In 2021, amidst ongoing controversy and accusations of mistreatment, producer Scott Rudin stepped away from the theatre world. Now, he tells the New York Times that he is planning to make a return this year.
Rudin’s extensive career, which most recently included To Kill a Mockingbird, The Book of Mormon, Hello, Dolly!, Carousel, and countless other notable productions, was abruptly halted after many of his former employees spoke out about his abusive behavior. The backlash against Rudin was so severe that a March on Broadway was held in April 2021, which saw several many demonstrators chanting “Scott Rudin has got to go.”
Rudin is planning on making a return next season, staging four plays, including three on Broadway. He believes that there is a gap in the post-pandemic Broadway programming and he’s aiming to fill it with what he believes to be “good work.”
“I felt like I wasn’t done, and that if I still had more work I was able to make, that I should make it,” he shared.
This fall, he plans to produce the first Broadway production of the play “Little Bear Ridge Road” by Samuel D. Hunter, starring Laurie Metcalf and directed by Joe Mantello. Next spring, Rudin is also planning to stage “Montauk,” a new play by David Hare, also starring Metcalf and directed by Mantello. The following season he says he hopes to revive “Death of a Salesman” in a production with Metcalf and Nathan Lane, again directed by Mantello.
Additionally, this fall, Rudin is planning to stage a Broadway production of “Cottonfield,” a new play by Bruce Norris, and directed by Robert O’Hara. Next winter, he plans to stage an Off-Broadway production of “What We Did Before Our Moth Days”, a new play by Wallace Shawn, directed by André Gregory.
Rudin said that he has undergone a period of therapy and self-reflection, and has apologized to many of the people he had wronged, but understands that he still will likely not be welcomed back by everyone in the industry.
“I was just too rough on people,” he said, admitting to yelling at his assistants, occasionally throwing things at people, and other negative behavior that he calls “bone-headed” and “narcissistic.” But now, he believes that he has made significant healthy changes and has “a lot more self control” than he had four years ago.
Al Vincent Jr., the executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, noted that, since Rudin last worked on Broadway, Equity has “taken steps” to strengthen protections against bullying, discrimination, and harassment.
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