Stuart Levy | INTIX Interviews

Getting to Know: Stuart J. Levy

The WICKED Ticketing Manager at 321 Theatrical Management defines himself as an uncle and dog lover with a passion for theatre and tennis. Here, he reflects on sleeping in front of opening night seating charts, his favorite events of all time, and how INTIX has delighted and motivated him as a new member.

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Who do you admire most and why?

My parents. Even though they’ve both been gone for a long time, their love and support inspire me every day because of the way they raised me and the love I always feel.
 

What is the quality you like most in a person?

Honesty, humor and empathy.
 

What is the quality you most like in a colleague?

Being a team player and being eager to learn.
 

What qualities are important to you in a leader?

Giving respect and wanting input, working together and positive energy.
 

What or who is the greatest love of your life?

My niece and nephew.
 

What do you consider your greatest achievement?

Prior to starting on Wicked, I did other things within theatre outside of ticketing. I worked at Actors’ Equity for 11 years as the Bonding Director. A side job was helping coordinate Broadway opening nights. I’ve done over 100 of them. My greatest achievement was overseeing three major openings within six days, which required a lot of energy and no sleep! They were all major openings with Neil Patrick Harris, Daniel Radcliffe and James Franco. I have pictures of myself sleeping in front of the three seating charts, so I guess I did sleep a little! The other, in terms of my current job, was being able to create this position and help define it as it is a position that did not previously exist.
 

 

Where would you most like to live?

I love living in New York City, but if I couldn’t I would live in London.
 

What do you value most in your friends?

Honesty and humor.
 

Who are your favorite writers?

John Irving and Michael Chabon.
 

What’s the best live event you’ve ever seen and why?

I have two – one from theatre and one from sports. For theatre, it was the Norman Conquests Trilogy. It’s in three parts and I saw it in one day. It was a really unique experience and the play takes place in the same house, but in different rooms. In one play, someone may be walking off stage, but in the second play they were on stage. Basically, they just spin the house around three times. In sports, it was the 2003 U.S. Open semi-final match between Justine Henin versus Jennifer Capriati. It was one of those matches where both players were willing to fight to the end. It was a very draining match for both of them and no matter what, they were fighting. I respect that and as a fan it’s great seeing that.
 

What is your favorite venue and why?

The National Theatre in London. When I went there, they do this amazing tour and I was so impressed with how it was run.
 

What is your favorite player and band of all time and why?

My favorite tennis player is Roger Federer. He’s the combination of power, grace and artistry and he’s a good representative of the sport too. For the last 18 years, I ran New York’s LGBT tennis group, so I’m clearly into tennis. I also ran two major tournaments at the U.S. Open venue every year. My favorite band is the Grateful Dead or Santana. Besides loving the music, it’s what I grew up with at camp when I was really young.
 

What is your favorite place to visit or place you’d love to visit and why?

I’d like to visit Italy and Greece for the history and architecture.
 

If you could go back in time, what advice would you give yourself?

Be more patient. To get what you want, sometimes there are steps to take.
 

What do you like to do in your spare time?

Tennis, hiking, playing with dogs even if they are not mine and theatre. In New York City, there are so many dogs. I notice dogs more than people.
 

If you were granted three wishes today, what would they be?

Be able to travel more, to keep doing what I am doing and to help the next generation of people in this industry.
 

What brings you the most joy or greatest meaning in life?

My niece and nephew. Being their uncle is what defines me.
 

Why are you a member of INTIX?

I joined six months ago to network and meet others in the industry. My position is new here, so I was looking to deal with other people in similar situations to discuss the challenges as the industry and technology changes.
 

What do you get from INTIX?

From the conference, it was the contacts and meeting people. I had a great experience, so I joined the education committee right after the conference. I always want to give back.
 

How do you use INTIX?

It’s still new to me, but I’ve joined the Facebook page and use the website because I know there is so much more to find and discover.
 

Who is your mentor?

I’m lucky, I would say it’s a combination. With every job I’ve had, there has been someone. Even if it’s someone you don’t necessarily like, you learn something – like what you want to do, how you want to do it or how you may not want to do it.
 

Who or what inspires you?

My boss might think I’m sucking up, but it’s our team here. We really work well together.
 

What do you love most about your job?

It’s numbers, it’s analytics and it’s creative. I’m one of those people who is very detail and data oriented, but I’m also very creative. I have the opportunity to be all these things when I am creating reports.
 

What do you love most about our industry?

I think it’s a challenge. No matter how much you know, things always keep changing. You can’t ever become complacent because something is going to change – whether it’s a change in venue, a story or something unforeseen.
 

What is your most memorable career moment?

I talked about doing three major openings in six days already. The other is teaching myself Tableau, which is software that lets you manipulate data from Excel or anywhere else. It lets you do much more than Excel does. It’s like Excel and PowerPoint combined, so it will also do presentations for you. Raw data doesn’t look pretty, and it goes back to being creative, but you get to really design how your reports are going to look.
 

What is your most memorable INTIX moment?

It was at the conference, meeting so many other people. It’s hard to know how many people really do what we do. Actually seeing so many people and knowing there are more was incredible.
 

Is there anything I haven’t asked you about that you would like to share, which defines you as a professional or a person?

I define myself as being an uncle. Professionally, I’m extremely passionate about what I do. When I used to send out resumes in college, I always got feedback from my closing paragraph: “My commitment to my job is only exceeded by my passion for the theatre.”