| BlueMountain Capital co-founder Stephen Siderow |
The one and only college acting class Stephen Siderow took did not predict a life onstage. “I got the worst grade of my entire academic career,” he says. But that didn’t scare Siderow, president and co-founder of $17 billion, credit-focused investment firm BlueMountain Capital Management, from getting involved in the theater. He’s been an active member of experimental group Ars Nova’s board since 2007.
Ars Nova is an Off-Broadway organization with a mission to develop new talent and productions. The group was founded in 2002 by Jenny and Jon Steingart in memory of Jenny’s brother, Gabe Wiener, who died in 1997 at age 26. Siderow met the Steingarts on a trip to Israel, and they connected over their mutual love of theater.
There are other theater groups in New York that develop new works, but Ars Nova has a specific commitment to nurturing and developing talent, says Siderow, 46. The group produces two shows a year — one in the spring and one in the fall — plus a musical, in addition to mounting the ANT (for “all new talent”) Fest, hosting the Out Loud reading series and running writers’ groups, residencies, retreats and more.
Ars Nova provides a space for creators to meet, discuss and work together, serving as an artistic laboratory for new ideas, with an emphasis on experimentation. “Ars Nova creates that kind of environment where there’s collaboration and support for the creative process,” says Siderow.
The next big Broadway hit isn’t on its radar, he says; rather, Ars Nova favors adventurous work that breaks boundaries. “We’re not looking for artists who we think will be commercially successful,” he says. “We are looking for interesting work that we think is important.”
Many Ars Nova alums have moved on to notable careers. They include Jesse Tyler Ferguson, who had a show at Ars Nova in 2004 and now stars on Emmy-winning sitcom Modern Family, and Lin-Manuel Miranda, who went on to create In the Heights, a Broadway musical that won Tony and Grammy awards. The artists may be emerging, but Siderow says he’s never been to a bad show at Ars Nova, and he likes the enthusiasm of new performers and knowing that his own contributions matter. Siderow grew up going to the theater, primarily via trips organized by his hometown of Chappaqua, New York’s town hall — he saw the original production of A Chorus Line — and he thinks live performance is still relevant. “Live performance is unique, and you cannot replicate it through electronic media,” he says.
One example is Ars Nova’s 2012 production of Natasha, Pierre and the Great Comet of 1812, an electropop opera that’s staged nightclub-style, amid the eating and drinking audience. “You cannot have that experience other than by being in the theater and having that show happen and having the performers in front of you,” he says. (The show has gone on to a bigger production, which opened this fall.)
Jeremy Blocker, Ars Nova’s managing director, says Siderow has acted as a great ambassador and has been generous with both his resources and his advice. “He brings an incredibly valuable perspective,” says Blocker. During a discussion of subsidiary rights, “Stephen presented a side of the argument and also a way of thinking about it as research and development and venture capital that was really helpful both for framing the conversation and making it accessible for other board members.”
As the group’s renown, productions and budget have grown, it has managed to work on a bigger scale while staying true to its mission of cultivating the talent of tomorrow, says Siderow. “We like to say, ‘If you’re seeing something you love on a stage in New York, chances are the artists have passed through Ars Nova.’?”
