Helen Stern Richards (1917 – April 11, 1983) was an American theater manager and press agent in

Broadway theatre Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, American and British English spelling differences), many of the List of ...

Life and career

Born in

Wichita Falls Wichita Falls ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Wichita County, Texas, United States. It is the principal city of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses all of Archer, Clay, and Wichita Counties. According to ...

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

, Richards was a graduate of the

University of Texas The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin, UT, or Texas) is a public research university in Austin, Texas, United States. Founded in 1883, it is the flagship institution of the University of Texas System. With 53,082 students as of fall 2 ...

. After graduation, she became assistant to the manager of a Texas radio station, where she ran her own daily radio program for women. From 1939 to 1944, Richards was co-owner and manager of a small theater in

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Oklahoma, most populous city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat ...

. Following her move to New York City, she worked with the composer

Sigmund Romberg Sigmund Romberg (July 29, 1887 – November 9, 1951) was a Hungarian-born American composer. He is best known for his Musical theatre, musicals and operettas, particularly ''The Student Prince'' (1924), ''The Desert Song'' (1926) and ''The New Moo ...

. She subsequently began work as a press agent for

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

productions, handling the press for ''

Don Juan in Hell ''Man and Superman'' is a four-act drama written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903, in response to a call for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. ''Man and Superman'' opened at the Royal Court Theatre in London on 21 May 1905 as a fou ...

'', ''

New Girl in Town ''New Girl in Town'' is a musical with a book by George Abbott and music and lyrics by Bob Merrill based on Eugene O'Neill's 1921 play ''Anna Christie'', about a prostitute who tries to live down her past. ''New Girl'', unlike O'Neill's play, foc ...

'', and the original production of ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

''. Following her 1983 death, Richards' collected papers were donated to the

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center, is located at 40 Lincoln Center Plaza, in the Lincoln Center complex on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, New York City. Situated between the Metropolitan O ...

' Billy Rose Theatre Division. Her son is Tony Award-winning theater producer

Jeffrey Richards Jeffrey Richards (born c.1945)Chris Arno"Fast Forward: Jeffrey Richards" ''The Guardian'', 11 January 2005 is a British historian. Educated at Jesus College, Cambridge, he is Professor of Cultural History at Lancaster University Lancaster ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Richards, Helen Stern (theatrical press agent and manager) People from Wichita Falls, Texas 1917 births 1983 deaths American theatre managers and producers