Tom Saporito ’04

As a student at the Prep, Tom Saporito ’04 dreamt of being on Broadway. Two decades later, he has achieved his goal, just not in the way he expected.

“I never thought my Broadway debut would be on this side of the stage,” says Saporito, the founder of Tom Saporito Productions. Saporito, who worked as an actor for many years locally as well as in Chicago and Los Angeles, gained his own listing in the Playbill for the recent Broadway production of “Death of a Salesman,” however, he wasn’t portraying the tragic Willy Loman or one of his sons. No, Saporito served as a co-producer for the show, in what was one of his first forays into theatre production. It has been quite a ride since his graduation from the Prep in 2004.

Saporito was convinced to pursue the theatre during his time at the Prep as part of the Cape and Sword Drama Society. He credits Tony Braithwaite ’89 as a mentor and says “if I am ever lucky enough to receive an award, he is the third person I will thank after my parents.”

After graduating from college with a degree in Theatre and Philosophy (“I guess I really had to pursue acting with those degrees,” he says, laughing), Saporito moved to London to join an English touring theatre company as production coordinator. After that, he returned to Philadelphia to pursue a master’s degree in theatre at Villanova University, but the program wasn’t quite right for what he wanted. “It was more heavily focused on directing and I was still interested in being an actor,” he says. After booking three shows for the next theatre season, Saporito decided to forgo graduate school and return to acting. 

Those three shows boosted him to move to Chicago, where he was accepted to the famed Second City Improv Conservatory. But he left Chicago after a year to move to Los Angeles to pursue film and TV. There, he acted in several commercials and two films, including a horror film from the director of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre.” That was “a great time,” but he was itching to move back east and had always wanted to live in New York.

He made the decision to put acting on hold and joined the fast-paced world of advertising. Saporito landed a job at the famed BBDO agency, on which the TV show “Mad Men” was loosely based. Though he felt he was “best suited for the production side” of the industry, there was no opening. “They told me they really liked me and would find something for me,” he says. He came aboard at the company and at first split his time between account management and production before finding his home in the latter. He spent six years there, eventually rising to the position of Senior Producer before deciding to return to acting. That was in January 2020. “And then COVID hit,” he remembers. He worked a bit back at BBDO as a freelancer before finally deciding to leave the industry.

“I loved my time in advertising but knew that wasn’t where I wanted to be for a career,” he says. “I was ready to be back in theatre.”

It was then that an opportunity came forward: Saporito thought about combining his new skills as a producer with his love of theatre and thought, “Let’s see if I can’t marry these together.”

A friend from his neighborhood connected him with a multiple-Tony-Award-winning producer. “We did a Zoom call and she offered to include me in upcoming projects,” Saporito says. “I was pretty confident I could use my networks to find investors for shows, but I wanted to find the right show to be my first.”

Then the restaging of the classic play “Death of a Salesman” came along. As he was taught at the Prep, Saporito wasn’t happy with just bringing investors in. He wanted to “magisize it, to use a term that Tony used with us in Cape and Sword.” Saporito helped with some creative decisions and also connected with a non-profit that would provide low-cost tickets to students in New York City who otherwise would not have the chance to see a show on Broadway. After “Death of a Salesman,” Tom became part of a co-producing team that co-produced Mike Birgbiglia's one-man show on Broadway, “The Old Man & the Pool,” making it his second co-producer credit in a Broadway Playbill. That show is heading to London's West End this year.

During all of this, another opportunity came along. “Again, it was the right place at the right time,” he says. This time, it was a pub in London. Saporito was working as a freelancer reporting on tourist opportunities in other countries and needed a “place to sit and write.” He started talking to the bartender who recognized the American accent. “I told him I was from Philly and he said he had a friend from Philadelphia who was a playwright,” Saporito recalls. “It turned out he was friends with Broadway playwright Nicky Silver who is also from Wynnewood. That night, we met and he told me he was looking for someone to produce his next play.”

Saporito was clear with Silver that “while I’ve been a producer for seven years, I have never done this before,” to which Silver responded, “But I like you and trust you.” That led to Saporito’s current project, “The Einstein Letter,” which he says is “fairly dark; acerbically humorous. The very final beat of the play is a beautiful moment, but heavy.”

He is aiming to open the show in London this year. He is now in demand, working on other projects within the industry: developing a musical, dramaturging for a show, and co-producing yet another show. “While there is a lot of stress in all of these projects, it is where I want to be,” he says. “I want to exist creatively. As a lead producer, I get to create. I get to bring people together, which is a really nice feeling.”

 He is staying open to acting roles down the road but says, “I don’t think I will ever not want to produce theatre. I’ll always be an actor, but right now I have to focus on what I’m doing. Don’t be afraid to lean into your multi-hyphenate.”