NEW YORK (AP) – Broadway producer Kevin McCollum’s company is named Alchemation. Don’t bother looking it up. He coined the word. And it speaks volumes about how he thinks.
Alchemation is a mashup of “alchemy” and “creation.” While it won’t earn any points in Scrabble, the word is unique and fresh – just like his approach to producing.
“Make something new and define territory that’s never been,” he said recently in his Manhattan office. “I fall in love with shows because I’ve never see that before. I fall in love with new vocabularies.”
McCollum’s passion for fresh voices and new works has paid off this season with two very different shows that have earned 15 Tony Award nominations.
He’s shepherded the dark, violent play “Hand to God” – featuring a satanic hand puppet – and the dance-heavy, sunny “Something Rotten!,” a musical celebrating musicals.