An Explosive Event - An Interview With Daryl Roth

By Benjamin Nockles

Daryl Roth is a true patron of the arts. Producing theatre since the late eighties, Daryl Roth Productions has brought nearly 70 shows to Broadway and off-Broadway venues. "I think when great theatre happens it's because of that. It's the chemistry that happens, it's those molecules that go back and forth that make something explosive happen…"

If Daryl Roth is aiming to support "explosive" theatre, then it is certainly being accomplished though "Fuerza Bruta," the curious and provocative 'experience,' now in its third year at the Daryl Roth Theatre at Union Square. Roth, the self-ascribed land lady, welcomed "Fuerza Bruta" into her theatre for a short run only to find the production was meant to stay long term. This involving, new take on performance immerses its audience as well as its performers in a space where they are literally surrounded by lights, sound, dance, and a pool of water suspended within arm's reach over the audience's head.

Daryl Roth is one of the most respected producers both on and off Broadway. She has produced five Pulitzer Prize-winning plays and her most recent productions include "Driving Miss Daisy," "Enron," "Come Fly Away," "A Little Night Music," and "Fela!" In 1996, Roth and her husband bought the Union Square Savings Bank building, reviving it as the Daryl Roth Theatre. For seven years, it was home to "De La Guarda," the internationally acclaimed precursor of "Fuerza Bruta," by the same creative team.

Before Roth was able to retro fit the space into a traditional theatre for her own productions, the team came to her with "Fuerza Bruta." Continuing in the same spirit of "De La Guarda", the show opened in October of 2007. Roth attests that "there is nothing like it in New York," with its alternative nature and lack of dialogue "Fuerza Bruta," is an "event." The Daryl Roth Theatre will continue to host "explosive" off-Broadway theatre.

As a producer, Roth acknowledges, "Of course I love to turn a profit and of course I love to repay my investors and of course that's always on my mind […] the truth of it is, that doesn't always happen, but that's not the guideline for success or failure in my book." For Roth, theatre is in the story-telling.

The eloquent and timely story-telling of the 25 year old play, "The Normal Heart," pushed Roth to share it with the theatre community. "This is a play about people and relationships […] It's got everything that good drama has. It's passionate, it's potent, powerful theatre. It is written with a rhythm of beauty but yet, you hold on to every word and you receive this message."

The business of theatre runs in the Roth family. When asked how her interest in theatre began, Daryl claims that "Part of it was to have something to share with my son." Today her son, Jordon Roth, is a producer and theatre owner himself: as president of Jujamcyn Theatres, he holds a 50% share in five theatres.

Jordan Roth recently opened up the Walter Kerr Theatre for a dramatic staged reading of "The Normal Heart." To Daryl, the reasoning behind producing "The Normal Heart," even for one night, is that it speaks across generations, "Because of the personal connection I feel to this material, […] because young kids are not free to come out and be who they are […] and this play is talking about that […] I just needed to do it."

Daryl and Jordan Roth have opened their doors and support to theatre that tell stories of value and promote necessary conversation. Roth believes in putting "work out there for the world to see and react to… to do something."