Biography of Ken Davenport

Recently hailed as the "P.T. Barnum of Off-Broadway" in the New York Times and featured on a national commercial for the iPhone, Ken is the only independent producer to have three shows running simultaneously Off-Broadway: ALTAR BOYZ, THE AWESOME 80S PROM and MY FIRST TIME. Ken is a Sturbridge, Massachusetts native and a graduate of The Bancroft School in Worcester, which recently awarded him with the Young Alumni Achievement Award. After high school, Ken attended Johns Hopkins University and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he graduated with honors and was named a "University Scholar". Immediately upon graduation, Ken began his career in the commercial theatre industry with management positions on the Broadway revivals of My Fair Lady with Richard Chamberlain and Grease with Rosie O'Donnell. While a member of the staff at The Charlotte Wilcox Company, Ken had the opportunity to work on the Broadway productions of Damn Yankees, On The Waterfront, Buskers, and many others. After company managing a National Tour of A Grand Night for Singing, Ken began a three year relationship with the infamous impresario Garth Drabinksy and LIVENT, during which time he worked on the Tony Award winning Broadway productions of Showboat, Candide, Ragtime and Parade. Ken company managed the Broadway production of the 2002 Tony Award Winning Thorough Modern Millie as well as the touring companies of Jekyll & Hyde, Chicago (National Tour and Las Vegas) and general managed the National Tour of Cinderella starring Eartha Kitt, Deborah Gibson and Jamie Lynn Sigler. Ken was the Associate General Manager for GYPSY starring Bernadette Peters and directed by Sam Mendes which was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Revival in 2003. As the Director of Creative Development for NETworks, Ken worked on the development of several new theatre pieces, including the Broadway production of Little Women. Ken has also produced and directed several workshops, readings and regional productions, including several companies of Forever Plaid (the last of which performed for former President George Bush and his wife, Barbara), a revised version of Is There Life After High School and an original musical which he wrote entitled Prime Time. He has had the pleasure of working with a wonderful variety of talents over the years including Harold Prince, Tommy Tune, Terrence McNally and many of Broadway's premier producers including Clear Channel Entertainment, Robert Fox, Barry and Fran Weissler, Hal Luftig, Fox Theatricals and others. Ken taught "Acting As A Business" for America Online and was profiled online and in the premiere issue of Experience magazine as a Broadway "up-and-comer" and his unique marketing style has been profiled in the New York Times and in marketing guru's Andy Sernovitz's latest book entitled Word of Mouth Marketing.Ken won the 2003 Acclaim Screenwriting Award for his television pilot, "I.C.A.", and he is a member of the BMI Librettist Workshop. He is a senior member of the organization known as The Off-Broadway Brainstormers, a town-hall like forum for dialogue amongst the Off-Broadway community at large. The Brainstormers were founded on the belief that communication and collaboration amongst industry peers is critical for the success of the community. The Brainstormers have already implemented several industry changing initiatives including a quantitative study of its audiences and the now biannual "20at20" campaign, which gives audiences an opportunity to purchase $20 tickets, 20 minutes before curtain time, to a variety of Off-Broadway shows (www.20at20.com). Ken was the committee leader for both 20at20 and the focus group studies.Ken has had the pleasure of being asked to speak to a variety of organizations on theatrical marketing and production including the Center for Communication Studies, The Commercial Theater Institute, The Independent Presenter's Network, The TAMY Awards, and others.Ken's current projects include adapting the novel and film Somewhere in Time into a Broadway musical and developing a new social networking site for the Broadway community called BroadwaySpace.com.