Rocco Landesman

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Rocco Landesman (born July 20, 1947) is a Broadway theatre producer. In May 2009, Landesman was nominated to be the next permanent chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.^[1]

Rocco Landesman's biggest passions are theater, baseball, horse racing and country music. On any given day he will insist that one of these is the perfect expression of American culture. His company, Jujamcyn Theaters, owns 5 Broadway theaters, and at one time or another Rocco has owned 3 minor league baseball teams, various racehorses of dubious value and a collection of Roger Miller long playing records.

Rocco was born (July 20, 1947) and raised in St. Louis, Mo., got his undergraduate education at Colby College and The University of Wisconsin, and earned a doctorate in Dramatic Literature at the Yale School of Drama. At the completion of his course work he stayed at the school for 4 years as an Assistant Professor. In 1977 he left to start a private investment fund, which he ran until his appointment as President of Jujamcyn in 1987. In 2005 he purchased the company and still runs it. Before and after joining Jujamcyn, Rocco has continued to produce Broadway shows, the most notable of which are "Big River" (1985 Tony, Best Musical), "Angels In America," and "The Producers" (2001 Tony, Best Musical).

Not surprisingly, since Rocco was trained at a not-for-profit performing arts conservatory, his career has been a hybrid of commercial, philanthropic, and purely artistic engagements. He has continued his relationship with the Yale School of Drama and Yale Rep, returning to teach there over the years. He has been active on numerous boards, including the Municipal Arts Society, an advocacy organization concerned with New York City's public spaces and preservation, the Times Square Alliance, which has radically changed the heart of the city by improving its safety, sanitation and aesthetic, and The Educational Foundation of America. Rocco has also vigorously engaged the ongoing debate about arts policy, speaking at forums and writing numerous articles (mostly in the New York Times arts section), focusing mainly on the problematic relationship between the commercial and not-for-profit sectors of the American theater.

Rocco is married to Debby Landesman, formerly the Executive Director of the Levi Strauss Foundation and currently a philanthropic advisor to corporations and foundations. Two of his sons are journalists working in New York. His third son, Dodge Landesman, is a high school student, and is running for New York City Council's 2nd district seat in 2009.

References

External links

• [1]

Landesman, Rocco. "What Price Success At Lincoln Center." The New York Times 11 Dec. 1988: Sect. 2, Pg. 7.

• [2]

Landesman, Rocco. "Broadway: Devil or Angel for Nonprofit Theater?; A Vital Movement Has Lost Its Way." The New York Times 4 June 2000: Sect. 2, Pg. 10.

• [3]

Owen, David. "Betting on Broadway." The New Yorker 13 Jun. 1994: 60-73. Site registration required for full viewing.

• [4]

Rothstein, Mervyn. "How a High Roller Bets on Broadway." The New York Times 3 Jun. 1990: Sect. 2, Pg. 5.

• [5]

Landesman, Rocco. "Roger Miller: King of Rhyme, Remembering the 'Jerome Corn of the American Musical.'" The New York Times 20 Jul. 2003: Sect. 2, Pg. 20-21.