Windows 11 Pro lets Broadway play a bigger role in the community

The Broadway League represents Broadway professionals. They also produce The Jimmy Awards, which celebrates teens in theater, while their Broadway Bridges program helps bring every public-school 10th grader to a Broadway show. Their goal is to get more of the community into Broadway, not more patches into PCs. So, Windows 11 Pro keeps their employees protected—and productive—with seamless updates that are 40% smaller to download.

The Broadway League is the national trade association for the Broadway industry. Its 700-plus members include theater owners and operators, producers and presenters, as well as suppliers of goods and services to the commercial theater industry. Every year, League members bring Broadway to over 30 million people; not just in New York’s theater district, but in more than 200 cities across the U.S. and Canada. With its roots going back to the Great Depression, The League’s purpose is to keep Broadway’s lights shining bright, by increasing audience interest in theater, and by helping its members create profitable theatrical productions.

That takes a lot of marketing initiatives and corporate sponsorships, audience development programs, and events that promote Broadway as a vibrant national entertainment medium.

But it also takes a lot of technology, especially in an environment that attracts an unending stream of bad actors. As Neal Freeman, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, puts it: “just like theater, anything can happen here at the Broadway League.” Working quietly behind the scenes, Windows 11 Pro enables his employees to stay productive and safe.

“We are under attack every day”

Neal worries about intruders or “people pretending to be users or trying to get our users to click a link in an email. My greatest fear is that one of those bad actors is going to convince someone here that they need to take an action that’s going to harm our network or create a financial problem for the company. We’ve had a number of times where someone has impersonated our president or someone else here at the organization, sending emails, trying to get our users to click on a link. That’s my fear every day, and we’re working every day to try to make sure that doesn’t happen.” To mitigate those threats, Neal makes sure that his devices are always up-to-date with Windows 11 Pro, so that phishing attacks can be proactively blocked before they can impact his data or network. And he trains his employees on how to react when they receive something that could be dangerous.

On Broadway, it’s all about the performance

As Neal explains: “technology is really the backbone of live theater at this level. There are so many things that are automated, that are controlled by computers; sound, lighting, projections, scenery, that’s just so different than the way it was 50 years ago. Computers are driving all of this and allowing these performers to bring the show to a live audience. So it’s really important that we keep our devices functioning well, that they’re responsive and fast, and they’re portable when users need to take it to a meeting off-site or work from home.” As the lone IT person at the League, Neal appreciates how Windows 11 Pro devices balance security with performance. Layers of security are already built in and enabled by default. And hardware-enabled protection like TPM 2.0 is tightly integrated with software to reduce security incidents and firmware attacks without slowing down the system or the user.

“Our devices have the best available security features, freeing me up to focus on projects that matter, like helping every New York City student see a Broadway show.”

Neal Freeman, Chief Digital and Technology Officer, The Broadway League

When you’re secure, you can act on the things that matter

The Broadway League co-produces The Tony Awards. They also give talented teens a pathway to Broadway via The Jimmy Awards, which recognizes outstanding student achievement in vocal, dance, and theater. And Neal is passionate about their Broadway Bridges initiative, which brings high schoolers to see a Broadway show for just $10 a ticket. “The goal is to reach all 70,000 New York City 10th grade students. Broadway Bridges is amazing because it’s about showing that there’s more to Broadway than just being on stage; there are so many career paths they might have in the industry, and it’s wonderful to be able to introduce that to them while they’re still in school. We hope programs like these will help to grow the next generation of people working in our industry and the Broadway audiences of tomorrow.”

Helping Broadway reflect the community at large

Gennean Scott is Chief Diversity Officer for The Broadway League. Her job is to promote diversity across Broadway—on the stage, behind the scenes, and among the audience. She quotes George C. Wolfe: “Our audience should look like a New York City bus stop.” As a young girl in Omaha, Nebraska, Gennean loved theater and dance but often found herself being the only person of color in those environments. Her breakthrough moment came at age 16, when she watched a Broadway musical where, “everyone on stage looked like me, and I was just like, this can be done. I went back to Omaha, and I started teaching dance to inner city kids in a park and fundraising to get shoes and leotards and collaborated with a group so that we could have a performance. That experience has lived with me and has made me committed to making sure that the arts aren’t just for the elite, but they’re for everyone.”

“I use Windows 11 Pro to manage my life, from scheduling to workload to tracking progress and, when it's time to get off work, to have time with my family.”

Gennean Scott, Chief Diversity Officer, The Broadway League

“Technology is germane to my day-to-day existence; I’d be lost without it”

Gennean is constantly on the move, meeting with producers, planning special events, hosting podcasts for the Black Business of Broadway network, and working with the League’s Fellow Membership initiative that helps diversify Broadway. She says: “I’m only one person and we have a lot of initiatives. I need technology because otherwise I would be working 12-hour days! 50% of the time I’m not in the office; I’m on the train, on my phone.” What are some of the things that make her life easier? “OneDrive because my life is literally in the cloud. Collaboration with Teams and PowerPoint. Snap layouts during my podcast because it allows me to have two screens on one device. I have my emails read to me, and I love it because I can work on other things at the same time. Multi-tasking is my jam.” Gennean also loves the accessibility features in Windows 11 Pro. “If I’m meeting with someone who’s Deaf or hard of hearing, or who has low vision, I know that I’m able to communicate with them accurately.”

“Theater brings people together, and for a moment, our differences disappear”

As Gennean sums up, “we tell stories; that’s what we do in theater. When a child sees a Broadway play or musical, and they see someone up there who looks like them, they feel valued. And it lets the audience at large get a glimpse of that culture. My hope is that helps to bring about healing and understanding and acceptance. Exposure is how we get people to fall in love with the arts. They attend a show, they see themselves on stage, and we spark a fire in them wanting to learn more. Mine started at a Broadway show.”

The Broadway League’s goal is to get more of the community into Broadway, not more patches into PCs. Windows 11 Pro keeps their employees protected—and productive—with fast, seamless updates, proactive out-of-the-box security, and accessibility features that empower everyone.