An almost-forgotten app changed Anant Das’s life.
During the depths of the pandemic in 2020 and early 2021, Das joined a social media app called Clubhouse, where users could speak with each other in virtual rooms in real time. It was popular in large cities, attracting creative professionals from New York (where Das lived) to Los Angeles. And it was people on that app who helped him get his start as a Broadway producer.
“It was just bustling with producers and actors and creators,” said Das, who graduated in 2019 from the University of Virginia’s McIntire School of Commerce.
Das has long loved musical theater. Growing up in Centreville, he and his family watched Bollywood movies, which often include elaborate musical numbers. He was also a fan of the TV show “Smash,” which focused on a group of people trying to create a new Broadway musical.
“In college, I used to say, ‘I’m interested in the business side of entertainment.’ Different people would say, ‘Oh, maybe you want to be a stage manager, maybe you want to do this, maybe you want to do that.’ But none of those things sounded like me,” Das said.
Eventually, Das ended up in a Clubhouse room with a group of producers. If you don’t know what a producer does, you’re in good company – he didn’t either.
“Nobody knows what a producer does,” he said.
But the producers in that Clubhouse room walked Das through what various kinds of producers do (usually, they’re raising money for a production). That led him to invest in his first off-Broadway play. Das then became a co-producer for an off-Broadway production of “Kinky Boots.” His producing career “snowballed” from there, he said.
Since then, he’s been involved in musicals like “A Beautiful Noise: The Neil Diamond Musical,” “The Wiz” and “Here Lies Love,” a musical by David Byrne about the Marcos dictatorship in the Philippines. Das has simultaneously balanced a full-time job as a financial consultant with the firm PwC and a Broadway-themed subscription box service called Broadway Boxed Up he started in 2020.
“It’s a tricky balance,” Das said. “The type of producing I do, whether co-producing or executive producing, is very flexible and driven by me and my schedule, so I’m able to prioritize my full-time job. I think the full-time job supports me in that I’m able to invest in shows that I believe in.”
Das says as a student, he was only indirectly involved with the theater scene. Now he produces multiple shows every season on Broadway. (Photo by Brian Tran)
Still, securing funding for a show can be a grueling process.
“They see you on the red carpet where you’re all confident and happy, and everyone’s excited for you. People really don’t see the hours and hours of sometimes unpaid labor that goes toward making it happen. And part of that labor is you’re probably going to get 1,000 nos,” Das said.
Despite what he described as intense “exposure therapy” to rejection, Das said he enjoys the work.
“The cool thing is, it takes one yes to turn things around,” Das said. Plus, he’s become better at identifying likely supporters before he starts making calls.
Das and his family share a love of Bollywood musicals, which led him to his love for all things Broadway. (Photo by Chad David Kraus)
Das is heavily involved in the New York theater scene and produces touring shows in the United States and the United Kingdom. As an undergraduate, his involvement in theater was limited. His interest in show business manifested in attending “talk-backs” with Broadway actors at UVA, a program a friend started. He knew when he applied for college he wanted to study business, and after visiting Grounds with his older brother, also a UVA alumnus, he knew he had found his future home.
“I got out of the car next to the Lawn, and I knew immediately, ‘This is it,’” Das said.
