As a Kid, Michael Herwitz Used to Knit Backstage With Kelli O’Hara. Now He’s a Directing JOB

Twenty years ago, Michael Herwitz made his Broadway debut, as an 8-year-old child actor in Dracula, the Musical and, later, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. In the years since, Herwitz has pivoted to directing and he’s now returned to Broadway, making his Main Stem directorial debut with Max Wolf Friedlich’s JOB.

The two-person psychological thriller, co-starring Tony nominee Peter Friedman and Sydney Lemmon, arrived on Broadway following two earlier Off-Broadway engagements—at SoHo Playhouse in fall 2023 and the Connelly Theatre earlier this year—that were also helmed by the young director.

The suspenseful two-hander, centering on an employee (Lemmon) who begins working with a crisis therapist (Friedman) after becoming the subject of a viral video. It was recently extended through October 27 at Broadway’s Hayes Theater. (Read reviews for the production by clicking here.)

Herwitz has previously developed and staged new plays and musicals at JACK, Fault Line Theater, HERE, Ensemble Studio Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival, and Martha’s Vineyard Playhouse, while his associate and assistant credits include productions at MCC, Signature, and Williamstown.

In the interview below for the Playbill series How Did I Get
Here—spotlighting not only actors, but directors, designers, musicians,
and others who work on and off the stage to create the magic that is
live theatre—Herwitz shares how a group of stage managers at Chitty Chitty Bang Bang encouraged him to be a director.

Where did you train/study?
Michael Herwitz: The first step of my formal training was at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts up by Lincoln Center. I was a drama major, which meant that three to four periods of the day were dedicated to acting classes and the rest were regular academic subjects. After high school, I went to Northwestern University as a theatre major. Northwestern had no formal directing track, but it did have a hugely vibrant student theatre scene. My biggest learnings took place in the asbestos-filled shack and multi-purpose room where student theatre organizations put up work.

Was there a teacher who was particularly impactful/helpful? What made this instructor standout?
The teacher who most changed my life was Sandy Faison at LaGuardia High School. As I was preparing to start high school, my parents were splitting up, and my dad moved to New York City from our home in Westchester. Through a series of miracles, I was able to attend a special audition at LaGuardia for kids who moved to the city after the regular audition period. There were no open slots in the incoming freshman drama program, but Sandy Faison saw my audition and made a space for me in her acting class. She even pulled a co-teacher onto the roster so that the student/teacher ratio would be above board for the department of education! Sandy calls me “Number 35,” as I was that extra 35th student she weaseled in. Had Sandy not made me number 35, I never would have met my classmates Russell Kahn, Owen Campbell, Jared Kemp, Niall Cunningham: four young artists who eventually introduced me to Max Wolf Friedlich and set me on course to direct his play JOB.

So much of the energy in JOB is created through the sound effects and lighting. How did you work with the design team to create the unsettling environment in the play?
Those design gestures came out of dramaturgy and development work with Max and Hannah Getts. We built the play as a trio, so the lines between writing and directing are a little blurry! I remember reading Max’s fourth or fifth draft in the Honolulu airport and noticing a new stage direction about the office being bathed in green light. I thought, “How fun—we are working under a new set of rules now.” 

When our designers came on board, we knew we had to depict how the internet feels, not what the internet looks like literally. We spent a lot of time homing in on the function of each sequence and the dramaturgy of each gesture. We did the prep work, then got it onstage during tech, and our impulses took over. Over three productions, we did many, many drafts. We were tinkering until the very end, and even now, I watch the show and think, “Next time, we’ll try this!” I am so grateful to our Broadway lighting and sound teams, led by Mextly Couzin and Cody Spencer, respectively, for their collaboration and rigor, and our Off-Broadway sound designers Maxwell Neely-Cohen and Jessie Char for shaping the show’s DNA.

Can you discuss how you approached directing the play on Broadway, coming from a theatre that had only about 150 seats? What are some of the pros and cons about working in a Broadway-sized theatre?
Throughout our process, I tried to always hold two somewhat opposing truths in my mind: 1. This play being on Broadway is the most miraculous, cool, extraordinary, life-changing thing that has ever happened, and we should celebrate it every second. 2. We are doing the same play we’ve been doing for a year in just a slightly bigger room.

The most useful feedback I garnered from our Off-Broadway runs happened while overhearing people discuss the play as they were leaving the theatre. Our play encourages our audience to ask a lot of questions, and people sometimes form their own theories. Some of those theories I loved more than others. In approaching the Broadway production, I wanted to clarify the things I felt were explicit in the text while still allowing the play to spark conversation and debate.

The biggest change about working in a Broadway theatre was the union crew. Off-Broadway, I was used to running all over the stage and moving everything myself during tech. On Broadway, it was [house props crew member JJ Hu]’s job to do all of that, so I needed to constantly remind myself to keep my hands to myself. We have nine Broadway debuts on our design/creative team. Luckily, the house crew at the Hayes is extremely kind, welcoming, and patient. Everyone front-of-house and backstage has been so generous in showing us the ropes and making us feel like we belong. It’s a very harmonious company. One of our production managers said it was the smoothest and kindest tech process of any Broadway show she’s worked on, and I am really proud of that.

