Takin A Walk/Episode Twenty-Seven with Broadway in Boston PR Director Ann Sheehan in The Theatre District

Buzz Knight:

On this episode of the Takin A Walk series, we go to the theater in Boston. Well sort of. We’re syncing up with Ann Sheehan, the Senior Director of Public Relations and Community Relations at Broadway In Boston. Ann is a long time Bostonian with a passion for all that goes on in Boston, including the arts and the theater and I can’t wait to be taking a walk with Ann.

Speaker 2:

Takin’ A Walk with Buzz Knight.

Buzz Knight:

Now, Ann and I start the episode by taking a walk in the theater district. Hello Ann Sheehan.

Ann Sheehan:

Good Morning Buzz. Glad to be here with you today on an almost 60 degree day.

Buzz Knight:

It’s so cool. I love great walking cities. Where do you like to walk when you’re in Boston or in the vicinity?

Ann Sheehan:

I feel like I’ve spent so much time on Washington street, growing up in the city at [inaudible 00:00:59] and Dorchester. On the weekends, my mother and I would come in every weekend and we would get off at Washington Street station, hit Jordan Marsh for a muffin walk all around, up and down, do a little shopping. As the years went on, I kept finding myself in this neighborhood. I used to get the bus to Brighton every day to go to my high school, Mount St. Joseph Academy in Brighton. As life continues, I decided to go to Suffolk university and spent four years running all around this part of town, up and down the commons up through Beacon Hill for four really great years.

Ann Sheehan:

During that time I was working for the Red Sox. I was a young woman. Starting my career, I worked in the ground crew and the ticket office. So I would hop on the train at Park Street, over to Fenway Park and spent nine years over there in various capacities. Just the start of my career really was Fenway Park and the Red Sox were the catalyst of all of that. So I’ve spent a lot of time I’m around here.

Buzz Knight:

You were on the ground crew?

Ann Sheehan:

I was. I worked for-

Buzz Knight:

How cool was that?

Ann Sheehan:

It was amazing. My girlfriend was working there. Her brother … My girlfriend, Lynn … Her brother, Eddie was one of the head ground crew guys over there and she used to clean the offices. She and I known each other since we were three or four, five, something like that. As a lot of us city people do. We all grew up together and we never leave each other in our neighborhoods and friends for life. I said to her, “I’d love to get a job over there.” She got me a job and at the time her brother used to work on the ground crew. But he also used to drive Mrs. Yawkey, who was the owner at the time to and from games and it was just a great, great time in my life.

Buzz Knight:

As we’re walking … I’m sorry. Don’t mean to interrupt you. We see a Boston Red Dog’s hot dog cart.

Ann Sheehan:

That’s right.

Buzz Knight:

Being wielded around here. It was serendipitous at that moment, by the way.

Ann Sheehan:

That’s right and I’m a pescatarian. So those days are over for me.

Buzz Knight:

I was thinking. Are those fresh?

Ann Sheehan:

Yeah. Well, that’s always the question. My husband has a funny story. If he ever goes to a fair, he says, “You have to go to the fair on the first two days, because they don’t change the grease.”

Buzz Knight:

Right. Now I have a feeling there’s another person also, who was a mutual friend, who was on the Takin’ A Walk series, that I think you probably know. John Tobin, from Laugh Boston?

Ann Sheehan:

I’ve known John for years, many, many years. I think about when I get into this business and I met him and he’s just done so well. We’ve had a working relationship with John through the years. As you know, he presents comedy. We worked with him many years ago. But we continue to have a longstanding relationship with John. He’s a dynamo. I don’t know how he does it.

Buzz Knight:

What’s with the spirit of people who grew up in Boston? It’s a difficult place at times-

Ann Sheehan:

Yes.

Buzz Knight:

… To live. Right? I didn’t grow up here. I grew in Stanford, Connecticut. So Boston can be difficult, certainly with the weather, traffic, blah, blah, blah. But what is it about the fabric of people from Boston? Explain this to me or as Ricky Ricardo used to say, “Explain it to me.”

