From Manhattan Theatre Club and Director Kenny Leon to Dance Theatre of Harlem: Jaadyn Rogers ’23 Shows the Power of Theatre Arts Administration

By Chad Eric Smith, Director of Strategic Communications and Marketing, Chadwick A. Boseman College of Fine Arts

For Jaadyn Rogers ’23, BFA Theatre Arts Administration, a career in the arts has already taken them across theatre, dance, production management and arts organizations—and now onto the road with Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Their trajectory offers a powerful example of what a Theatre Arts Administration education can make possible: a foundation in theatre with skills that travel across the full breadth of the arts economy.

Since graduating from Howard University in 2023, Rogers has built a growing professional portfolio that includes Manhattan Theatre Club, Harlem Stage, developmental theatre, dance festivals and independent arts projects. At Manhattan Theatre Club, Rogers served as a Stage Management Fellow, gaining experience supporting Broadway and Off-Broadway productions, developing production paperwork, working with deck crews and learning the systems required to maintain consistency, safety and communication across a professional production.

Working within that professional environment also placed Rogers alongside some of the field’s leading theatre artists and practitioners, including director Kenny Leon, providing an early-career opportunity to observe and contribute to the complex collaboration required to bring ambitious work to the stage.

Their experience has continued to expand through roles as a Production Stage Manager and Assistant Stage Manager, where they have coordinated technical departments, managed rehearsals, tracked scenic and lighting changes, supported artists and crews, and navigated the complex logistics that allow live performance to happen successfully.

Now Rogers is taking those skills into a new arena as Production Stage Manager for Dance Theatre of Harlem’s touring season.

 

Over the next year, Rogers will travel with the company and its principal artists, helping manage the operational and production needs of a touring dance organization. That work requires far more than knowing how to run a show. It means coordinating people and information across different venues, maintaining production standards while conditions change, communicating across artistic and technical departments, troubleshooting in real time, managing schedules and paperwork, and helping create the consistency that allows artists to perform at their highest level night after night.

In other words, Rogers is doing exactly what Theatre Arts Administration prepares students to do: take the knowledge and skills developed in one creative environment and apply them to another.

“I want our students to understand that Theatre Arts Administration is not simply preparation for a job in theatre—it is preparation for a career across the arts economy,” said Professor Pat Parks. “Theatre gives us an incredibly rich laboratory for teaching students how to lead people, manage complexity, communicate across disciplines, solve problems, steward resources and turn creative ideas into reality. Those skills are transferable. They can take you into theatre, dance, music, museums, festivals, cultural organizations, nonprofits, entertainment and emerging areas of the creative economy.”

Rogers’ career demonstrates that mobility.

Their work on The Balusters with Manhattan Theatre Club provided a particularly fitting moment of Howard representation on 47th Street. During the same weekend that Rogers was working on the production side of the MTC production, Parks was serving as Co-Producer of Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, the Broadway revival directed by Howard alumna Debbie Allen.

 

For Howard, the moment carried a particular resonance: a recent Theatre Arts Administration graduate was building a career at Manhattan Theatre Club at the same time that a Howard faculty member was producing on Broadway just blocks away. It was a small but striking reflection of the connections—and possibilities—that can emerge from the Howard arts community.

For Parks, that moment represented more than a point of pride. It reflected the kind of professional ecosystem Theatre Arts Administration students are being prepared to enter—one in which Howard alumni and faculty can find themselves working alongside major artists, organizations and productions while building careers of their own.

And Rogers’ journey did not stop with theatre.

Their participation in the Good Ground Fellowship and work with Harlem Stage broadened their experience within the cultural sector, while their production work has continued to move fluidly between disciplines and organizations. Each experience has added another layer to their understanding of how creative work is developed, produced, presented and sustained.

Now, with Dance Theatre of Harlem, that versatility is taking them into the world of professional dance and touring.

The move is significant not because Rogers is leaving theatre behind, but theatre was never the only place their skills could take them.

That ability to move is one of the defining strengths of Theatre Arts Administration.

Students develop an understanding of the artistic process while also learning the organizational side of the arts: project management, budgeting and resource stewardship, human relations, communication, marketing and audience engagement, operations, leadership, production, strategic thinking and problem-solving. They learn how creative organizations function—and how to help them function better.

Those skills matter whether the “stage” is a Broadway theatre, a dance company, a museum, a festival, a concert, a cultural institution, a nonprofit arts organization or an arts venture that has yet to be imagined.

The setting may change. The discipline may change. The audience may change.

The skills travel.

Jaadyn Rogers is already demonstrating that range.

From Howard to Manhattan Theatre Club. From working alongside leading theatre artists such as Kenny Leon to building production experience across the cultural sector. From Harlem Stage to Dance Theatre of Harlem.

Their career is a reminder that a Theatre Arts Administration degree does not prescribe a single destination.

It provides a foundation—and the skills can take you almost anywhere in the arts.