You’ve developed and directed plays at theatres around the country. Is there a work that you are especially excited about, that you think deserves a Broadway production?
Mostly I think of my friends, both writers and directors, whom I cannot wait to get their turn on a Broadway stage. Give Joan Sergay, Nicholas Polonio, Jake Beckhard, Cristina Angeles, Isabel Perry, Jacob Basri, Charlie Oh, Sam Mueller, Justine Gelfman, Jenna Rossman, Shara Feit, James Kennedy, Ryan Dobrin, Mack Brown, Miranda Cornell a quick Google. They are all ready to go! As far as myself, I have loved working on Reid Pope’s Holocaust Lit!, Ken Greller’s Fast Acting Gentlemen, and Allison Snyder’s Uncle Chris…delicious plays that I cannot wait for the world to see. And musicals are my bread and butter, so I’m excited to get a go at some of the classics.

Can you share a favorite memory about acting on Broadway as a kid?
Working on Broadway as a kid was the most formative chapter of my life, and the feeling of radical belonging I felt backstage at the Belasco and the Hilton is the feeling I’ve been chasing my whole career. During Dracula, the Musical, my character was in about two minutes of the show at the very top of Act Two. 

After that scene, I would spend the rest of the show in Kelli O’Hara’s dressing room (whose character was dead by that point), knitting together until curtain call. She coached me on my sides for Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which I did right after Dracula, and I read sides with her for The Light in the Piazza (I don’t think she needed my coaching). Kelli and I recently had a beautiful email correspondence around opening night for JOB, which was 20 years to the day of the first preview for Dracula. It has been extremely special to re-enter the Broadway community and have folks like Kelli say they’re proud of me. Three of my child guardians from Dracula and Chitty were in attendance on opening night. It was an emotional full-circle moment for all of us, and we ran over to Sardi’s after the show for a quick drink to toast the 20-year journey.

What made you decide to become a director? Was there a particular production or performance that influenced your decision?
I do believe it started backstage at Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. I spent a lot of time in the stage management office. They took me under their wing and answered every question I had about theatre. They even gave me a copy of the calling script so I could practice calling the show at home in my bedroom. I was a 9-year old Broadway nerd who read the message boards and checked the grosses, so I knew the show was falling short of its critical and commercial aspirations. I started to think about how we could fix the show. I would then share my notes with the stage managers. It was those guys (Michael Passaro, Peter Von Mayrhauser, Charlie Underhill, Jack McLeod, Seth Sklar-Heyn) who first told me, “You think like a director.” And from that moment on, I started saying, “But what I really want to do is direct.”

Tell me about a time you almost gave up but didn’t.
Oh gosh, it was bleak until a year ago. In 2019, my momentum really stopped. I was applying for the various fellowships, residencies, and groups available to emerging directors and didn’t get interviews at any of them. I didn’t have any assisting work lined up, and I was aware that other young directors were jumping from project to project. Then the pandemic hit. I started looking at other careers and thought for a second I’d go to rabbinic school, despite not being very religious. 

When theatre came back, I applied for numerous jobs in producing offices. I would get far into interviews, and the rejection email always said something about my seeming too creative to be satisfied in an administrative role. At that point, I was terrified to call myself a director. I was terrified of the vulnerability that comes with being an unemployed director waiting for their turn, and equally terrified of being an employed director who actually has to do the job! It was Max Wolf Friedlich who kept me directing. He would send me his latest play and say, “Hey, we’re doing this next.” 

When he submitted JOB to SoHo Playhouse’s Lighthouse Series and put my name on the application, I was almost upset. But, he had more faith in me than I had in myself, and he was confident that self-producing would be worth it. Clearly, he was right. And now, many of those folks who rejected me from those admin jobs have congratulated me on the show, and I say, “Thank you so much for not hiring me!”

Is there a person or people you most respect in your field and why?
I hope people one day talk about me the way they talk about Peter Friedman. His extraordinary talent is matched by his affability, generosity of spirit, and true love of the art form. He’s a role model for me, as are Judith Light and Scott Ellis. Judith makes you feel like the only person in the room and gives so much to the community at large. Scott Ellis, whom I’ve only met twice, answers all my texts and emails by calling me on the phone within two minutes of my sending. I hope to pay that forward someday.

What advice would you give your younger self or anyone starting out? What do you wish you knew starting out that you know now?
I spent a lot of time waiting for someone who I perceived to have more power than me to pick me out of the crowd and put me on the path to success. Lots of internships, lots of coffee dates. And while I gained a ton from mentors, teachers, and people further along, my greatest resources are my friends—my peers. No one is coming down from on high to scoop you up. It’s the people to your right and left who are your greatest resource. They are going to pull you up, and it’s your job to pull them up, too. Lateral mentorship is the most important form of mentorship, I think.

What is your proudest achievement as a director?
I am really proud of JOB. I am proud of what happens onstage, of course, but I am most proud of this creative and producing team who, across three productions, built a play that could reach Broadway. I am proud to be one of the youngest directors in recent Broadway history because I hope it shows the industry that young artists are capable. I am proud of the many Broadway debuts on our team, and I am proud to be the director who gets to wave from the dock as Peter and Sydney pull our ship out to sea eight times a week.

I’m also really proud of a production of The Secret Garden I directed when I was 19 in that asbestos-filled shack at Northwestern with a $250 production budget. I think I did good work on that! I would love to do that show again.