André Bishop began his career in the theater as a bagman. He stood at the door of a tiny, impoverished Off Broadway theater holding a shopping bag and hoping people would throw in a few dollars at the end of the show to help keep the lights on. One man was especially generous. He came every night and always threw $20 into the bag. His daughter had a musical being performed at the theater.
Bishop eventually took charge of the organization—Playwrights Horizons—and turned it into a major Off Broadway institution. He produced plays and musicals by James Lapine, Bill Finn, Stephen Sondheim, Christopher Durang, and Wendy Wasserstein, who became one of his best friends. The man who gave Bishop $20 every night was Wasserstein’s father.
