A Conversation with Hamilton Producer Jeffrey Seller
Theatre has the power to impact lives – and to leave a lasting mark, Jeffrey Seller, the four-time Tony Award-winning producer of Rent and Hamilton, told the Detroit Economic Club Wednesday. In a fireside chat led by WDIV News Anchor Devin Scillian, Seller talked about how his role as a producer also includes being a nurturer to every facet of the production. When it comes to selecting the production, however, Seller chooses from the heart. “When people ask me, ‘Well, how do you choose?’, I choose from the heart,’” expressed Seller. “I don’t know what is going to sell tickets. And I only choose to please me and then I hope others will come along for the ride." In addition to breaking barriers on the stage with Rent and Hamilton, Seller also was integral in legislation against bots and the creation of theatre lottery systems in an effort to bring people together. “I think that the digital revolution has played an interesting role in helping us play a better marketer in the theatre, in helping us deliver the lottery to you, in helping me advertise to the right people. I think it has actually been a boom for us to sell tickets,” he said. “I think that it is creating a world where we want to go out, right?” Creativity – whether through theatre or any area of life and business – is a way to find meaning in life and sharing experiences, Seller added. “From Grease to Stagecrafters, I make sense of my life by making stuff. Which is why I am making four new things, because that is how I say, ‘I was here.’”