Ken Davenport (born Kenneth Anjum Hasija, August 23, 1972)[1] is a two-time Tony Award-winning[2]theatre producer, blogger, and writer. He is best known for his production work on Broadway.
Early life
Davenport was born in Phoenix, Arizona to Dr. Kenny Hasija and Pamela Soper (née Davenport). He grew up in Sturbridge, Massachusetts, and attended the Bancroft School in Worcester, Massachusetts. He attended Johns Hopkins University for one year with the intention of practicing law, before transferring to New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. He graduated in 1994 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Acting. [citation needed]
Davenport began his professional theater career by working as a production assistant on the 1993 Broadway revival of My Fair Lady starring Richard Chamberlain. Before he began his producing career, he established himself as a company and general manager, working on shows such as Grease, Show Boat, Ragtime, Thoroughly Modern Millie, and Gypsy.[citation needed]
Career
Davenport founded the company Davenport Theatrical Enterprises (DTE) in 2004, and has created, produced, and managed Broadway shows.[1] His first ventures as a producer were the three Off-Broadway shows The Awesome 80s Prom, Altar Boyz, and My First Time, which he also wrote.[3] Davenport's first Broadway credit as a producer was 13, and since then he has produced over 20 Broadway shows, including the first Broadway revival of Godspell, the Tony Award-winning Best Musical Kinky Boots, and Deaf West Theatre's Spring Awakening.[4]
Since its founding, Davenport Theatrical Enterprises has expanded to other areas of the theater business including Broadway Genius Group Sales, a group sales agency for Broadway and Off-Broadway shows; DTE Agency, a theatrical marketing agency; and DTE Management, a general management division. In 2019, DTE Management relaunched as Architect Theatrical.[5] Additionally, DTE launched Did He Like It?, a review aggregator for New York Times chief theatre critic Ben Brantley and Davenport is the creator of Be a Broadway Star, the only Broadway-themed board game.
Did He Like It was sold in 2018.[6]
Davenport's television and film credits include the documentary These Magnificent Miles: On the Road with Red Wanting Blue, and The Bunny Hole, an award-winning television pilot that has appeared in the LA Indie Film Festival, the Orlando Film Festival, the LA Comedy Festival and more.[7]
He managed and owned the Davenport Theatre, an Off-Broadway theater in Manhattan's Theater District until its January 2019 closure.[8][9] The Davenport Theatre had two performance spaces, a 149-seat main stage on the ground level, and a 60-seat blackbox theater on the upper level. Davenport named the theater after his great-grandfather, Delbert Essex Davenport, who was a theater producer, publicist, author and lyricist in the early 1900s
Other activities
Davenport was named one of Crain's "40 Under 40",[10] and received the 2010 Leonidas A. Nickole Award of Distinction from the Musical Theatre Society of Emerson College.[11] He won the 2008 Spirit of Theatre Award from Theatre Resources Unlimited,[12] and his television pilot The Bunny Hole has been honored at the Orlando Film Festival, the IndieFEST Film Awards, and more.[13]
Davenport has taught “Acting As A Business” for America Online,[14] and his marketing techniques have been profiled in the New York Times.[15] Davenport was a member of the BMI Librettist Workshop and is a founding member of the Independent Theater Bloggers Association.[16]
