Sarah Hutton is the Senior Director of Client Development at Ticketmaster. She has spent over 15 years in the live entertainment industry, helping her clients fill arenas, Broadway theaters, and other venues with happy customers enjoying first-rate entertainment. From early on, Sarah had a strong interest in theater, which grew into a passion when she saw her first Broadway show, Beauty and the Beast.
A graduate of Emerson College, where she studied marketing communications, she later returned for graduate studies at the New School of Media Studies, where she received her Master of Science, Arts, Entertainment and Media Management. However, her real-life involvement in theater is what solidified her career.
Early on, Sarah served as Communications Director at Camp Broadway, where she utilized her marketing skills to help generate enrollment in the camp’s many theater programs. She would also get hands-on experience as a production associate on the Tony-nominated Broadway play Lombardi, starring Dan Lauria and Judith Light, and another sports drama, Magic/Bird, which highlighted the rivalry between Magic Johnson and Larry Bird.
LEARNING THE BUSINESS
Working on Broadway allowed Sarah to experience what it was like to produce a show, from raising money to writing and developing a script to building a creative team, casting, and mounting the production—all the way to opening (and closing) night
Sarah then took on multiple roles during her seven-year tenure with The Shubert Organization. She represented various marketing, distribution, and ticketing channels while cultivating relationships with people throughout the industry, especially in theater.
Today, along with her many responsibilities at Ticketmaster, Sarah also gives back to the Broadway community as a Board Member of the Drama League, America’s only year-round creative home for stage & film directors, and as a CO/Lab Theater Group committee member. This non-profit organization provides individuals with developmental disabilities with a creative and social outlet through theater arts.
This season, Sarah adds Broadway Producer to her Curriculum Vitae as she steps up to co-producer on An Enemy of the People, starring Jeremy Strong and Michael Imperioli.
The pandemic significantly affected ticket sales. What did you do to get through what seemed like an endless shutdown of Broadway?
It was an incredibly difficult time for our industry, to say the least. With all the unprecedentedness of the pandemic, it would have been easy for us all to get stuck in the unknown. But this is showbiz, and the live entertainment industry came together unlike ever before, lobbying for grants, sharing learnings with peers, and standing in support of one another—albeit six feet apart!
Did working on Lombardi and Magic/Bird pique your interest in producing a show?
Yes! I am forever grateful to the lead producers, Fran Kirmser and Tony Ponturo, for the crash course in production. Seeing how these shows came together firsthand was a priceless experience. Because of Tony’s long career at Anheuser Busch, we had unique opportunities with the NFL, including a Super Bowl promo where Dan Lauira played Vince Lombardi on TV in front of 110 million people watching at home, only to have the Packers go on to win it all. The magic of that experience will be hard to top, but it’s a full-circle moment for me to have my first co-producer show at the same theater where I worked on Lombardi 14 years ago. This memory also feels timely as The Palace Theatre is set to reopen in the coming months after years of renovations. In my role at Ticketmaster, I’ll be a ticketing partner with Nederlander as they reopen the theatre and plan for the next big hit!
Tell us about your decision to join the producing team of An Enemy of the People.
Working with The Drama League, I followed alum Sam Gold’s work, and when I heard he would be working for the first time with his wife, Amy Herzog, and their friend Jeremy Strong, that got my attention. An Enemy Of The People is about truth. It is a battle over truth and the essential facts hidden underneath political narratives. The play also speaks to how human actions have been poisoning the natural world for centuries, which has led to our global climate crisis. This is a timely play with an extraordinary cast and creative team, and it’s been an incredible production to be involved with thus far.