre-based stock market that allows traditional investors to have a centralized application where they can identify both smaller-scale emerging projects and high-potential commercial projects. Additionally, StageStocks would allow regular theatre patrons to buy “stocks” or financial portions of shows at the beginning of each Broadway season, emulating the format of the New York Stock Exchange.
I believe continuing to correspond with leaders in the industry will help drive this project forward and the SURE award will allow me to do just that. My plan for the award money is to travel to NYC to correspond with leading theatre producers and companies to assess their view on the industry and gain feedback on my pitch. Additionally, I will use this money to develop UX designs for StageStocks, visualizing the most crucial features. This money will also allow me to gain access to important financial reports for theatres and other creative entities that affect producing. I am incredibly excited and thankful to the Sigelman Undergraduate Research Enhancement award for catalyzing my research and making these further steps possible!
Interested in applying for your own SURE Award funding? Find out more about the application process here!
