Every few years, I invite readers and colleagues to contribute guest columns in the series Technology and my Hobby/Passion. Over a hundred contributed in the last decade on their birding, charities, cooking, music, sports and every other passion, and how it keeps evolving with technology. Click here and scroll down to read them all.
This time it is Sanford (Sandy) Silverberg who as his LinkedIn profile shows has had an amazingly varied career in banking, technology, non-profits and several other fields. In 2017, he met and later married his late wife, Diana Amsterdam, an accomplished published writer. Through her influence, he continues to pursue an additional career as a New York City theatrical producer. It is a truly inspiring love and life story.
"My wife, Diana Amsterdam, was a writer, an award-winning writer, a Times-reviewed writer. She wrote books, movies, TV. And she wrote plays. Because of her, I now produce plays. My passion is to cement her legacy by bringing one of her plays to a Broadway stage in the next few years.
Though we were not of a generation steeped in technology, we both were confident and comfortable in that world and it was a through-line that ran in our lives.
We met on Match.com, not surprisingly seduced by the words in each other’s profiles. After two months of dating and growing affection, she let me know she had metastatic breast cancer (MBS). MBS is a death sentence despite constant advances in treatment that extend life. She offered to “release me” because of that reveal. I declined.
In the summer of 2018, Diana was lamenting the lack of progress on one of her pieces, The Way Out (previously The Dodgers). The play had had a developmental run in Los Angeles with a star-studded cast and had been optioned for one year by a Broadway producer. But momentum had stalled and she was faced with the decision about renewing the option for another year with the same producer and, likely, another year of lost momentum.
Unhappy with her frustrations, I offered to produce her play in New York if the other producer would relinquish the option. I should note that, while I have had some involvement in the performing arts over the years, I had never done anything like this. Yet, the more I looked into it, the more I felt like my skillsets achieved over four decades as an entrepreneur and as a Board member in numerous performing arts non-profits, fit well with those necessary to be a producer.
In mid-summer 2018, Diana was my girlfriend. By December of that year, we were engaged and in January, 2019, we were married at an intimate ceremony at my sister’s home in Stamford, Connecticut. Diana had had a resurgence in her cancer and was on chemotherapy at the time. Though we raced to get her play staged for her and for the world, she succumbed to the cancer, after a decade of struggle and survival, in November, 2019. She never owned the cancer and it never owned her until the very end. it was never “her” cancer. It was a foreign enemy to be defeated at all costs. This picture above is of Diana and me on her last family outing in September, 2019.
I bought the option to Diana’s play, They Out, in August 2018. I immediately formed Sanford Silver Productions, LLC and proceeded to educate myself on what I would need to know to produce The Way Out. Suffice to say, my background in technology was instrumental in how I built this company from the ground up.
In addition to the standard stack of applications like Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint, Adobe Acrobat, QuickBooks, I also immediately registered my domain, created a website using WordPress and Elementor Pro and created subscriptions to HubSpot as my CRM and Mailchimp as my email communications vehicle.
I used online services marketplaces such as Fiverr to create branding and marketing assets such as logo, fonts and color palettes. I leveraged the often-underestimated capabilities of Microsoft Publisher to create marketing pieces that immediately added a professional, experienced patina to Sanford Silver Productions and specifically the play we were producing.
In fact, I created a marketing campaign which was so original and unique that a number of prominent and successful Broadway Producers have asked to use the materials as a positive example of creative marketing as they speak in classes and public forums.
One of them, Tony-award-winning Producer Ken Davenport, did a 30-second reveal of the marketing piece on his Instagram feed, commenting “This wins the prize for the best invitation I’ve ever received. Well done”. Mr. Davenport produces a widely-distributed training program for producers called The Producer’s Perspective. He has included this marketing effort in his training course.
I have continued to expand my knowledge and expand my presence in the New York theater community. I was accepted into and successfully completed a training course on all aspects of producing called the Producers Development and Mentorship Program (PDMP.) The course is offered by a 27-year-old theater non-profit in New York City called Theater Resources Unlimited (TRU). Subsequent to completing the Masters track of that program, I was asked to join their Board and now serve as TRU Board Chair.
At this moment in time, we continue development on The Way Out. As a result of a reading in 2020, a young Tony-award-winning production company has stepped up to co-produce the play with Sanford Silver Productions. The script is being expanded and locked down and will shortly be offered for a developmental run prior to its appearance on Broadway. Below is a picture of the cast of The Way Out reading in February 2019.
Because of her indomitable spirit, I nicknamed Diana “Titanium Girl.” During one of her last hospitalizations, Diana and I created a blog site for her called TitaniumGirlFightsCancer.com. Diana wrote and posted relevant and personal perspectives on her fight with cancer to the benefit of others struggling with cancer. It quickly garnered a following and she continued to post sage and useful advice to the benefit of all until just days before she passed. I commissioned a drawing of her to help her visualize the fight and defeat the intruder. She kept it on her wall and we took it with us when she was hospitalized. This is that drawing. It lives on my walls now, reminding me every day of her strength, her will, her lifeforce. It keeps me striving to be the producer she believed I could be."
Very moving story Sandy. I can't wait to see the marquee for The Way Out rise over Broadway.
Posted by: Brett | February 16, 2021 at 08:47 AM