The Playbill in your hand might seem like it got there by theatre magic. But just like how a show is the result of many people coming together behind the scenes, a Playbill is created by dozens of Playbill employees—spanning two offices in Manhattan and Queens, drawing on 140 years’ worth of printing tradition. As part of our 140th anniversary celebration, we’re giving you a peek behind the curtain of how a Playbill is created.
Every month, we make and deliver all-new Playbills for every theatre. In the month prior to when the new Playbill is distributed, our production staff collects all the contents of that month’s Playbill from our editorial team, sales team, and program editors. The content is divided into two sections: the color pages (which encompass the cover, articles, ads, restaurant recommendations, and show listings) and the black-and-white pages (which encompass show information for every theatre we service, including the production title page, song list if it’s a musical, and cast/creative team bios). This wealth of information is laid out by our in-house design team.
Those pages are then sent to print. We print the color pages (what we call the “wrap”) first, and then we print the black-and-white pages (which we call the “filler”)—think of a Playbill as a very nourishing hot dog. We only print the wrap once a month. The filler is printed on a weekly basis, to accommodate the changes that occur throughout a show’s life—such as a mid-month cast change, songs being added/removed from the song list in a musical, and so on.
We then stitch the “hot dog” together, with the color wrap encasing the black and white filler pages. After we’ve made a few thousand of a show’s program, we’ll then put them into pallets that are loaded onto our delivery trucks. If you walk around Times Square in the morning, you might spot the Playbill truck as they’re out making their Broadway delivery runs (say hi to our folks, but please do not ask for a Playbill; it’s more magical when you receive it in a theatre!). If you're more of a visual learner, watch the video above to learn more.
Besides our Playbill programs for Broadway, we print for classical music and opera venues, and PLAYBILLDER (our make-your-own Playbill service for schools, community theatres, and private events. Visit PLAYBILLDER.com!). For the Playbills that are distributed outside of New York, we often use local printers.
During the busiest times of the year, such as November and December, we print and stitch close to 100,000 programs per day! And we know that each one coming off the production line will go into your hands and will be appreciated and cherished, if only for a moment. This fact continues to be the greatest privilege for us all.
And for the entire month of October, don't forget to see a show at a Broadway theatre to pick up a special Legacy Playbill. Playbill has partnered with every production on Broadway (and Off-Broadway's Little Shop of Horrors) to create four special retro-inspired Playbill covers, which are being distributed to audiences free of charge. Click here to see all of the available Legacy covers. We hope the special four-part nature of these covers encourages you to go to the theatre to get one, strike up a conversation with a stranger to trade covers, and take the time to thank the ushers who hand them out. If you want to get all the designs of a particular show, visit PlaybillStore.com to purchase a poster of a show's collection, with proceeds going to Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.
