Alumni Spotlight: Randy Adams
Randy Adams is a Tony and Olivier Award-winning producer and developer of Broadway musicals, including Come From Away. He’s a member of the KU Department of Theatre & Dance Professional Advisory Board and a KU alum.
Every day poses a new set of adventures and possilblties when you are producing on Broadway, managing national and international tours, and developing new work, but we’ve tried to share a sense of Randy Adams’ world with you here. Randy sure has a lot to sing about!
- Co-founded Junkyard Dog Productions, which created and produced the internationally acclaimed musical Come From Away, winner of the Olivia (Best Musical), Tony Award (Best Direction), Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Helen Hayes, and Dora Awards.
- Produced Memphis, which won four Tony Awards including Best Musical.
- Has juggled five companies simultaneously on tour spanning different time zones, often traveling on site; Junkyard Dog Productions is fairly hands-on.
- Currently producing three new musical theater works: The Heart, 3 Summers of Lincoln, and Freak the Mighty.
- Guest lectures at the University of Kansas and gives back in many other ways, all aimed at helping the next generation of theatre-makers.
- Received his master’s degree in Theatre at KU with an emphasis in directing (c. ’80) while maintaining employment as a student box office assistant.
Randy’s advice for emerging creators: “Creating new work is the most exciting part of theatre for me. Helping to make something that didn’t exist before is the absolute best. Anytime you create something new, do what you love! Start with something that you are passionate about.”
One of Randy’s favorite memories is taking Broadway-bound Come From Away to Gander, Newfoundland, where it is set. There was not a dry eye in the theatre. (Technically it was the city’s ice hockey arena, Steele Community Centre.)