Ann Sheehan:

“Explain it to me.” I do just think that when we are in growing up in neighborhoods, you’re growing up together, there’s just so much hanging out, running around. You’re going to grade school together, you’re going to high school together. There’s just long standing relationships. They’re family friends, lifelong family friends. “My mother knows your mother.”

Ann Sheehan:

And even when you do part, you’re always still connected in some way. I love the spirit of Bostonians. I have lifelong friends that I’ve known for years and years. I just feel like when you grow up in a neighborhood, you go to church together, you have Sunday dinners, you go to the neighbor’s house for Christmas Eve or whatever. I just think it’s just extremely, extremely special.

Buzz Knight:

I took a walk with Greg Hill from WEEI, a radio personality, formally WAAF. As you know, Greg has the Greg Hill Foundation that he has, where he does the great work. Greg said something, that I think you’ll agree with, which he said, he believes the generosity of people from Boston exceeds anywhere that he can ever imagine. Would you agree with that?

Ann Sheehan:

I would. I couldn’t agree with it more. When people are in need, it’s amazing. Not just a couple of people, how an entire community will rise to support that person, do everything and anything they can. I’ve known for just my own personal experiences. I had a sister who was very ill. The support that we got from the neighborhood and around the city was unbelievable. You just couldn’t believe everybody who came out.

Ann Sheehan:

My sister had caretakers. 20 women that were helping us care for my sister at the time, when she was very ill with cancer. These are things that you just never forget. People rise up. They really rise to the occasion here. I really feel like there’s no excuses. There’s no excuses. It’s not if you’re going to show up. It’s when you’re going to show up. So yeah. I absolutely agree with Greg. There’s so many people in this town doing such good work and are so generous. It’s unreal.

Buzz Knight:

What do you say to the outsiders that make fun of the Boston accents?

Ann Sheehan:

Well, it depends on the day of the week, like everything. Some days people love the accent and other days they do not. But it is who we are.

Buzz Knight:

Yeah, that’s right.

Ann Sheehan:

We will never apologize.

Buzz Knight:

Notice I was laughing. I’d said, “I grew up in Stanford, Connecticut.” Excuse me. Sorry. But I was also laughing because many times people will say to me, “Well, I know you didn’t grow up there. But you have that accent.” Do I?

Ann Sheehan:

You know what? Not bad, not bad. Not bad. I remember years ago when I was younger, I was a little self conscious of it. Because everybody had a lot to say about it or they couldn’t understand what I was saying and I have a dear friend who’s from Long Island and when we get together, oh boy. Between the Boston accent and the Long Island accent, it’s something.

Buzz Knight:

I love it. So how did you end up at Broadway In Boston?

Ann Sheehan:

It’s something that when they say, “You sometimes you just land,” you do. I started to say that I went to college. I worked in sports for a long time and I was a young woman. Then the baseball strike of, I think it was 94 and a lot of people lost their jobs and it was so devastating. Because I was a very young woman and I was hoping to continue my career there and all of that and life just hands you certain cards that you have to deal with. So I moved on and from there, I ended up working at a family homeless shelter in East Boston, which was the best experience of my life. I, to this day, still reflect on it all all the time.

Ann Sheehan:

It was just such an incredible experience and I met so many incredible people and I spent about a year and a half there and then I wanted to get back into the entertainment business and so there was a job opening at Boston Ballet and I applied and it was audience development. Sure enough, I interviewed with this woman who would become my mentor, an extraordinary, extraordinary woman.

Buzz Knight:

Who was that?

Ann Sheehan:

Her name was Regan Burn and she left the ballet and she basically came over here, to develop the Broadway In Boston brand. So when she was doing this, like anything, when you start, it’s always very small in terms of staff. So she was hiring just a few folks to come over and join the team and she said, “Do you want to come over and do a little Broadway?? And I said, “Yes I do.”

Ann Sheehan:

So we developed the brand. The gentleman who hired us at the time, he had the lease on the Colonial and the Wilber and he owned the Charles Playhouse. His name is Jon Platt. He’s one of the producers of Wicked, multiple time Tony award-winning producer, someone were still very much in touch with and someone I care about very deeply. We started our career here. I went from the hallow grounds of Fenway Park, to this beautiful world. It took some adjusting. I’m not going to lie. It took me a while to stop calling intermission, half time. So once we get past that though, it took us several years to develop the brand and it was the best time, to be on the ground floor or something that is going to impact your city so big.

