By Ethan Dumper, age 15,
KidScoop Media Correspondent
Jeffrey Seller’s new book, Theater Kid, explores the way his upbringing has shaped him as a person and prepared him for producing some of the biggest shows on Broadway. Seller, the producer of hits like Hamilton, In the Heights, Avenue Q, and Rent, explained how growing up in the poor part of his neighborhood, deemed “Cardboard Village” by kids in the area, prepared him for the challenges he would face in his production career.
Seller did not initially grow up in poverty, but after his father was involved in a motorcycle accident that damaged his memory among other things, the family was quickly forced into living on welfare. He was forced to move to a part of the neighborhood where, he described, the houses were made “of tar shingles instead of bricks.” He recounted the term cardboard village being used as a “derogatory” descriptor for his town.
It was his quest to escape that term and that legacy of poverty that pushed him into the success he experienced later in life. A common theme that is brought up in the book is theater as a business, in which you have to bring in investors and capital, sell tickets, and convince theatre owners to showcase your production. Specifically, Seller describes transforming the musical Rent into a Broadway show, and the convincing and negotiations that had to be made in order to get it there.
When asked in an exclusive interview with KidScoop Media about his introduction to business and money-making, he describes the “entrepreneurial spirit” he felt had been within him since his childhood. He told the story of the first winter break in Detroit, Michigan, a concept that had not previously existed up until he was in grade school, and how, since the people who lived in his area were so poor, they would not be able to take their kids anywhere. With his friend, Seller built a day camp during the weeklong break at just 25 cents a day, or a deal of $1 for the whole week.“That’s a good example of my entrepreneurial capacity and my desire to sell tickets. From a young age, I was concerned with how many tickets did we sell? Will we sell? Are we selling? Can we make a profit?” He continued, “The shame and embarrassment that I felt living in Cardboard Village was fuel for my success.” This fuel clearly worked, as more than 43 million people have now viewed his shows. Seller spoke with KidScoop Media at a Live Talks LA event at the New Roads School, in Los Angeles, before taking the stage to engage in an hour long discussion with Josh Groban about his new book.
A separate part of the book that he discussed was mental health, therapy, and psychoanalysis. Psychoanalysis is an intense form of therapy in which the patient can spend multiple hours a day, multiple days a week, engaged with a therapist. His experience, he said, taught him to slow down and listen better.
“It was through that process that I became the person… That didn’t talk first, but waited and talked last… I learned if you want to get everyone to vote to go with your opinion, be the last one to speak,” he reflected. While trauma stemming from his childhood may have initially been a hindrance to his work, through this process he was able to more deeply connect with himself and transform into a better leader.
Seller’s book is a story of his transformation and how his childhood experiences would shape who he became in the future. Having to fight through adversity and hurdles, Seller has used the challenges in his life to grow, and fuel himself into becoming one of the most respected theater producers in the world.