Ann Sheehan:

We just continue to grow and grow and grow. We grew our subscription program. We grew our group sales program. We grew a sponsorship program. We grew our relationships with the media and basically all of that had been outsourced and we felt like we just didn’t have that relationship with one, the city. Because these are touring productions. So in terms of Broadway In Boston shows, they’re touring productions. They come in for a couple weeks. It could be two weeks, could be nine weeks depending on whatever.

Ann Sheehan:

But we felt like we really needed to deepen and solidify our relationships with our audiences, with the media, our partners at the radio stations, all of that and that’s what we did. It took some years and I will say Broadway In Boston was the first Broadway In, across the country and you can find them pretty much everywhere, under the Broadway Across umbrella. That’s our parent company, Broadway Across America, rather umbrella. So it’s been quite a journey. It’s been really quite a journey and for a kid from Dorchester, whose first show was Annie at the Shubert Theater, it was unexpected, a pleasant, pleasant surprise. It’s a privilege. It’s a privilege.

Buzz Knight:

When we think about the world that we live in and we think about very difficult times that we’ve been through and that we’re going through, how important is the arts and the theater to Bostonians and everywhere else that places like Broadway In Boston are.

Ann Sheehan:

First of all, the city of Boston is such a vibrant, extraordinary arts community. Whether it’s Broadway, our neighbors next door at the Majestic, the Colonial, the Wang, there’s so much happening downtown and it’s all so critical to the health and growth and development of the city. It’s important. Arts are basically people. It’s both people and in terms of theater, what’s so special about theater is, it’s a communal experience.

Ann Sheehan:

What we learned over the past two years is how passionate audiences are, how much they love theater and they’ve just been such a source. A source of … I don’t know what the exact word is … But they’ve just been such a wonderful support for all of us in the industry. It was a tough time during the pandemic. We’re fortunate. We reopened in the fall and this house was sold out. 2600 seats, two weeks and everybody came. They came, they were thrilled to be back.

Ann Sheehan:

The audiences here just love theater and every year about 21 million or so, according to Arts Boston, 21 million people come down to see a arts and cultural show, in the greater Boston area, which is, I want to say four times more than all the sports teams together. So when we talk about impact and personally, economically, socially, the arts are critical. The arts are critical.

Buzz Knight:

Well people like you make the wheels turn.

Ann Sheehan:

Yeah.

Buzz Knight:

Right? You’re on the ground all the time with it. You are such an important part of communicating that message out there, working with media partners, collaborating with your team and spreading the good word, not only of Broadway In Boston, but also just the Boston in general.

Ann Sheehan:

Absolutely. We’re standing outside the Boston Opera House, which reopened its doors, July 16th, 2004, with a 32 week engagement. I’m sure you remember this.

Buzz Knight:

Yep.

Ann Sheehan:

It turned this entire neighborhood around. It was it was an amazing, amazing experience and to have a front row seat and a small part in that, that lives in your heart. You know what I mean? I think that’s something when we talk about Bostonians, where I’ll speak for myself, but I think it applies. We’re an emotional group I think. I think we’re so passionate. Look at us with sports. In theater and all of that, I think we’re extremely passionate and we’re just so proud to be Bostonians. So I think all of this, why? Because our city is filled with riches and starting with the people, starting with the people and then we go to the arts and sports and education and health and we’re blessed.

Buzz Knight:

Yeah. We really are. It’s a special place and I’m just very grateful that with the Takin’ A Walk, I’ve gotten to reconnect with the old friends, but meet new friends like you Ann Sheehan. So I really appreciate the time.

Ann Sheehan:

Thank you for getting me away from my desk and for taking a walk.

Speaker 2:

Takin’ A Walk with Buzz Knight is available on Spotify, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Buzz Knight is an established media executive with a long history of content creation and multi-platform distribution.

After a successful career as a Radio Executive, he formed Buzz Knight Media which focuses on strategic guidance and the development of new original content.